Radios to avoid

[mw0uzo]

This thread is for making a list of radios to avoid when buying secondhand equipment. The reasons should not only be about whether the radio is any good at RX or TX, they should include factors such as component aging and servicability. I'll start it off with a few horrors that have come to me for repair. There's plenty more where these came from!

Rigs to avoid like the plague:

Yaesu FT-290R - Very awkward construction, PITA to dismantle and service. AVOID for the sake of your sanity.
Icom IC-551D - Very awkward to service and dismantle, components do not age well and irreplaceable microprocessor tends to die. Avoid.
Kenwood TS-930 - This isn't a mistake. Huge PLL problems over time, really awkward to service. PLL board in a stupid place, signal board is massive and a pain to remove for servicing. Power supply design isn't great. Components do not age well. Digital board suffers from lots of problems.

Rigs that are great, but have reliability problems:

Kenwood TS-850S/AT - Leaky caps all over, DDS death, ALC voltage supply problems. Controls wear out with heavy use. I haven't sold mine, but I should!
Kenwood TS-440S - Great rigs, but PLL death is inevitable due to glue. A long and annoying task to pick out all the glue and realign.

And some diamonds to look out for :)

Kenwood TS-520, TS-520S, TS-520SE, TS-820S - Old, but age well, built like tanks, can be ok or difficult to service depending on fault.
Yaesu FT-980 - Excellent rigs, most just need realignment. Can suffer from PSU death which kills PA. Repairable though.