What electronics have YOU fixed lately?

[Redbeard U812]

Knew an old man in Ala. that would crack the sliding glass door and kick back with a 22 Mag. and watch Jeopardy, he'd call and we'd go drag it to his barn and skin it for him. That shit got old, once cleaned 4 in two days. They loved that pecan field for some reason. He knew to call early 'cause me and my bother would be drunk by early evening.

 

[Redbeard U812]

Campground electric is notoriously bad. A HUGHES Autoformer is worth looking at. Same for a PROGRESSIVE Surge Protector.

And (most of all) a MICROAIR Easy Start for the AC unit.

Looked that up, nice. But I like that slow start Cap they sell. need to see if my Duotherm QuickCool AC has a slow start.

 

[sonoma]

Just repaired a 29LX I bought off ebay that the protect diode was blown and some one kept trying the radio to see if it would work and blew the trace in 2 places. they had done some mods to it for swing and the solder was so cold they need to stay away from a radio. the radio works just fine now , just hate working on some thing an amateur is trying to mod. so many bad joints if the diode was not blown it would not have worked long.

 

[Chevboy0167]

I replaced the on/off/volume switch in a 1996 Cobra 29 SE with a donor part from a 1995 29 LTD. Someone put a dual concentric switch from a newer unit in and the thing stuck out worse than a sore thumb! Now the grill looks streamlined again!

Blast you sonoma....LOL I have watching the bay for a parts LX for the 1 I got here that looks like open heart surgery! Funny thing is... I have another LX here that needs the power/volume switch. But that can bought for $10 from Golden Eagle Radio.

Keep up the good fight and getting them radios cheap!

 

[sonoma]

Chevyboy the 29LX is getting hard to find for a parts radio now days. 2 years ago they were on ebay all the time cheap but not now days. looks like all the radios are priced high from what they use to be. some are selling used ones for about the same price you can buy a new one for.

the one I bought has echo in it and they changed the face plate to a new one that says echo on it. the radio had a mic, bracket and studs for the bracket for 45.00 shipped. about the best price I have found lately. the radio is very clean also.

 

[Rwb]

I bet the real porkchop fixed a diffrent critter this week

 

[Slowmover]

Looked that up, nice. But I like that slow start Cap they sell. need to see if my Duotherm QuickCool AC has a slow start.

On the Airstream forum (AIRFORUMS) there’s a quite long thread. Informative. Chief engineer weighs in often.

It’s a standard DIY on a new rig for some guys. Especially those with twin units.

 

[Bow]

Fixed my MFJ267 dummy load/watt meter...
Now converting it into a more usable piece of test gear for my bench with a BNC O'scope output Jack, and Power Pole connectors where the antenna switch use to be

 

[Robb]

Actually have to fix a piece of radio gear this time. The Kenwood PS-30 linear power supply I use 99% of the time isn't regulating for some reason. SO I tore it down and am testing each component.

Seems now that I am fixing more electronics; more electronic items around seem to be breaking down and almost asking for their own turn of attention. So it seems - anyway. Kinda like cats - lol. Don't like throwing anything away, and I would much rather fix something than buy something new. So it seems.

Let ya know what I find after I go thru it, so I will update . . .

 

[TheRealPorkchop]

I bet the real porkchop fixed a diffrent critter this week

Yeah I guess you could say that, didn’t I?

 

[Ranch55]

Repaired a PALOMAR 400 amplifier about 2 weeks ago.
It had 4 x SD1446 transistors, ST MICRO brand ....
Replaced with same and changed the bias to AB from C.
Works much better on SSB now.

Repaired a Palomar Elite 600 amplifier yesterday. It had 1 x SD1446 driving 4 X SD1446 transistors. All were ST MICRO brand.
The amp had been overdriven, and the output combiner resistors had scorched. The owner thought he could "fix" it. He replaced the two combiner resistors with 2 - 10 ohm resistors, and installed another rectifier diode, BACKWARDS, ......
Needless to say, that opened all 4 finals and shorted the driver.
I fixed all that, bypassed the driver section, added some input padding, and installed 4 new ST MICRO SD1446 transistors.
Also changed the biasing from C to AB.
Works just fine now and sounds much better on SSB ......

 

[Rwb]

Yeah I guess you could say that, didn’t I?

yep you love a good challenge like that 1 i sent you .great job too

 

[TheRealPorkchop]

Thanks RW.

 

[Rwb]

Thanks RW.

hey your welcome.im very satisfied with your work

 

[Ranch55]

Well, damn ........
The fellow just cannot leave well enough alone.
He has "broken" this radio twice now since I restored/refurbished it and he took it home.
The first time, he thought he could get the turner SSB +2 microphone better. So he opened it up and got the reed contacts all out of sync by bending them some. He then proceeded to use the mic on the Simba SSB. What happened is that the microphone would stay in the transmit position with audio, before the receive circuit would break. Not good. this backfed the transmit signal and audio in to the receive of the radio. I got this repaired about two weeks ago.
Now today, he told me that the radio keeps blowing the DC power fuse as soon as he turns it on.
Now keep in mind I had schooled him numerous times that he had a bad grounding issue with his antenna and coax system. He assured me he had fixed it.
Guess what. He hadn't fixed it.
So yesterday the "fixed antenna coax" swr's shot up to way over 3~4 ......out of an amplifier. I asked if he had actually taken care of the coax/ antenna problem. He finally admitted that he had not.
This fellow is really very nice guy. But he figures he can "jury rig" anything to get it working.
I told him that it will cost him this time, because the previous time was a freeby.
IF, he will be willing to pay the price .......
And that it may take awhile until I get the time to take a look at it. I told him 2~3 months this time.
He is a nice guy, but dang he is his own worst enemy.

Well, yeah, the above post is what I posted recently.
I used the radio for a month, with his Palomar 400 amplifier that I also repaired. I had talked a lot of local, and a lot of DX since I had repaired it the second time.
Earlier this week, he called me to let me know he had his money ready to pay for it.
I took the Simba SSB radio, the Turner SSB+2 microphone, the Palomar 400, and a 55 amp power supply he bought from me for the amp, back to him.
My wife and me needed to do some grocery shopping and grab some lunch while we were in the city. (about two hours)
Upon leaving for home, I called out to him on the radio. He answered right away. He was so happy that everything was working so well. The radio and amp sounded good.
Well, today he called me and told me the radio was not working again.
It took me quite a bit of talking to him, but he finally admitted to me that he had done the same thing again this time that he had done the two previous times. He just could not leave things alone and figured he could make it better. Now it keeps blowing the DC fuse as soon as it is turned on.
I am going to do what Loosecannon suggested, and I told him that I can't do anything else. I have done all I can, but he insists on messing with things when he gets it back.
I'm done with this one. He will have to find someone else to take it to, or use it for an anchor.