Joined: Jul Fri 13, 2007 1:48 am Posts: 2054 Location: Washington DC
After a gazillion hours troubleshooting this radio, it has now taken the number one spot as the most unfiriendly radio in history for servicing. The "front-end" is buried beneath a rube goldberg bandswitch, which means the only way to access the tubes underneath is to remove the bandswitch. Which, once you have removed the bandswitch [ a large task], the front end is disabled. This is one to stay away from. I am sure it is a great performer if you are lucky to "get" one that does not have a problem in this area, but so far I am batting 100% [ 2 out of 2], which tells me the chances of getting a good one are not good. Perhaps I should get training in laproscopic proceedues using fiber optics and micro-tweezers. This radio is equivalent to the dreaded bandswitch area on a SX-42, if not worse. Just a warning, though I am sure many 47-1230 units have failed with "easy" problems like IF transformers, etc. that would make them simple to troubleshoot. Actually, I am puzzled as to how they did the original assembly and checkout - must have been a bear.
