A Priceless TS-450S

Nowadays, with diminished spending money, I am always drawn to any defective radio gear being offered, particulary when I feel there is some chance of repair. Before the turn of the century, on or about the PARA presidency of DU6BG (Ed Reyes Sec Gen), I was given a broken Kenwood TS-450S. It had been in a small yacht when it ran aground during a typhoon. Previously. Bob Brooks KB6VAT (SK) had introduced me to this boat owner who wanted to have some repairs done on boat electronics. When the boat ran aground, Whoever was boat caretaker at that time, apparently abandoned ship and local folks started stripping the contents of the boat. The owner arrived just in time to re claim the boat but he had to run after the folk who got the boat electronics and other fixtures. I managed to salvage most of the boat electronics as many had rubber seals which gave them some protection. Unfortunately the Kenwood rig was not really built for sea duty and after it was stripped from the boat during the typhoon, it was in pretty rough shape. The owner gave me the 450 in part payment for my services. I disassembled the rig and rinsed everything in fresh water as soon as I could. Today, after about nineteen (19) years of restoration and repair, I powered up the TS-450 for the first time. The display did not light up for fifteen seconds, which seemed like an eternity. But lo and behold, there was a digital display and the PLL was locked! This means the vital carrier board which contains the presently unobtainable Yamaha DDS chips was still ok and the PLL board was good as well. I quickly hooked up the antenna to the rig but there were no signals being received. I then remembered that the replacement RF board that I got was a "bargain" board and was labelled defective by the seller. I took off the RF board and found vaporized PCB traces near the RF ATT relay. It seems the rig the board came from was hit by a lightning surge. Some components were damaged by the lightning strike and I replaced them. After that, the rig seemed to receive normally. The radio transmitted fine as well. I then installed the wide ceramic filter I had kept in reserve for the TS-450S for many years, The only thing that seems not working is the RF ATT. It seems always on. Maybe I will have to buy a new relay. But on 40m, I would always leave the ATT on anyway. I noticed that the engineering on the TS-450S is slightly more advanced than my old TS-850S. The TS-450S has a more elaborate menu. And compared to the IC-735, carrier point adjustment for USB and LSB with the TS-450S menu system is a breeze. More menus, more things to explore. HIHI

"Bargain", "technican special", defective gear and components may be cheap but it does take some cost, and particularly time and patience to repair and restore them. That increases their value for me which perhaps explain why it is difficult for me to part with them. In hindsight, my comment to the boat owner reagarding the Kenwood as beyond economical repair turned out to be accurate. with the amount of time I have spent on restoring and repairing it, it has now become "priceless" for me. I guess this 450 will stay a favorite of mine for a long, long time. It is a good radio and there is a story behind it, as well.

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