It stands to reason that the repair shop did not even open the case. Class A+ diagnosis and repair. You truly "Transmit" a passion for the work you do and I just feel fortunate that you are willing to take the time to allow us into your shop and look over your shoulder. Thank you!
I know that this is an old video now But this guy is Something else he is a Genuine non-programmed human being. Clearly see his teachings are A1 and a good Electronics engineer will tailor his kit to do the job. Utmost Respect for this Guy for the time he takes to Bring all these films and teachings without him Ham radio would take a serious Dent in the fact that the amount of Grade 1 repair engineers is falling. So he is Gold.
Good solid and analytical approach to troubleshooting. Best of all was asking to find out how exactly the owner is using or abusing the radio. It does make it quicker to find the source of the problem in all sorts of electronic troubleshooting.
Great video. I was looking at this to help me understand why I was just getting static with no signals heard and no transmit. I read the manual (duh....) and still couldn't figure out what was happening so I searched and found this video. I was encouraged by his clear and logical troubleshooting sequence and emboldened enough to open up the the top case and peak in. His recommendation to change the memory cell was helpful and I changed it. My guess is the previous owner never changed it as it looked a bit tarnished and slightly corroded. There was nothing obviously burned, exploded, smelly, etc., so, I reassembled and powered it up again and, Viola! It's working! I'm not sure changing the lithium cell did much and the manual didn't say anything about it other than it was the memory keep-alive but maybe it has undocumented/hidden function. Again, great, clear, and helpful video.
I'm retired an I spend a lot of time on the computer ,on youtube, watching your very good videos, they are very comprehensive and I really enjoy all of them.thank you sir for sharing.
Another great vid. One of the things I like about your repairs is how you also deal with potential problems as well as the actual problem. Touching up all the solder joints on that board is something only very few engineers would do. In fact, the majority would have only disassembled to the point where they could see that board, seen those broken joints on the jack, re-applied solder to them and then put it back together.
Fantastic to see your work Mr.Carlson Learns a lot only to see you working and what NOT to do and so on. Really hope you continue this online work :) Just fantastic to see your work m8
I would give ANYTHING to know HALF of the things you've forgotten, Mr. Carlson!!!!! Another superlative video! I got a free Astron power supply at a swap not long ago. Using your investigative technique, I found the culprit was a dead bridge rectifier! No big deal for you, but it 's a gold star for me! Thanks again!
Something so simple causing such a big problem ... I would not have thought about the head phone jack being the problem unless the owner said they use the headphones a lot of the time. A real strip down needed for this repair, good thinking that the closed contact allows the speaker to operate ... I bet the repair shop did not want to do the hard work of the strip down ... good idea to insert the jack and move it around just to listen for life and your detective work paid off really well done on solving the fault. Subscribed and liked Great video.
... just can't get enough from your repair & modify videos! You doing a great job! Thank you for taking the time to enlighten and entertain us/me :) Your Channel is definitely a 5 star channel!
Great videos! I fixed mine, found TWO shorted 100uF 16v electrolytics. One on -9v line and other on -5v line. In spite of this it powered up looked normal (except for blinking PLL lock problem) and did not smoke any traces or parts with those shorted caps.
I have just completed the same repair on my Faithfull FT 900 hear in the UK.I followed every step shown in your excelent vid,100% success 🙌. Many thanks for the video ,it was invaluable and has restored a old Faithfull.Steve M0ALH
Hi Mr Carlson.. It is a real pleasure to see someone who enjoys electronics and HAM radio making such detailed videos with regards to repairing HAM radio equipment. I would love to meet up with you at some stage and make a video together fault finding and repairing some HAM radio gear. Best Regards John M0XFX from the UK
I have an FT-450 that uses the same jack. Apparently, there's only one manufacturer of that jack in China. It's cheaply made and goes south a lot. Fortunately, the Yaesu service center sells replacements for a few bucks. Thanks for an informative video!
