Anti-Kenwood rant

[KF2M]

Update - a little Peter Gabriel is in order:

"The more I look...the more I find;"

Sledgehammer or shock the monkey?

Actually it was "Digging In The Dirt"

[KB3LAZ]

Update - a little Peter Gabriel is in order:

"The more I look...the more I find;"

Sledgehammer or shock the monkey?

Actually it was "Digging In The Dirt"

You missed the funny.

[N8YX]

You missed the funny.

Some of us didn't. ;)

[KB3LAZ]

You missed the funny.

Some of us didn't. ;)

I know.

[n2ize]

'YX, this receiver is now OVER 30 YEARS OLD, yet you are surprised that it needs a few repairs?

I've got a few rigs that are well over 50 years old and you don't find the cost cutting design flaws that he's talking about here.

Do you have any cars that are over 30 years old? Did they ever need any repairs? Did you rant about them, too?

I think this is a good example of why so many people hate to do business with hams.

No, this is a good example as to why some companies need to rethink their cost cutting measures.

[n2ize]

10 year daily use of the FT 847
On/Off switch busted, new one will be put in next weekend.




That's all

The modifications are no repairs.

That's the thing about most (but not all) Yaesu equipment: It just tends to work.

I can think of a few exceptions, the FT736 and its questionable internal power supply being one of them. If you run the rig from an external supply, even that isn't an issue.

My Yaes\u FT-470 dual band handheld was VERY problematic. I had it back to Yaesu at least twice for repairs and several repairs I did myself. It was a nice radio WHEN it was working right. The last breakdown occurred in 1993. The vhf power amp crapped out, I still haven't replaced that module.... maybe one of these days I'll rebuild that little radio.

[N8YX]

My Yaes\u FT-470 dual band handheld was VERY problematic. I had it back to Yaesu at least twice for repairs and several repairs I did myself. It was a nice radio WHEN it was working right. The last breakdown occurred in 1993. The vhf power amp crapped out, I still haven't replaced that module.... maybe one of these days I'll rebuild that little radio.

Adding an update:

Worked on another of my R-820s this weekend chasing (yep, you guessed it) a cold solder joint. This in the FIX Ch circuitry; wouldn't let VFO output through it and into the PLL assembly. Thus, an intermittent display and receiver...which finally went solid OFF.

I suppose the ultimate fix will be to replace every one of the Molex SIP headers with a gold-plated equivalent then retouch all of the discrete components' solder pads.

Meanwhile...I've started modding one of my two FT-901DMs. First up is the RF board; I'm going to convert it to a DBM/JFET design per LA8AK's research. Looking at that 30-year-old board, one finds...joints as shiny and fresh as the day they rolled out of the factory.

Yaesu did a lot of things right in the early days, while Kenwood's choice of components and fabrication techniques continues to bite them right up through the TS-950 series and beyond. Anyone who has spent time resoldering all the SIP headers on a TS-940S' PLL CCA will attest to what I'm saying.

[W1GUH]

This reminds me of 1980 when I was deciding between a TS-180 and an Icom '701. A guy in a ham store in, I think it was Melrose, MA (Forget the name, but it was well known at the time, also not sure about the Melrose :-?: ) said that the TS-180 was "delicate" (I guess he meant won't stand up to being a mobile rig), whereas the Icom was solid. Sounds like you're expreiencing what he was talking about. OTOH, just to balance things out, the reviews over on eHam say the TS-180 is a solid radio.

The clincher was when he told me that the winner of the DX contest that year used the '701!

Getting back on the air after a break in 1980 was eye-opening. At that time I finally had the ways and means to go top-end, and of course, going into the process I had Collins and Drake in mind. I looked at the TR-7 and the KWM-380, the TS-180 and the IC-701. This is what I saw...

The TR-7 struck me as a transistorized TR-4. Basically the same system thinking went into it as went into the hollow-state radios. Analog PTO & pretty much the same operator controls as the hollow state stuff.

The KWM-380, while more advanced technically, seemed to miss the point -- the power supply was built-in and it wasn't a mobile radio.

Then there was the IC-701. It looked as if Icom's thinking went much farther than "transistorizing" a hollow-state radio. Their thinking was to brilliantly exploit modern technology to the limit without being limited by what had gone before. It saddened me that they pretty much beat the pants off of US radio makers in that respect. :(

This is when I reallized in a very concrete way that the "gotta make those quarterly reports look good" thinking in US Corporations was really, really, really stifling our ability to stay technologically abreast of the latest developments. The kind of R&D bucks that Icom spent to develop the '701 were just not possible here. :(

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

I have the TS-430.
That radio is clearly consumer grade.
The final transistor solder connections have gone bad, a known problem.
The light bulbs are in a bad position and hard to replace.
Some regulator circuits are/were taxed to the limit.
There are a few other things I can not think of right now.
But, for all of the faults, and they can be easily repaired, it is a good radio.
I had a TR-2500 talkie.
The LCD went "black" over just a year of use.
The chassis had a weak spot in the corner by the antenna connector that broke.
The backup battery died within a years time.
And the radio quickly became case-worn, the plastic simply being "painted" a color.

Contrast this to the FT-107.
This radio works much better and is better built.
The IC-3AT talkie I have still works very well Thank you.

But, we are hams, we can fix this, make it better.
That is but one part of the hobby, and what makes this all worthwhile.
And, yes, the Elecraft is one hell of a nice radio.
I really like the FT-817, if only for its size to abilities ratio.
But, if I want really tough I look at military hardware.
Remember, Amateur Radio equipment is built to a price.

[N8YX]

Remember, Amateur Radio equipment is built to a price.

And that is exactly what did Drake and Cubic in. They couldn't cut corners enough with regards to manufacturing techniques to compete with the Japanese manufacturers...and rather than risk the hit for warranty claims brought on by substandard goods, they opted to pull out of the market.

'GUH, the TR-5 is essentially a transistorized TR-4...whereas the TR-7 was a totally original design. Drake could have offered an amateur version of their TR-4310 and R-4245 to the general public but it would likely have cost $500 or so more than the PTO-tuned versions of such.

A little comparo:

My TS-820S retailed for ~$1200, and the TR-7 fetched $1449. The '820 had a speech processor and noise blanker built in; those were extra options on the Drake equipment. The TR-7 had it over the Kenwood in that a general-coverage receiver was offered but most hams didn't care.

The Kenwood actually drifts less than the Drake: 400hz total vs ~1.2 khz from a cold start. (Of course, the '901 beats both hands-down: Zero drift, once warmed up.)

I've done a little perverse engineering where the RV-75 and R-4245 are concerned...looking at synthesizer layout...and have come up with a way to shrink the RV-75 using SMT devices to a size which will enable it to fit into the TR-7's PTO space.

Another approach is to use a PIC or STAMP to control a DDS and thereby generate a 5.0-5.6 MHz VFO signal. This offers the advantage of being computer-controllable. I have a working prototype of a design on my bench, and have to write some firmware to control the tuning via an attached optical encoder. Mine also incorporates a workable RIT.

Maybe I'll get around to building one or the other type and stuffing all my 5 and 7-line equipment with them...