I've been searching the web to try to find a picture of how that 7db component actually connects to the two ends that I broke off. Bound to be a picture out there somewhere.
I did start doing some searching on here about bypassing the driver but ended up getting dragged away by that great interrupter... my job. I'm hoping to have some time to continue the research and learning on the bypass tomorrow afternoon.
It sounds like if I just stick to using the President Lincoln II+ at a lower PEP than the Q5N2 is blasting at the amp, the amp would be okay. I sure hope it works after this repair. If not, it's still another good step on my learning curve (positive spin). I must admit I much prefer the steps are not so costly.
Transceivers don't kill amps, people misusing transceivers kill amps. Or something like that.