I have an FT 900 that I was using for Air Force MARS in the mid 1990's. One September night after shutting down my station at the conclusion of the MARS net, I neglected to disconnect the antenna. That night we had a severe thunderstorm and a nearby lightening strike took out the radio. It was completely dead and wouldn't even power up. I contacted Yeasu to see about a repair and they refused to repair it saying that the radio was obsolete. I boxed the radio up and put it away. A few months ago I contacted a repair shop to see if they could repair the radio and they agreed to look at it and give me an estimate. I was boxing the radio up to send to the repair shop and decided to include a copy of the service manual with the radio for the convenience of the repair shop I was thumbing through the manual and noticed a reference to what the manual called a "Hard Reset" using a tiny little switch on the bottom of the radio. This was accomplished by flipping the switch, powering on the radio and then flipping the switch back to the original position again. I had already tried the "Soft Reset" but, since the radio would not power on, it was not possible to accomplish a "Soft Reset". Well, the "Hard Reset" did work. I could find no reference in the Operating Manual for a "Hard Reset", only for the "Soft Reset". Only the Service Manual had instructions for a "Hard Reset". I saved a lot of money because the radio was not really broken, but I lost the use of the radio for about 20 years. I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. Always disconnect the antenna when you are not using the radio and when all else fails read the manual. Of course the Service Manual did not come with the radio, but now you can find almost any manual on the internet. A word to the wise, download a service manual for every radio you own and read it. The Service Manual contains valuable information not included in the radio Operation Manual. Paul, I always enjoy your videos. I envy your skill and intelligence. I salute you sir. John K4AGO
Another excellent video. I am amazed at the professional approach you use in repairing a radio. One recommendation. If you would have brought the schematic in for a quick look to show the viewer how the external speaker jack is tied to the internal speaker jack. Just another chance to learn even more. Excellent video!!!!
Good presentation! I have several of these radios and found it to be quite interesting. I especially enjoyed your notation of the battery 2032 replacement. I like the older Yaesu radios as they are not menu driven and a simple to operate. Hopefully I will be able to keep them in functional condition for years to come. THANKS! 73, de KB0MM
Haha! I like how you point at all the things that could be the problem, while giving an explanation on each suspect, all while your brain has already taken it apart and fixed it. I appreciate you taking the time to teach.
Quite simply, I’m hooked. I’ve spent my entire Saturday evening watching several of your superb videos and I’ve been totally engrossed. Thank you sir for spending the time to put these together. Bravo to you. Greetings from Wales. MW6WHL
If you could find no trace of the repair shop having been in there, I'd question whether they actually even opened it up. Years ago we had a TV set going bad with an intermittent (and eventually solid) green screen. Took it to a local repair shop, they came back and said it would need a new picture tube, $300 or more. We said no and brought the thing home. With nothing to lose I took it apart outdoors and found the inside was absolutely filthy with dust, and no marks whatsoever that they'd even touched it. I blew all the dust out and gave it a good cleaning, and the thing worked perfectly for another 2 years before it finally went belly up.
Another great video that highligts the bennifit of careful diagnostic techniques! Modern radios seem to be designed to fail as ther would obviously be a lot of stress on that and the MIC jack.
Great vid thx. I just hate it if somebody has already did try to "fix" a device and then when they can't it is your turn :-( Also love your lab with the solid older equipment great set up.
Mr Carlson's Lab I watch all your stuff but you are usually so far over my head I can't contribute much >_< I'm about halfway through your FT-1000 video and a lot of the 'thrown together' stuff you have found are common in my industry as well. A half done repair is almost always worse than a virgin problem by far.
I wonder, too, as others have, if anyone actually went in and tried to troubleshoot this. Did the owner get a bill for a non-effective repair? Love the de-solderer you have; must be a real time saver. Finally @15:52...glad you said 'there you go, jacks out'...could have been cheeky and said something a little bit [off]....Keep up the great vids!
I'm a new subscriber and binge-watching all your videos. I can't get enough! Fantastic content and very well done. I can see the experience and knowledge you bring to the table. Keep up the great work and please don't ever stop putting these vids out!
Nice series of videos you have here. I worked professionally as an electronics technician and I have run into few individuals who have the grasp you have with electronics. I am curious about your background/training. You have a Lab second to none. I worked for government and we had no where near the equipment you have available to you. How did you build such a Lab. It would appear you have a lot invested. Thanks very much for sharing. I enjoy watching a true artist at work, and I am learning a lot believe you me. Thanks very much.
Thanks for the comments Stephen. One of these days I will have to do a Bio. I have been a Ham for a long time, and the swap meets have favored me well. Glad you enjoy the videos, I will try to keep them interesting :^)
Wow! the audio is one of the easiest things to trace. First, I always check the jack to see if there is any active audio by using my tracer, even headphones could have been used for a quick check. It honestly makes me wonder if the radio was even disassembled. But, what ever the case, a very nice demonstration on troubleshooting this type of problem.
o man, this bring memories, when my dad used to push me to learn all this, he is 70 and still doing this. awesome job sir, much respect. i wished i woulda kept leaerning from my dad :(
Thanks so much for your excellent video! I will watch them all but I already hope for one which explains all the tools on your bench. I have the same Knight signal tracer, it was fun to see that someone else uses that old but excellent tool. Cheers from Indiana!
Your videos are great! Have you ever worked on older equipment, like a Uniden Washington? I just dropped mine off at a repair shop because it wasn't outputting any sound, and now wonder if it was just the headphone jack!
