I bought a little cute TS430S transceiver and will practice my code, buy some other accessories and obtain a license & get on the air. Pops was the ham. The MC-43 has the UP / DWN band change buttons on the mic. I will dig out the ohm meter and test their continuity- I think from Pin 4 UP to center pin 8 GND. And test Pin 3 DWN to center pin 8 GND This radio looks to be just stored - of course for decades. I am asking you Hams out there if the push button UP / DOWN switches on the Mic- I assume are just N.O.- My buttons do not seem to bounce back or they don't seem to depress. Like maybe there is a tactile plastic spring that has collapsed ? Has anyone like repaired or taken apart their mic ? I won't be doing SSB or AM for awhile- the CW key needs to be dusted off and used.. I want to get on the air with this old school I also hear lots of stories about the PA final transistors base & and maybe collector ? tabs or connections will have Au electromigration ending up with cold solder or rivet joints.. It be nice to find a place that could go over my new old little rig....and not trade my the CW filter or the FM option parts.. Actually I love to learn and watch if a Ham in the PHX metro area is experienced with checking it out... I am going to buy a 0.5 kw Bird dummy, an attenuator and find the sensor for the HP 436 and measure the RF power--- I hope to even fire up the Tek 492 spectrum analyzer-too - and see if she putting out a near 100 watts in the various ham bands. I can ramble. For now any feedback about those Mic switches is appreciated. Pops the old timer Ham long buried- had W7KRL- and I hope & think another is using that call sign. 73 Kind regards Fred Mitchel
I believe that's the same mic on my ts-570s. Mine is fairly non responsive. I did take it apart with hopes of cleaning the contacts. The buttons are surrounded by foam that the contract cleaner will dissolve. I didn't go much further. It didn't do anything before but now that i have worked the buttons the Up does work intermittently. It changes the frequency and every one in a while will change the band. I may tale it apart further at some point. I don't really miss the functionality I just wanted it to work as intended
Wow- thanks very much for the quick update K3PDH My first posting on QRZ and a response... I think both our Mics suffer the same condition. I am going to look up your radio- it sounds modern- I will take apart the MC-43S and maybe find some spring back elastomer & dust off the electrical contacts too. I look forward to talking with you on the air for a tiny. Your call sign will be noted. The HF amateur band seem to be a huge frequency allocation - but probably conditions dictate night or day to which frequency works best. May I not be crowded out. I am glad to see the hobby gaining popularity. I could look it up- probably - where do you hail from ? Anyway I will post pics and repair method I try with the MC-43S 73 Kind regards Fred
Maybe I should start a new thread...so my question isn't lost- Here goes I ordered a DC connector assembly for the TS430S. It was something that was featured on Amazon. Tt arrives with two 30A fuses. The pair of wires a (black and red) are 16 gauge. The length of the pair is 32". Does 16 gauge seem whimpy to anyone ? It does to me. So if the transmit current is approaching 20 amps- assuming a good antenna match- the voltage drop maybe 0.53 VDC, the radio voltage goes to 13.07, assuming the source is a 12 volt car battery is being charged to 13.6 VDC... My questions: Was the real original Kenwood plug and power wiring more like 12 gauge ? Does anyone power their rigs with regulated stiff voltage supplies..?- like play the remote sense- and throttle down source voltage to 12 VDC nominal ?.. The power loss thru the power cable 0.53 x 20 = 10.6 watts- that seems wasteful and may warm up the wire a tiny ? But if the original Kenwood power cable is 16 gauge and your pair of leads are 32" - and no fires have erupted- then I am good with that- and won't worry Maybe SSB and CQ -average power over a minute- is less than continuous key down playing the transmitter power game into a dummy. When I work on the re-solder of the RF driver and finals- should I limit key down to not more than 10 seconds...then rest 20 seconds & let the fan try and cool ? Fred - I think you can study the manual- and answer some of your own questions-
