Hi Alan..This has to be a definitive demonstration of logical fault finding in a transceiver.. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to inform and educate the rest of us..73..John.. G4EIJ
Greetings from California. The testing and diagnostics were quite systematic and very applaudable. The running commentary, crystal clear, composed and exhibits years of experience and wisdom. Thanks. The Porsche.... a real beauty. You are the best. Take care and 73s.
I really like these type of videos because this is exactly the type of thing I do myself and am always interested in learning how other people troubleshoot. Thanks!
I lost nearly all my electronics knowledge unfortunately, but those videos are still really enjoyable. I'm doing computer programming now, and it always amazes me how debug techniques for complex systems are the exact same. Thanks Alan!
Excellent work Alan, you take the time and effort to actually educate the viewers of this video. Very nice video work, that goes along with your easy to understand explanation of your troubleshooting techniques of this 1000's receive problem. I will be checking to see what other repair log gems you have created. Thank You, 73s.
I suspected the relay when you found the problem was frequency independent. Glad my instincts are still good. I haven't repaired a radio in nearly 30 years...
Hi. I just wanted to say a big thank you to you for your videos. As a lapsed electronic hobbyist I learn a lot at the same time as getting much enjoyment out of watching. I especially like the explanation drawings and schematics you sketch out when explaining some principle or circuit. Thanks again for providing such an educational source of information.
Nice work, Alan. Sounds like you were under the weather when you did the troubleshooting on this rig. Hope you're feeling better, and thanks for gutting it out to make us a video anyway!
I have this radio and exactly the same problem. Your video really helped not just in the fault but the method you narrowed it down. Huge help. Thank you.
Mine ended up being a few fast switching diodes on the RF board and FET J310's. I think the same relay was already replaced and the improvement mod to save the relay already done.
An Enthralling video, Alan, Steady Hand whilst soldering!!! and Your fault finding Is Faultless. I like Your Style, You put Me in mind of "The Radio Shop" in the States, if only You Blokes were both in Australia, I have an Kenwood TS820S that Needs some TLC to put it Mildly. Thanks a Million for the video, 73s Mate
I have two "D" models in service, today. So far they have been fin rigs. This video offers some confidence that, when failure occurs, the 1000D is truly repairable. K3HVG
Another excellent video, I have repaired a few of these and have one of my own so was trying to jump ahead. My own one has never had a fault. I was expecting a fault around the RX attenuator... or a loose connector in the first IF, the choices narrowed as you progressed.
Nice fix Alan...like your homebrew signal injector. I've always hated those TMP connectors and found it useful to make up a BNC to TMP dongle so it's easier to make a solid continuous connection where it needed to be maintained while I work but for a quick check your injector makes more sense. 73 - Dino KL0S
Very Good Alan and very clear understanding Process of elimination..Yes I like the little Gagits pop up in the test , Yea have to make one of those Hummm dingers lol lol As always enjoy watch the video's Alan 73's
This process is SO great to watch along with your explanations and "logic". Wish I could do that! Inspired to attempt getting my old Heathkit SB-104 working again! TNX de N0HRM
Ahh good video, Always good to see the fault finding process , I have low RX in one of the UHF bands on my Icom IC R9000 but is hard for me to find fault i will have to inject some signals after the filters good idea thanks for vids
Thank you alan for the priceless explanations. In this days i am trying to anderstand the intermittent atunuation that happens in ILS detector its baseband 90hz & 150hz with no s miter.
I often try to guess what the most likely culprit is through the testing process, as well as predict what diagnostic method is going to be used to verify a component. I have to admit, I was way off on this video. I fully expected to see some meter checks to look for problems with the cap, tvs diode, or relay, but one little jumper wire later, the radio was diagnosed. Good stuff
Wow, an inspired approach and method to a daunting task. I have a mint FT-1000D where the S-meter reads S1 without signal. Can a S-zero S-meter calibration be done without a signal generator and oscilloscope? According to the service manual, the sub-RX S-meter calibration is in the RX-2 Unit, and the Main-RX S-meter calibration is in the IF Unit.
I like how you isolated the radio to find the root cause. Job well done! BTW.... Why is it when I order repair parts it takes me significantly longer than you? lol 73's Bob
wow mate excellent video!!! one question though, how would u differenciate between sensitivity and squelch in terms of detecting audio? what i know it seems same but they are different.