ARRRRG is should of watched this video weeks ago I passed on a offer of aFT900 with no RX audio only £50 / $75 even if it wasn't the same problem I should of taken the set ! Keep up the good work Mr C
Very simple failure which may occur frequently especially if you use the headset often. Thanks for your practical suggestion to repair it by simply checking out the possible cause of the missing audio.abele suisse
Do you take in radios for repair? I have an ft-900 with the PLL unlock error code. And an FT-847 with a broken know, I have the part. If you don't fix them for people, do you have someone who does? Thank you, Tim Harper W5TAH
Wouldn't it be nice if all fixes were this easy! Do you think the solder cratering was simply due to mechanical compression stresses from the push-pull forces on the phone jack or to poor factory soldering to begin with or to poor QA/QC at the end of the line?
+Robert Jacko The operator of this radio is in CW mode most of the time, so the headphone jack has a lot of mileage on it. I think they could have used a better jack design, and made the pad area on the board a little bigger.
Do you think it causes health hazard to manually handle lead/tin solder with bare hands as it could leave trace amounts of lead on your hands? I've been paranoid lately of accidental lead poisoning.
Mr Carlson, I have a Cobra 29 LX digital model, about 3 yrs old. I just ordered me a new Turner RK56B microphone and I’m wanting to add a little amp on it also. Can you suggest which amp would work with this radio the best?
This was so clear and concise, even I think my sausage fingers and short attention span could do this. You are very articulate, and speak lamaneese quite well. Thanks for your time, and I will be watching in the future.
I do respect your abilities and such. I have been doing electronics repair for decades at the University of Illinois and at my ham work bench. I have a trashed TS-950 that someone tried to fix. I'm thinking about doing a totally cold repair video. One that would reveal all the confusion and second guessing that I usually go through. :)
I stumbled onto your channel by chance and i have subbed you. Sir are a very clever chap i dont do electronics i go to card level only (Konica copier engineer) and i if i can see it blown i can fix it (caps ect) What i find with your channel you take the time to explain to people like me on what is going on inside those little black thing called ic,s :) just makes you vids SO much more interesting. Thank you for taking 5 times as long to explain the repair and your thoughts on what is going on inside those VERY complicated boxes of tricks. Steve UK
Great to see you working here m8 fantastic to see this videos of yours I have both a Sommerkamp 757 GX and a Kenwood TS-850 what need some service and the service we have here says they don't have the service guy anymore :) Only advice from them is BUY NEW lol This radios you could fixed maybe ? Both radios function but 757 seams a bit out of frequency and light comes and goes sometimes about the Kenwood TS-850 must be something cause it seams no differency when I change from USB to LSB but still it work very well but i am afraid it maybe send on both LSB/USB at the same time ? is that possible ? Can that happen ?
Hi, Congratulations for the video was very good, I need help to repair my ft900 that is with the display flashing in all bands, can you give some information about the problem?
Hi Frank. Click my channel name under the video you are watching, this will take you to the main page. You will see a "video's" tab there, click that tab to view the entire list of video's.
Although this particular repair seemed easy for you, it would not be for many folks. Allow me to ask a rather bold question. Do you repair transceivers upon request? Obviously, I would think a cost would be involved. You probably have been asked this question in the past.
I think I would have replaced the jack anyways after all the work you did with disassembly. Every time you insert a jack it scrapes off a microscopic amount of metal and they just get worn out....plus the spring tension weakens as well. I would assume the jack is fairly inexpensive so with all this labor time it deserves a replacement. Since you are in favor of leaving things "better than factory" our shop used to have an electrolysis gold plating kit (pace?) so you could gold plate connectors, edge connectors etc to give them really low resistance! Pricy but worth it for expensive mission critical industrial applications since I see you repair cnc gear that costs the customers a lot when it goes down...
+Silvio Pinheiro Hi Silvio, I try to keep the call off youtube, I find it creates separation. Just google my youtube channel name and it will show up :^)
Mr Carlson's Lab I always see a lot of people saying bad things about the IC-746, random problems and other things. What do you think about it? I really like videos like this!
Sir I have problem like this: somebody is in 7.100.00 and i can hear him so good in 7.099.85 and he hear me good in 7.099.85 when he are in 7.100.00. what should i do or adjustment? pls help me
Hello Mr Carlson, I have an FT-890 which is now doing the same thing my old FT-900 did, blinks out from 14.5MHz down through the 160 band, then comes back in for the Standard Broadcast band. I presume VCO caps? Have you a ballpark guess, ballpark cost for average repair of that type? I love the little guy, but is currently only working fine from 17m & up. I'd love to have it back for my 2 favorite bands, 40m & 80m. (wimpyradios - gmail)
Logically, if it looks like they never got inside, it's probably because they never were, which would also explain why they never found the problem with the phone jack either. :)
