Problem#1: UNWORKING DISPLAY
One of the failures I have found in several units is a faulty display. It can be intermittent or permanent and cause could be the same: there is a capacitor which leaks and destroys a circuit trace and/or vias.
Repair done at the other PCB side to replace damaged trace
Problem#2: UNWORKING AUDIO
This could be due to a leaking capacitor in the audio power amplifier zone (bottom side of the rig)
What is below the cap...
Problem#3: PLL UNLOCK / FREQUENCY JUMPS
This is another case of bad SMD capacitors, in this case in the CAR UNIT.This problem manifests itself as complete PLL unlock or sometimes just as some instability. To find out tune a CW carrier and check if it is crystal clear... if not, you can have this problem developing. Anyway, even if you don't find anything wrong, I would check caps, as ALL the units I have checked had this problem.
You can see how bad it could be in the following pictures. Original caps are rated 16V. I replace them by 35V units.
Cleaned board
Fixed board!
Already back on its place
More to come soon... keep tuned!
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