HRN 335: Fix It! with AC4ZO

View fullsize

Co-co-hosts David Goldenberg W0DHG and Jeff Wittich AC4ZO join Gary to talk about troubleshooting techniques, centered on a problem Gary had with his ICOM 7000 mobile HF/VHF/UHF transceiver. And toward the end, David recounts an ARES drill that dovetailed with a real activation

In this episode, Jeff refers to a compound called bismuth that will lower the melting point of solder, making it easier to remove components from circuit boards - especially surface-mount components. Jeff and Gary visited the properties of bismuth in a previous episode, HamRadioNow #166, when Jeff swapped the driver transistors in Gary's Icom 756PROIII. Jeff will talk about it in a terrible online connection, followed by a telephone connection. Here's a link to Chip Quik. They make up their own name (Chip Quik Alloy), but that's probably bismuth.

Radio Rating? Well, this is a studio show, with Gary's new 3-way split-screen. But Gary set up a working radio in front of Jeff, and took a bunch of still pictures detailing the repair, and you kind of need to see them to really understand what they're talking about.

But that's maybe 30% of the show, leaving you 70% that you'll get fine by audio. Still, we'd feel a little dishonest with a Radio Rating greater than C. Not even C+. We'd like to, but we gotta sleep tonight. 

Below are the pictures Gary took while Jeff worked on the radio (the same pictures you'll see in the video). You can zoom in by right-clicking (or maybe Option-clicking on a Mac, or press-and-hold on a mobile device) to open the image in a new tab.