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Ham Radio Circuits and Repair / Yaesu FT-101 - Hoping to fix.
« on: October 06, 2017, 03:19:00 PM »
I just want to receive on it. I don't intend to transmit with it. I posted a bit about it in the 'introductions' forum. Now I've migrated here hoping to get some advice and and learn ways to get the thing to work properly on receive.
It was given to me by someone who used to use it but I'd say by the look of it and clues in what he said, that it hadn't been fired-up for a decade and maybe two!
I kinda like listening to SW, and it's one way of finding something in English. I live on a small island in Japan and English is hard to come by. I use a few radios to try to find something rather than the local stuff, but I thought the Yaesu must be better at it. And it was! For two days it was quite fun to use. Then I noticed the volume and/or sensitivity was becoming weaker, and after another day or so it only picked up the odd squeak with indecypherable speech mingled therein.
This post was something I intended to do tonight, but I got side-tracked for too long and it's time to sleep - so I'm not going to do much at the moment except begin this thread.
I downloaded the instruction manual, and a short while ago I separated it into sections. It's huge! Some 221 pages.
The FT-101 that adopted me is pretty early I'd say. I've seen a few Youtube vids about the FT-101 and none of them has actual transistors in the speaker output board that I saw. Well that's the age of the thing I've got. It has two large heatsinked transistors with what must be thermistors neatly glued on top.
I shall now try to abandon the introductory thread I started and try to work it out here.
I'm not an expert with electronics, but I can basically navigate my way around a circuit board and I'm no stranger to fixing electronics and adapting them - allbeit on a pretty basic level.
I found that Yaesu had thoughtfully sealed the most dangerous voltage inside the box with the two output tubes. But I discovered my forearm is quite capable of reaching a live part when I'm trying to check something else.
I'd love to get this going. I intend to use this thread to speak of my progress, and also someone might have some great idea I can try. Hopefully someone can say with confidence where I should start looking.
I've already changed a couple of cracked caps - but that didn't do it. So I shall now try to digest the 221 page manual and follow what the author says.
It was given to me by someone who used to use it but I'd say by the look of it and clues in what he said, that it hadn't been fired-up for a decade and maybe two!
I kinda like listening to SW, and it's one way of finding something in English. I live on a small island in Japan and English is hard to come by. I use a few radios to try to find something rather than the local stuff, but I thought the Yaesu must be better at it. And it was! For two days it was quite fun to use. Then I noticed the volume and/or sensitivity was becoming weaker, and after another day or so it only picked up the odd squeak with indecypherable speech mingled therein.
This post was something I intended to do tonight, but I got side-tracked for too long and it's time to sleep - so I'm not going to do much at the moment except begin this thread.
I downloaded the instruction manual, and a short while ago I separated it into sections. It's huge! Some 221 pages.
The FT-101 that adopted me is pretty early I'd say. I've seen a few Youtube vids about the FT-101 and none of them has actual transistors in the speaker output board that I saw. Well that's the age of the thing I've got. It has two large heatsinked transistors with what must be thermistors neatly glued on top.
I shall now try to abandon the introductory thread I started and try to work it out here.
I'm not an expert with electronics, but I can basically navigate my way around a circuit board and I'm no stranger to fixing electronics and adapting them - allbeit on a pretty basic level.
I found that Yaesu had thoughtfully sealed the most dangerous voltage inside the box with the two output tubes. But I discovered my forearm is quite capable of reaching a live part when I'm trying to check something else.
I'd love to get this going. I intend to use this thread to speak of my progress, and also someone might have some great idea I can try. Hopefully someone can say with confidence where I should start looking.
I've already changed a couple of cracked caps - but that didn't do it. So I shall now try to digest the 221 page manual and follow what the author says.