At 08:55 AM 08/08/10, you wrote: >I have (or should I say had) an exellent 440 repeater running using >an RKR1225. Then one day not too long ago it quit running. > >Cracking open the case, I found an extremely well built mouse nest >sitting atop the transceiver compartment (right beside my add-on >NHRC controller). > >Well it looks like the rats built there outhouse on top of the >controller, with overflow running down into, and across the floor of >the main compartment. > >The fur balls made quite a mess of the cabinet, and most of the galv >compound has rotted away. > >Except for the controller, I should be able to salvage the >transceiver and power supply and charge module, but the cabinet is >shot (aka looks like rat poop). > >Anyone know where I can buy a new cabinet for an RKR1225 ? Maybe >someone out there has a rig thats been zapped by lightining with >little damage done to the cabinet ? > >Let me know offline ... > >Mext time I'll cover all the holes with little screens to keep the rats out. > >Best regards,
You have my sympathies. Been there, done that, have photos somewhere. In your shoes, I'd gut the cabinet, and get it painted. Don't bother with a galv compound unless you are near salt water (like a costal city). Just take it to a couple of local sandblasters and a couple of local auto body shops and get quotes. If there is a custom motorcycle shop near you check with them as well - they usually know of folks that handle painting of weirdly shaped items (watch "American Chopper" some thursday night on TLC)... Note that "sandblasters" is an outdated term, and they use a number of different compounds these days, among the materials are crushed walnut shells and glass beads of differing sizes. Just tell them that you need the cabinet striped to bare metal. Let them decide what material to use. Make sure you get a time quote as well as a money quote, and point out that you will need to schedule things so that it comes out of sandblasting and into paint before it can start rusting. So you will need to do some scheduling and a commitment from them that they will keep to the schedule. In my case i was after cheap rather than quick (like most hams), and the body shop guy made a good case for waiting and running "piggy pack" on someone else paying for the mixing of the paint and setting up of the spray guns. The body shop knew that one of his other locations had the business for a local company truck fleet that used a light brown / dark tan color that was a very close match to my cabinet's color (the old "Motrac Tan"). I set things up so that they'd call me when they got a truck in that needed body work and paint. I'd call the sandblasters and give them a heads up, then take the cabinet down to them the next day, and have the blasted and bare metal cabinet ready to take into the paint booth the day the truck went in (i.e. minimal time for the cabinet to start rusting). I ended up waiting about 9 weeks, but got the call one thursday afternoon that someone had caved in the side of a pickup - right at the firewall. It would be going into the paint booth on tuesday or so. The cabinet was at the sandblasters on thursday, I picked it up on monday, it was in paint on wednesday, and back in my hands on friday evening. Total cost was $50 for the sandblasting and a case of Bud for the body shop (I offered him cash, but that's what he asked for). Note this was in the early 80s and prices have no doubt gone up. Since your RKR is black, the body shop probably has that in the spray gun a lot more often than a color like sandy brown. Get some quotes and decide what you want to do. you may decide to get is blasted and paint it yourself with a few cans of spray paint... Mike WA6ILQ
