Icom ID-880H worth fixing?
Need some advice please....
I recently purchased a used ID-880H that has problems on UHF. Low power
output is 0w watts, medium is about 12w and high is 35w. The radio has
also powered down on me twice now for no apparent reason, one time was
after a 2-3 minute transmission using mid power on VHF and the other
time it was just scanning. At least on VHF RF power output looks just
fine.
It doesn't seem that it's worth sending it back to Icom for them to
repair @ $92/hr + parts. Should I just run the thing till the rest of
the output transistors come apart and/or try my hand at repairing
myself? Anyone have similar experiences with this radio?
I bought this one just to do D-star, so not the end of the world if it
explodes one day. I can live my life without digital radio. I have
plenty of other VHF/UHF single and dual banders to keep me occupied. I
am new to ham radio, but I've been around plenty of RF in my day working
in the TV industry. I do have signal generators, scopes, analyzers,
etc... at my disposal. I guess the million dollar question is where can
I source the components for the final section of the transmitter.
I guess I'm just more pissed off than anything - 1st and last time I buy
anything off of the classifieds here. I don't want to throw another
$100+ into this radio just on principle, but soldering does bring me joy
in some sick way. If I can figure out which transistor is blown and
find one cheap enough I'd put some sweat equity into it.
Thanks and 73,
KC7JAK
It depends entirely on your ability to repair VHF/UHF radios and your technical ability. Personally, I'd look into it. But I have several decades of experience and a fair amount of test equipment. YMMV.
ReplyDeleteIt may also be worth sending back to ICOM. It all depends on what you want. How much will a replacement radio cost you?