[Yaesu] FT1000D Last Production

[VR2BrettGraham]

K6RB added:

>Pretty much any transistor that goes bad can be replaced with a suitable
>substitute. ICs are a different story. That's why it's good to have a parts
>rig to draw from. Just be resourceful.

Transistors aren't what they used to be anymore - there is
limited choice when it's more like a complete watt & a bit
gain stage in a small SMD package, originally meant for
cellular & low additional parts count.  The DL Freescale
support chap was most apologetic, but it had been obsolete
for some time (that was nearly two years ago).

I was a bit surprised.  Not the end of the world, but the
part was near end-of-life around when the product using it
came out.

The move away from axial lead components is not so bad
as I used to work on SMD - it's this unique or obsolete
component thing that is scary.  Added together... I must
admit I'm not looking forward to when I have to suck a big
special cockroach or the like off a donor rig in order to keep
something going.

Serviceability increasingly is an important feature in
radios, especially outside major markets like NA.  I think
it fair to say that radios are moving away from what we
are used to & it will be harder to keep our favorite more
recent rigs going as was possible before.  As well as
increasingly difficult to do it yourself.

I inadvertently ended up with a donor MP & as time
goes by I'm happy I kept it.  ;^)

73, VR2BrettGraham