My Icom 746Pro took a dump

[TonyV225]

I was kind of thinking the same thing when they start getting older parts and getting work done sometimes are a headache then the best place to send older stuff thats not serviced through manufactures anymore is to Burghardt amateur center in South Dakota. Ther fast and do great work and stand behind there work my Yaesu ft-990 tuneup and total go over was $192.00 and its warrented by a 30 day guarantee they found 2 bad solder joints and repaired them aswell as putting in a new backup battery.

I talked to a few places that say even the FT-847 is getting up there in age Yaesu still services them but for how long? so I am going to buy the big brother to my Yaesu FT-450 the FT-950 only thing I found odd was that theres no internal power supply and I seen the FT-2000 does have the internal Power Supply but is if I remember right about $1,000 more so I dont know I guess Ill look into it a little more.

I think Im staying away from the all bander I like to monitor all the bands if you seen my desk you would understand LOL. I am really leaning towards the FT-950 though. Its simular to my FT-450 and I love that rig it works great on all bands nd it sports a really nice DSP well we shall see what happens here Theres alot of choices along with the FLEX setup I been thinking about.

 

[949Jake]

I always wanted a 746pro but was always scared away by the horror stories I have heard over the years.

 

[KA5ROW]

That Was Rude

Hell Chuck and get a Real HF Rig
hehe

That was rude. Any time a ham's rig dies it's sad, I know if my radio died right now I would just be down and out. I just can't go out and buy used $1000 radio and forget $2800 for a good one.

 

[Moleculo]

That was rude. Any time a ham's rig dies it's sad, I know if my radio died right now I would just be down and out. I just can't go out and buy used $1000 radio and forget $2800 for a good one.

Hey don't sweat it...That was an old inside joke between Northstar and me. Yeah, you're probably right though...on a public forum noone else would know that but me.

 

[TonyV225]

Yeah North was just being funny whatelse can we do we all lookout for one another well most of the time and sometimes you can only laugh and joke to take the edge off the situation. I get that all the time lately my email and PM box looks like comedy central but again I know its all in good fun so we all understand oneanother if you think about it. Heck I offered to loan out some radios which I do from time to time because yes I to know what its like when a radios down. Theres alot of good people out here some have been here fore quite awhile so as said you cant sweat it or read into it farther than you have to because 9 times out of 10 you will miss the punchline that was actually at the surface So anyways MOLE whats the verdict on that rig?

 

[Moleculo]

I haven't got it back yet. I know it just made it to Icom on Thursday. I figured give them a few days to get to it and then I can request an update. I'll post up what happens

 

[SR385]

Most of my friends that have had recent troubles with the PA in the 746 have had good luck after the repairs. Hopefully you'll be all set.

 

[TonyV225]

Yeah theres nothing worse than a lemon you cant sell it to the next guy because you would be ripping him off and your stuck with the damn thing. I bet after you get it back it will all be good so just hang in there mole I know its frustrating. Im just curious as to whats actually wrong with it so when you hear please post I like to keep notes of this so you can always use it as a reference in the future which may help somebody else.

 

[freecell]

if the problem in your 746 Pro is like most of the others we've seen here then the 2SK2975's on the driver board have not failed. you can thank Icom for setting the bias current for the FETS too damn high causing them to run hot at which point they dissipate the excessive heat through their source connections.

the excessive heat causes the solder connections to become intermittent causing fluctuations in the transmitter rf output. the repair is pretty simple and straightforward and it should be covered under the warranty.

 

[Moleculo]

Well, I got it back today. The work order said "Replaced Bad Driver Board".

Labor of four hours, + parts, shipping back to me and tax. Apparently, I've had the unit long enough that it is not considered warranty. The final bill was $193.76. I was hoping that this would be covered under warranty since it's a known issue

 

[74IN]

Does any manufacturer have good customer service?

Heard similar stories about Yaesu.

I've been fortunate so far, no problems, but it's an eventuality.

 

[TonyV225]

Thats actually not to bad Mole thats about what I payed last month when I had my FT-990 seviced and tuned they found 2 bad solder joints that were causing the buttons to not always function but now its as good as it was in the start otherwise the radio has a perfect clean bill of health they checked and tested everything and added a new memory lithium battery my bill was $192.00 shipped to my door but I am just happy its fixed and was really missing it the few days it was gon.

I can tell you what that Burghardt amateur Center in Watertown South Dakots is fast fast fast and they do great work . They know there stuff overthere. They service all the radios so when a radio is no longer serviced through the manufacture as much of B.S. as that is Burghardt will take care of it I bought my Yaesu FT-450 through them last spring and they were good about that aswell so I kinda stick with them but all good things come to an end eventually and then I dont know what Ill do.

Anyways Im glad you got it back and all is good with it. Im sure your happy reguardless what it costed its done, back and operational. So that kind of takes the edge off although warranty is always good LOL. Thanks for sharing on what the scoop was with the malfunction as I said its nice to share that stuff as I said it can possibly help someone else down the line.

 

[Moleculo]

About a year ago I sent an email into their support asking about the known issues with the low serial number models and what would happen if mine eventually developed one of those issues. Basically I wanted to know if I should send it in before it failed as preventative medicine. The response I got back was that they would warranty known issues for as long as the model was currently being manufactured. So I didn't worry about it. I guess there really is a time limit after all. I'm not really complaining much. I just wish that they would state "2 year warranty", or whatever it is in the manual or website. I can't find the length anywhere.

 

[NorthStar]

That's ICOM For you. But I would expect Yaesu and Kenwood would do same thing.