#59 Yaesu FT-101 Series Part 1 Preliminary Test  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: Radio Tech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2016, 10:16:23 pm
content: #59 Yaesu FT-101 Series Part 1 Preliminary TestIn this video we look at the 10 dollar flea market Yaesu FT-101. I installed the missing boards and components and we give the radio a over look to see where it is electrically. Inside we find the Mylar capacitors on the audio board have heavy moister damage. We also discover the wrong audio board was previously installed.Foxtango websitehttp://foxtango.org/foxtango001.htmFt-101 service manual:http://www.foxtango.org/Manuals/FT-101_SVC_Manual.pdf

author: bitseeker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 05:08:35 am
content: That was a neat $10 flea market find. I've never seen such a collection of crusty caps before, and all on one board. Looking forward to the next part.

author: Michael Lloyd
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2016, 11:54:46 am
content: Nice!. I've got a Yaesu FTdx-560 that I'm slowly working through. I just started on the power supply section so I have a long way to go

author: Radio Tech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 08, 2016, 12:36:15 am
content: Quote from: bitseeker on July 07, 2016, 05:08:35 amYes moister will get these caps. And you are right, never seen so many fail on one board in my life. I have two lol.Quote from: Michael Lloyd on July 07, 2016, 11:54:46 amNever had the pleasure to work on one of those. Sounds like you started in the right direction though. Good luck on it and keep us informed on the progress.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 09, 2016, 08:58:35 pm
content: Good video...Brings back memories.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 09, 2016, 09:01:38 pm
content: Quote from: Michael Lloyd on July 07, 2016, 11:54:46 amTread lightly, the doccumentation on those is not very good.You may find you have to do some reverse engineering to account for the differences between the schematic and what is actually in the box.I have an FTDX-400 that has a short in the filament circuit.One of these days I'll find another broken one and make one good one out of two...The FTDX-400 also suffers from poor documentation, not to mention they made something three versions of the same radio.

author: voltz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2016, 11:24:14 am
content: Great video as always. Those capacitors were in a real state..Been working on a couple of 101ZDs here, one with an audio fault. Also turned out to be faulty caps around the audio chip although these were the electrolytics not the mylars.. Thats on a much later ZD, your 101E's must be really getting old now. Would imagine re-capping is pretty much a certainty on those.Also great to see the IFR going well, finally picked up one for myself recently. Super piece of kit.Looking forward to the next video.

author: Radio Tech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2016, 01:29:25 pm
content: Quote from: AF6LJ on July 09, 2016, 08:58:35 pmThank you Sue.I hope they were good memoriesQuote from: voltz on July 10, 2016, 11:24:14 amThank you.Yep, caps are really old and tired out. I was working on this one yesterday and finding lots of problems with the receiver. Very noisy due to caps. I did record the video but have not decided to upload yet. Interested on how the ZD turns out. Great rigs.Yes IFR is working great. Just wish it had a tracking generator, does yours? I will be looking for a stand alone spectrum analyzer with built in tracking. I want one that has on screen graphics.

author: voltz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2016, 02:10:52 pm
content: Good luck with the 101E. It looks promising already! Doing great there.The ZD is working well now, thanks for asking. Had multiple faults, too much detail to go into on your thread here.. I did make some videos of the repair but as yet i haven't decided if people would understand my North Eastern UK accent lol. Apparently I talk too quickly.. But it was basically a full strip down. One fault i will mention, the output power from the PA was too high! Never seen that before, like around 150 watts. Turned out to be previous owner had 'hot wired' the screen grids.. crazy. But all done nowIFR's.. i actually have two now. One is an early no suffix version just plain 1200. Which cannot be upgraded to Tracking Gen. The other unit is a 'S' version which can be. It did not come with tracking option fitted but i did a simple modification to enable tracking so that now does allow for TG. Great for IF alignments and checking filters.Yes on screen markers etc would be nice!, possibly something HP flavour?..

author: Radio Tech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2016, 03:03:55 pm
content: Thanks, I am going to keep plugging at them.Sounds like someone wanted to see tubes turn red. I seen a lot of crazy mods on these type of radios. Tubes go into meltdown while in receiver mode. Never good.Well if you decide to upload the video ( I would) I will watch them. I even find myself watching repair videos in languages I cannot even understand but enjoy them.Cool deal on two IFR's, Nice! I have been looking at a lot of HP gear, just have to find something I can afford.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 10, 2016, 06:52:01 pm
content: Whenever I have the money there is never an FT-901DM around, that has not been hacked all to hell....Of the old Yaesu radios I would love to have one. (I did repair one once and liked the way the radio was built. )Too many cool old radios, so little time, and money...

author: Radio Tech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2016, 12:35:05 am
content: Agreed Sue. That would be a nice radio to have.An old friend of mine had one and was a great sounding rig. When he passed away folks jumped on it like you would not believe. Like week after he passed.I am with you on the time and money part. Spent most of last week rebuilding an Browning R27/S23 for a guy. Radio in mint condition and I know all he is going to do is put it on ebay and collect. Tells me yesterday he was headed out of town and would not be back in two weeks. There goes this weeks project money. I need to order like a 5 gallon bucket of capacitors. A huge chunk of them are tantalums.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 11, 2016, 02:00:16 am
content: Nice project.I think I am going to have to do the same thing with my IFR>There must be 200 of them in there...

author: voltz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2016, 10:41:10 am
content: A bucket of capacitors.. lol.. Hey Sue, which IFR do you have?..

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 11, 2016, 09:13:04 pm
content: Quote from: voltz on July 11, 2016, 10:41:10 amA 1000-S

author: voltz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2016, 09:40:52 pm
content: "A 1000-S"Nice. Love the build quality of these things.

author: AF6LJ
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 12, 2016, 12:22:42 am
content: Quote from: voltz on July 11, 2016, 09:40:52 pmIt is quite serviceable.My big complaint has to do with the lack of any mechanical engineering in the design of the unit. It looks like it was packaged, by an EE. There are few complex machined parts in the unit and a lot of screws could have been eliminated had an ME had a shot at packaging that service monitor.