PowerHouseCom
Member
Yes, as the subject states, I've inherited the dreaded ICOM IC-720A from my now deceased uncle. It apparently had problems, as he had the cover off the unit, either working on it, or intending on working on it. He was a very capable radio repair guy, so I'm sure whatever was going on he intended on diagnosing and fixing. I'm not too terrible with repair myself, but certainly not to the extent that he was.
After doing some research on these units, it appears that they suffer from a terribly designed rotary switch relay system. I'm assuming that the unit I inherited has this problem, as it clicks for quite a while before locking into a band.
QUESTION: Is this even worth playing with and attempting to perhaps clean the contacts? I've also seen information online where people have completely removed the mechanical portion and installed electrical switching. I'm sure that I am more than capable of doing this based off the schematics I've found, but should I even bother?
I'm not yet a licensed ham, but intended to be sometime this spring/summer. As of right now, I was just looking at resurrecting the unit to listen. For some reason we can not locate the mike for the unit at this time, so it's definitely listen only anyway...
After doing some research on these units, it appears that they suffer from a terribly designed rotary switch relay system. I'm assuming that the unit I inherited has this problem, as it clicks for quite a while before locking into a band.
QUESTION: Is this even worth playing with and attempting to perhaps clean the contacts? I've also seen information online where people have completely removed the mechanical portion and installed electrical switching. I'm sure that I am more than capable of doing this based off the schematics I've found, but should I even bother?
I'm not yet a licensed ham, but intended to be sometime this spring/summer. As of right now, I was just looking at resurrecting the unit to listen. For some reason we can not locate the mike for the unit at this time, so it's definitely listen only anyway...
