Quote Originally Posted by KG4CGC View Post
Not old school but I've been considering this out of boredom. Supposed to be a SUPER receiver but it appears to have a lot of surface mount solder points. Couldn't be much harder than repairing iPhones.

https://www.amazon.com/Tecsun-2P3-Ra...csun+radio+kit
Don't know what you have for SMT soldering/desoldering equipment, but I'll throw out a recommendation (and El Rata should be along to second this):

Buy a used Pace PPS-85A (definitely want the "A" model) plus an SP-90 Soldr-Pen, an SX-70 Soldr-X-Tractor and a TJ-70 Thermo-Jet hot air handpiece. Then get tips for the various types of work you'll do.

That setup will cover 95% of installation and removal operations of discrete components. BGA or QFP devices get into a different realm of complexity and Pace makes handpieces along with entire rework stations for such...but for almost everything I run into including building SMT projects, the '85A is my bench go-to.

I've gotten complete setups used for decent prices (read: a lot less than new Weller rework stations) and given they're built for continuous duty, a hobbyist isn't going to break the stuff easily.