Repairing my radio - Part 3
The spanner wrench finally came yesterday, and I successfully got the PCB out of the radio. Initially, melting the solder off the posts went fairly smoothly, though I had to max out my iron after all. Once I had the defective filters out, I had to ream out the holes because some solder was left behind, blocking them. It was at this point that I started having trouble.
@kd0bpv i read your blog posts...
can you bridge these components out onto a bread board from your bad solder joint area?
@turley Even if I knew where to bridge that pin of the IF filter to, I'm not sure what good that would do. It's supposed to be a hand-held radio. Though... If I carefully cut the wires to the right length, maybe I could jump it, by-passing the hole. Space for the jumper will be tight, but it might just be doable! I'll see if I can find a circuit diagram for that board. Thanks!
@kd0bpv it's a million to one chance, but it might just work 😉
if the board is screwed you might as well give it a shot.
also consider looking on eBay or wherever for a radio with broken receiver but working transmitter (the opposite of your problem).
'as is', 'damaged' & 'broken' are my favourite eBay searches (though usually for musical gear... not complicated as your radio).
@turley Well, that idea almost works. I found where the trace is meant to lead from that pin, and I jumped it using some wire, and the radio came to life! So, I tried soldering the wire to the pin, but there's just not enough of the pin left; I can't get a solid connection. It also doesn't help that the next point in the circuit is so close and small that I cant get working jumper in there. Anyone have any ideas?
@kd0bpv well it nearly works.
Consider if you can get a replacement component with longer pins.
Or if you can take the component off, put it on a little bread board with jumper wires and solder the jumper wires back onto the trace.
Or you can also try to stick the jumper wire in and hold it in with super glue or duct tape (this should also be possible to use with the breadboard).