Remember as well that when Ten-Tec (or any other major manufacturer, and a lot
of smaller ones as well) buys parts, they usually buy them in bulk, in large
quantities.
I ran into this with the Argonaut 505 I used to have. It's previous owner had
sent it in to TT for repair, but they no longer stock the germanium transistors
needed to do the work. Sure, there are substitutes out there, and we got them
(thanks again Wade!). And they weren't expensive. But I'm buying a handful at
a time -- Ten Tec would probably be buying the parts in quantities of 100's if
not 1000's or more, to make the purchase worthwhile. And let's be honest,
they're not about to stockpile components in that quantitiy for a 40+ year old
rig! Nor would I expect them to be.
73, ron w3wn
On 10/31/14, Al Gulseth wrote:
It would be interesting if someone had the time to inventory the schematics
and parts lists of the older TT rigs to see what is actually there. My guess
is that when it comes to the less common devices, careful shopping at surplus
electronics suppliers/hamfests, using adapter boards with functional
equivalent parts which have a different pinout, and having a "salvage yard
mentality" willingness to scavenge parts from non working or obsolete
equipment could yield most of what might be needed at a reasonable cost. (The
point is that TT generally wasn't the only manufacturer to use these
devices.) There are also retrofit digital displays available. The only real
sourcing issue might be PA transistors (e.g. Argosy MRF477s.)
Then again, these rigs are inexpensive enough that keeping a spare/parts rig
around as suggested probably wouldn't be that big of a deal if you have the
storage space available.
73, Al
On Thu October 30 2014 8:56:53 pm Bwana Bob wrote:
> Well, one can't stock every part, except in the case of a vacuum tube
> radio, like a Heath transceiver where you can have a set of spare tubes
> and a box of resistors and caps. Even with older Ten-Tecs, like the
> Triton, Omni, or Corsair, there are plenty of DIP IC's that might not be
> commmon. If you are in the boonies and absolutely must have a working
> radio at all times (and who wouldn't), the best bet is to have a spare
> radio that you can switch to until you are able to repair the primary
> radio.
>
> 73,
>
> Bob WB2VUF
>
> On 10/27/2014 4:18 AM, Wade Staggs wrote:
> > *The 585 Paragon is New enough to be Dead Bang on Frequency and is very
> > easy to repair. Same thing with the Omni 6 Rigs. Although the Older
> > production runs are best, where surface mount components are concerned.
> > You could always purchase an old Omni D and add one of the DDS kits to
> > it. After adding the DDS Kit, they are very stable rigs.*
> >
> > * 73 from
> > Wade/KJ4WS*
> >
> > On Sun, Oct 26, 2014 at 6:17 PM, Spencer <k5gak@powerc.net> wrote:
> >> Are there any radios that are user serviceable other than the antiques?
> >> If I am in the middle of nowhere and my radio quits
> >> then what?
> >>
> >> Spencer W1GAK
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> TenTec@contesting.com
> >> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > TenTec@contesting.com
> > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
>
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