Drake R8 Damaged In shipping - Any Ideas?

[Dominic1967]

I got a good deal on a Drake R8 with matching MS8 speaker on eBay. Pics loked good and showed the radio working. When it arrived, the plastic over the meter had cracked and the radio appeared dead . The seller was great and refunded all my money. He told me to keep it. Soooo.... I would love to repair it, if possible. My skills aren't expert, but I have done work on a lot of radios, though I know my limits. Plus, if I can't fix it, no harm done, I guess.

Here's a video of the radio in action.
My Sick R8

On powering it up, whether via AC or DC, the relay immediately kicks in and white noise can be heard. Only the volume and squelch seem to have any effect- no other functions appear to work. On top of that, when pressing down on the lower circuit board, all of the display bulbs light up and the noise goes away, as if I'm shorting it out. (For all I know this is completely normal. I only discovered it when making sure the ribbon cables were secured.)

I haven't yet disassembled it to ensure all connectors are clean and tight but I was hoping maybe someone had either seen this type of issue before or had some pointers on what to check. I'll be printing out a copy of the service manual shortly. This damage had to have happened in shipping, so I'm hoping it's either a loose connector (one that maybe I'm not seeing yet) or a bad solder joint.

Thanks,
Dominic

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

When you press on the board does the radio appear normal with exception of the noise going away? Try doing same with Squelch wide open and RF gain at full stetting. I would carefully examine the boards to see if one cracked when it was apparently dropped. Also the damaged meter may have a shorted bulb or meter movement. Disconnect those and see what happens. You should be able to find a suitable meter to swap the glass or scale. I would look for damage near mounting posts of the boards as well as large components that have mass that may have broken foil lands.

 

[Dominic1967]

When you press on the board does the radio appear normal with exception of the noise going away? Try doing same with Squelch wide open and RF gain at full stetting. I would carefully examine the boards to see if one cracked when it was apparently dropped. Also the damaged meter may have a shorted bulb or meter movement. Disconnect those and see what happens. You should be able to find a suitable meter to swap the glass or scale. I would look for damage near mounting posts of the boards as well as large components that have mass that may have broken foil lands.

Good call on the meter being the culprit- I'll check that. The radio doesn't appear "normal" at all, regardless of what I do. In a funny twist, I just won an R8A, so worst case, I may just sell the R8 for parts. But I'll investigate cracked boards and shorted meter connections now. Thanks.

 

[Blackswan73]

There is a Drake users group here:

DrakeR8 groups.io Group

The great RL Drake R8 series receivers. All versions! The last amateur and general coverage receiver Drake made. You can also use this group to discuss the Drake SW1, SW2 and SW8 receivers. ********NOTE******** If you are requesting membership, you MUST enter your first and last name in the...

groups.io

There is a person on facebook that repairs drake radios. He posts on the Drake user facebook page. Also, I have a Drake R-8 service manual in pdf format if you want it

B.S.

 

[Falcon9h]

Good call on the meter being the culprit- I'll check that. The radio doesn't appear "normal" at all, regardless of what I do. In a funny twist, I just won an R8A, so worst case, I may just sell the R8 for parts. But I'll investigate cracked boards and shorted meter connections now. Thanks.

Make sure you politely-sternly inform the seller about adequate packing and get the feel of that and their assurance first. At *very* least it should be double boxed with the attitude that some disgruntled employee might smash it against the wall or kick it off a truck just for laughs. You can quote this if you like.
When I worked in an avionics shop I watched the UPS driver kick fragile equipment off the back of the truck and laugh out loud. I never forgot that-and how pissed I was. No phones in those days so no evidence.

 

[Dominic1967]

There is a Drake users group here:

DrakeR8 groups.io Group

The great RL Drake R8 series receivers. All versions! The last amateur and general coverage receiver Drake made. You can also use this group to discuss the Drake SW1, SW2 and SW8 receivers. ********NOTE******** If you are requesting membership, you MUST enter your first and last name in the...

groups.io

There is a person on facebook that repairs drake radios. He posts on the Drake user facebook page. Also, I have a Drake R-8 service manual in pdf format if you want it

B.S.

I just rejoined the Drake users group. I had unjoined when I sold my original R8 and R8B. I went ahead and posted there. We'll see what comes of it.

Make sure you politely-sternly inform the seller about adequate packing and get the feel of that and their assurance first. At *very* least it should be double boxed with the attitude that some disgruntled employee might smash it against the wall or kick it off a truck just for laughs. You can quote this if you like.
When I worked in an avionics shop I watched the UPS driver kick fragile equipment off the back of the truck and laugh out loud. I never forgot that-and how pissed I was. No phones in those days so no evidence.

Yeah, that's why I always end my eBay auctions with "item will be double-boxed and insured, as all my radios are." It shouldn't need to be said, but I just don't want items coming back to me in pieces.

 

[Dominic1967]

It was the ribbon cables. (Is it always the ribbon cables??) Looks like the violent trip to Tennessee knocked most of them loose.
Any advice on the best way to properly reseat the cables on top and bottom?

