Fabian Kurz (DJ1YFK)Life is too short for QRS... |
Fabian Kurz Gutzkowstr. 29/267 D-01069 Dresden (map) Germany |
mobile: + 49 176 240 79 617 ICQ: 169955833 eMail: mail@fkurz.net Amateur Radio callsign: DJ1YFK |
Update 20.07.2006 - The same problem exists with the Yaesu FT-840 and it can be fixed in the same manner. TNX info KU5B.
I am using the FT-890 for several years now and I have always been very pleased with this small but well performing radio except for one problem: heavy QRH sometimes occurs a few minutes after switching the RIG on. At the beginning it only drifted away a few Hz and jumped back to the correct frequency, later it got worse and the RX even switched off and the display started to blink.
After some trouble-shooting I found out that a trimmer cap (TC 1002) which is in series to the reference-frequency-oscillator XTAL was faulty. Since my abilities in SMD-soldering are very limited, I tried to 'repair' the trimmer by just turning it around a few times and succeeded. Since several month there has been no more trouble with frequency-stability.
The "repair" is very easy, only takes 10 minutes and all you need is a screwdriver. Upon several requests I quickly put this page together to show the whole process in detail. All pictures can be enlarged by clicking on the thumbnails.
After this 'repair' no more QRH occured on my FT-890. I have heard from several other HAMs who could solve the problem in the same way. Of course it would be better to replace the faulty trimmer (update 2005: I did it, because after 3 years the drift came back), but this obviously works just as fine.