I belong to a few other lists. One notable list is the Yaesu FT100/D group. If you have never visited, they are a Yahoo group list. I have an FT100 and its a terrific rig in many ways. In Some ways it is similar to the K2 size power, etc but in no way resembles the K2 as a receiving tool. When it comes to mainline suppliers, I consider Yaesu to be one of the best, or least up til a few years ago. I have many of their radios and on two occasions I have used their repair service with excellent results. That said, if you were to go to the Yahoo list archive, you will find volumes of traffic about the fact they will not service rigs with dead power transistors. Why?, because the manufacturer, Motorola (small no-name semi outfit in Arizona), stopped producing the devices. That coupled with a high failure rate because of questionable and uncharacteristic (for Yaesu) assembly processes have produced a large number of owners who are very disappointed with the product. By shear trial and misfortune, most owners have been able to head off failure. Those of us who have survived have learned how to clean excess flux from the mounting surfaces of the power xistors, add star washers and re-torque fasteners and ground screws, modify cooling fans so they run when needed, run reduced power for limited duty cycle, etc, etc.
The best assurance you can have is a good design team that won't paint you into a corner. How many of you can name even one designer that has worked on your Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood? I'll bet most of you have personally met the designers at Elecraft. THAT makes the difference to me. Al WA6VNN ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
