Kenwood ts430s

[The Mad Scientist]

Hi all, i was wondering if someone knows of a qualified tech here in the states that will work on a kenwood ts430s?

I am having issues with it and can't seem to find the cause. Getting reports of distorted ssb, low drive only getting 35 to 40 watts out of it on ssb, and no audio on fm.

thanks for any help in advance....

 

[RatsoW8]

I'm not a "qualified tech" but I did take a TS-430S in similar shape to the one you have and bring it back to life. As fine a radio as the 430S is Kenwood had some quality control issues back then especially with the soldering of the PA section board. There is a lot of info on this topic on the web.

I had the low and intermittent power issue and distorted audio as well. I dissembled the radio and removed the PA board. Re-working every solder joint on that board brought the radio back to 100% all modes and bands. I won't say it was an easy job, especially getting the PA board out but I didn't spend a penny getting it fixed.

Another thing I did was to clean the LPF relays which involved a 12v power supply and 56 ohm, 5 watt ceramic resistor and cycling the band switch to burn off oxidation. That brought all the bands back that were dead but didn't fix the low power or other tx issues.

So, if you're feeling squirrley, have some mechanical and basic soldering skills you can probably do the work yourself. The TS-430S is a great rig and I think one of the best radios you can have for casual sort wave listening.

 

[Shockwave]

The first thing to check is if the radio will make full power on modes that are not audio dependant. For example, will it make full power on CW or FM carrier? What alarms me is the radio has no audio on FM and that can't really be a PA issue. It is possible the entire problem is audio related such as in the mic amp or speech processor. Is the problem the same with the processor on or off on SSB?

 

[The Mad Scientist]

Yes Shockwave, that is what i was thinking as well. It would seem that this rig putting out 95 to 98 watts out on both am and fm with the rec/send switch in the send position. so i would imaging the problem is not with the pa board, but rather a problem with the audio amplification/processing as you suggested . I also had an issue with a loose power cord but I confirmed this evening that i have repaired that issue and it is not the cause.

And it does have this issue weather the processor is on or off, although it is much worse with the processor on. So now i am figuring that the problem lies in the mic amp section, and or speech processor. I have also tried multible microphones ( three brand new stock mic's and my old trusty minuiteman II d104) with this rig and I got reports of the same audio problems with all of them. And being the rigs mic impedance rating is between 500 and 52k ohms I can rule out it being an inpedance issue.

Also, the issue with the fm board, When i received the rig I had no operation at all on fm, and found two of the jumpers in the wrong locations. 2 and 20, and 4 and 6 were reversed. So i reversed them back to their correct locations, after that i got rx and tx back on fm, but no audio. I wonder if something was damaged from these jumpers being in the wrong locations? I don't know. Perhaps an adjustment is needed? I couldn't really find any write up on that fm board other than the installation instructions from Kenwood, and i didn't find anyone in my searches that had any appearent problems with audio on fm.

So what would be your recommendation to look for first in the mic amp and or speech processor sections?

Any ideas Gentelman?

Thanks again in advance.

 

[TonyV225]

Burghardt Radio Repair Inc

 

[The Mad Scientist]

Thank you

 

[TonyV225]

Burghardt is a great place and they have knowledgable techs that do outstanding work and they back there work up. Anything I cant do or dont want to mess with myself goes to Burghardt new or old rigs but there one of the few to take older rig repairs on where others turn you away and they have a fast turnaround time aswell

 

[The Mad Scientist]

I called and spoke with Jim over there yesterday. He seems extremly knoledgeable with what he does. So as soon as I get a chance off it goes.


Thanks for your help.

 

[TonyV225]

Jims a great guy I believe he is the owner and yes he knows his radios and will explain things so you understand just what he is doing or has to do. They are very upfront and honest.

 

[The Mad Scientist]

Thanks Tony.

 

[BJ radionut]

Jims a great guy I believe he is the owner and yes he knows his radios and will explain things so you understand just what he is doing or has to do. They are very upfront and honest.

I have not sent anything their way in a good while....
However they still carry a good reputation on turn-around and standing behind their work....
Their communication is excellent
All the Best
BJ

 

[packrat]

Cliff @ AVVID radio repair. THE Kenwood Tech.

PR

 

[TonyV225]

Thanks Tony.

No problem bud and thats what we are all here for ( to help oneanother out) I know there are other places that also work on these and I just wanted to share where I send things to and know first hand the quality and honesty that Burghardt provides. They are not only a great service provider but are also most importantly great people which in my book is golden

 

[The Mad Scientist]

Thankyou for all of your replies. I have checked some simple things like the mike gain ground for example and it would appear that it is solid. I talkedtoJim over there and explained my issue and he said it sounded like a bias issue, and it could be from a leaky driver transistor.

So I figure Iwill send it to him and have someone with expertexperence look it over and put it back to where it should be. I could handle something simple but bad solder joints on those paper phenolic boards, and or transistor issues should be handled by someone that has more experence than i do. I haven't had the time yet to fimilarize myself with it's circuitry, and the fact that this rig is loaded with static sensitive fet's Iwill let them handle it.


If anyone has any ideas as to what it could be let me know before i send it off.

Thanks to all.

 

[TonyV225]

When you send it out have them replace the internal battery if there is one. I do my own but if a radio is sent to them for whatever reason I just have them replace the battery since its opened and infront of them.