Recently acquired is a somewhat vintage Icom IC-720. This one had been sitting unused for about 8 years it seems, it would receive intermittantly but then go somewhat deaf. Well I did Google the rig and the pointers were to the step relay contacts.
Yes you had to take rather a lot of it apart to get the assembly out, but in comparison with working on the Kenwood TS-440SAT previously owned (with rather annoying coupled boards) this one with a number of Molex KK connectors was so much easier to work on. It was dealt with by the cotton bud and the switch cleaner, the contacts ending up being a healthier colour, and the cotton bud black.
It does lack some of the "bells and whistles" of the more modern rigs, such as computer interfacing, DSP and an internal ATU. At least it is rather more intuitive in terms of operations, the controls do what they say. The only niggle is the way the meter function switch is hidden under a top panel control.
The rig is set to be something more appropriate for "Vintage Machinery Rally" the group attends in September, you get a few of the "I used to have one of those" meetings. It'll join the Yaesu FT290R 2m multimode on display (and in use).
Merry Christmas to you all!
Andy M0DCD