 

[Blackswan73]

Good deal! In my opinion, and that of many others, the original R-8 is the superior receiver out of the three versions. Even though it doesn’t have the memories, it does have a very nice weighted metal tuning knob and a much cleaner front panel. The main problem with the R-8 is the fragile plastic feet. However there is an excellent how to posted on the Drake user group to easily adapt a Kenwood 440/880s bail to the Drake R-8.

B.S.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

It was the ribbon cables. (Is it always the ribbon cables??) Looks like the violent trip to Tennessee knocked most of them loose.
Any advice on the best way to properly reseat the cables on top and bottom?


View attachment 170896 View attachment 170897

Those look like compression type connectors where you can unlatch the flat cable and straighten it back up. That must have been quite the bump. Be sure to wiggle them a bit under power in case the solder is cold on the PCB.

 

[ditto1958]

I just rejoined the Drake users group. I had unjoined when I sold my original R8 and R8B. I went ahead and posted there. We'll see what comes of it.

Yeah, that's why I always end my eBay auctions with "item will be double-boxed and insured, as all my radios are." It shouldn't need to be said, but I just don't want items coming back to me in pieces.

I used to buy and sell cameras and lenses on eBay and I always packed the stuff for a trip to Mars. More recently I remember selling a .22 rifle, which I double boxed and insured,
but arrived to the buyer with a cracked wooden stock. Insurance covered that, but some people who work at FedEx, UPS and USPS must be sickos.

 

[Dominic1967]

Well, it's nice to know what the problem is but I sure am having a hard time getting this one cable reinserted. How do they even get like this?

 

[Dominic1967]

Not terribly pretty, but it works.

 

[Falcon9h]

Well, it's nice to know what the problem is but I sure am having a hard time getting this one cable reinserted. How do they even get like this?

View attachment 170968

You're gonna have to twist the wire ends tight (gently with needle nose, retin the ends (fast, don't let the iron contact the wire too long) make sure they're all perfectly straight and get it inserted into the header. High, fast heat as opposed to a not hot enough or too small iron which would take longer, thus melting the plastic ribbon and ruining things. High heat-get it on, solder fast. Less time contacting the wire will get the solder on the end melted without traveling down into the plastic and melting it. And make sure the ribbon is straight when you do this.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Well, it's nice to know what the problem is but I sure am having a hard time getting this one cable reinserted. How do they even get like this?

View attachment 170968

I haven't seen stranded conductor ribbon used in that way. The mating connectors either have crimps which it seems they don't, or have a mechanical plastic clamp to press the conductors on a mating surface. Usually the ribbon conductor is flat solid strip.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I used to buy and sell cameras and lenses on eBay and I always packed the stuff for a trip to Mars. More recently I remember selling a .22 rifle, which I double boxed and insured,
but arrived to the buyer with a cracked wooden stock. Insurance covered that, but some people who work at FedEx, UPS and USPS must be sickos.

The worst I found were sellers of antique/ estate stuff who would use heavy wads of newspaper to cushion electronics they happened to have to sell. I was an intermediary for a Japanese buyer of tube testers and I had to repack everything that he bought and shipped to me. It wasn't worth the hassle as stuff would arrive damaged to me, some wooden cabinets broken, needing gluing to be solid enough to reship and then the well dried up on actual serviceable (military) tube testers and I was taking the blame for express shipment of junk or conversely blamed for shipping repair parts by the slow boat.

 

[Dominic1967]

Pretty cool. Thanks, guys.

 

[Blackswan73]

I don’t usually run mine that bright, I feel like it’s a good way to burn out the display. I usually dim mine down a step

B.S.

 

[Falcon9h]

Always wanted one of those but not on a govt. income..

 

[Blackswan73]

Here’s a quick trick to ascertain if your front end is working properly. Tune an AM station then peak signal with the PBT. Then switch to the lowest bandwidth .5 and peak S meter signal strength. Then without changing anything switch through all the bandwidths while watching the S-meter if the 50mhz filters are tuned correctly, the S meter should not vary more than 1 s unit or less.

B.S.

 

[ratboy]

No matter how intensely you ask the sellers to pack a radio correctly, as in double box, etc, even telling them that you will pay to have it packed at a UPS store, you never know if they will actually do it or not. My Kenwood R1000 was packed about as badly as it could have been packed, but it made it from Portland, OR to Toledo in perfect shape, like it was brand new. I had one of the Icom R71's I bought come with a shattered faceplate, even though it was packed as well as I could ever hope for. I bought a replacement faceplate on Ebay on the seller's money and all was well. My first Allied SX-190 was packed badly and the tuning knob got slammed and the dial came loose off the shaft, and it's deaf on some bands. I'm too lazy to fix it, as I have another one that came through in fine shape, foamed and boxed up so well it would have probably been able to have been tossed off a tall building without hurting it. My long gone JRC NRD-515 survived several trips down to Columbus and back without damage, even though 2 of those times the top PC board was just flopping around inside. No screws in it!

Last time I sold a radio, a Panasonic RF-2200, I packed it myself, triple boxed, with a ton of packing peanuts in between the outside and middle box. It went through fine, and the buyer called me to compliment my packing!