Nicely done, and I'm envious of your test gear! Kevin here, from The Old Tech Guy channel. 9 thumbs down on this vid and I can't see a reason why. That always perplexes me. There's 9 miserable souls out there! (ha). Did you take the old relay apart for a post mortem examination? I'm often curious about the failed part. Took a ceramic filter apart once and discovered that even though it was sealed, the interior had rusted metal parts. Probably moisture at the factory during the components assembly.
I did pull the old relay from its housing, but didn't pull the reed cartridge from the coil - so never did a full post-mortem. It's tough to see problems inside a reed relay envelope.
Hi there. New subscriber here. Excellent video as all your others are! I have to ask was that a metcal soldering iron you used ? Just curious as I have one .and think there excellent. 73s.
Really great video. With the first section (before mixer section) having no active components, what was reason for the inline capacitor on your probe. I think you said was to protect your sig gen. What would happen without that cap in situ? Is it because the DC voltage could generate a current into your sig gen via probe? Is this good practice when feeding signals into anything.
Some signal gens don’t like DC being applied to their output. Since the switching diodes work with a DC bias, it is likely there is DC present. Using a series cap is just good practice.
Thanks, I thought that would be the case. I suppose as long as cap is a small value and can cope with the tiny bias voltage then any cheap cap would do. What would be the sort of values you would use for this? Please do more of these walk through videos they are so fascinating to watch. Like a detective story.
what brand or model of vacuum desoldering tool is that or how much does an equivalent unit cost, capable of doing this type of operation? What is the proper wattage setting? Any suggestions? thanks, Chuck
I have an issue with a ft-1000, the main Rx and tx are off frequency by quite a bit(over 1 MHz) but the sub Rx is fine, not sub tx. Any ideas of which board could be the problem? Tcxo seems on frequency. Thanks
Hi Alan. What model solder removing tool did you use ? I solder with Metcal as well, but my Metcal desoldering station has never been as effective as what you are using. Thanks !
Hi Alan,i have the same problem with an icom ic-m710 but i haven't signal injecting directly at the first mixer.if i injecting a -73dbm signal with my signal generator set in the first IF frecuency after the mixer,the signal in the smeter is s9 too? or in the other words,the first mixer haven't amplification the in signal?thank you,great video as always
It depends on the mixer. Some mixers have gain, some have loss. Most have a little loss. In either case, you should generally be safe applying -73dBm, but be sure to include a series cap to block DC.
Hi, and thank you for all the great and informative videos you publish.. I have a question, maybe you have time to help me. I'm about to troubleshoot a receiver which have gone dead. I have a good signal generator to use for the task. But how to best inject signal in the receiver path? Can I just use a regular RG cable with a 50 ohm termination close to the injection tip?
That's incredible. I know nothing about RF. But I want to learn about it. It's some very interesting stuff. Any advice, tips, etc?. I have little projects or circuits really that keep me busy but I'm always looking for new ideas that help my knowledge base.
Top of the day to you bro, can I send you a radio to repair ?? Am trying to buy a ham radio tru a friend in Georgia, but wen he get it, I would love someone to go tru it 100% before I get it in Jamaica west Indies, recap, align, peak an tuned etc, etc can you let me know, please an thanks !!
Where did you get your electronics education, if you don't mind me asking? I'm interested in this line of work but I'm not sure about where to get good training. Thanks.
I got my BSEE degree in 1985 at NJIT (www.njit.edu). However, I got my start in troubleshooting & repair before that, when I worked in a TV repair shop. Troubleshooting and repair skills and techniques generally aren't taught in school however, they are most often picked up over years of experience.
Thanks. I'm familiar with troubleshooting as I'm an industrial electrician and spend most of my time on breakdowns and automating older machinery. I don't have a lot of electronics training. I was looking at Devry, but after the ITT Tech fiasco I'm scared to go that route.
No, the tone results when product detection is used for demodulation, such as LSB (lower sideband) in this case. Most receivers do not use a product detector for AM.
Ok I see. Just for experiment I tried it with a FM radio (baofeng uv-5r) tuned to 89 MHz broadcast and signal generator set to 89.999 MHz but I don't get anything. Well the static is OFF when I switch ON the signal generator but I don't hear the 1 kHz. What is pretty obvious because I feed only the carrier and not the modulating 1 kHz wave. But when I switched the signal generator to FM with 1 kHz and 10 kHz deviation I can hear the 1 kHz tune. I noticed that when I expand the deviation span the signal gets louder and when I decrease the deviation it gets quieter. Seems like this stuff is like kindergarten to every ham radio Hobbyist but I have my fun experimenting with it! :-)
