Anyone good at soldering SMT? (nothing fancy needed)

[drgrant]

Basically I have an IC2820H that is languishing doing nothing only because of one reason.... the transmit audio sucks on it.

There are some mods floating around that involve removing a cap and soldering a bypass cap in place. I have enough ability to remove the cap but I don't trust myself with the iron enough to put a new one in place....

http://www.worldwidedx.com/icom/58692-icom-ic-2820-tx-audio-modification.html

Any of you guys want to take this on, for a case of your favorite brew, or some cash, let me know...

-Mike

 

[Bob J]

Mike I have a SMT rework station that I bought for a project and has been sitting in my basement unused since..... You are welcome to it if you want it....

 

[GaryW]

Basically I have an IC2820H that is languishing doing nothing only because of one reason.... the transmit audio sucks on it.

There are some mods floating around that involve removing a cap and soldering a bypass cap in place. I have enough ability to remove the cap but I don't trust myself with the iron enough to put a new one in place....

http://www.worldwidedx.com/icom/58692-icom-ic-2820-tx-audio-modification.html

Any of you guys want to take this on, for a case of your favorite brew, or some cash, let me know...

-Mike

Mike,

I am a pretty good solderer. I have my own "third hand" (any good solderer should own one - and know what I mean!) and a micro-fine tip. I have ripped diodes and caps from Sony equipment to replace them. Let me know if I can help you out.

-g-

 

[GaryW]

BTW, crackling and poor audio is usually the sign of a leaking capacitor. I used to replace the 1F caps in our old Merlin II, although you could not find a schematic anywhere.

Sounds like you are on the right track. I replaced so many 1F caps I should have had a degree in it.

 

[GaryW]

In thinking about it, they were 2200 uF caps (the Merlin DID have 1F caps though) but the process is the same. I just need some "angel hair solder." I have thicker solder used for electrical wiring, angel hair is better for electronic soldering as it does not need to be "cooked" as much.

 

[drgrant]

Mike,

I am a pretty good solderer. I have my own "third hand" (any good solderer should own one - and know what I mean!) and a micro-fine tip. I have ripped diodes and caps from Sony equipment to replace them. Let me know if I can help you out.

-g-

BTW, crackling and poor audio is usually the sign of a leaking capacitor. I used to replace the 1F caps in our old Merlin II, although you could not find a schematic anywhere.

Sounds like you are on the right track. I replaced so many 1F caps I should have had a degree in it.

Yeah, this is just a problem endemic to this particular model of radio... every 2820H sounds "meh". It's one of those "why did they do it this way?" problems.

In thinking about it, they were 2200 uF caps (the Merlin DID have 1F caps though) but the process is the same. I just need some "angel hair solder." I have thicker solder used for electrical wiring, angel hair is better for electronic soldering as it does not need to be "cooked" as much.

What gauge do you need? I can look through my stash... I think right now the thinnest I have is .062, but I know they make it
thinner than that even.

-Mike

 

[WBspectrum]

I'm actually really good at this but I now longer have access to a rework station. If anybody has a station I could use, I'm up for it

 

[Snora]

You shouldn't need anything more than a decent soldering iron to take care of that. Get a leaded 10uF cap (not SMD), solder one to the mic input pad since its huge, then position the second one to the tiny pad and a spot of solder solves your problem.

 

[Snora]

Also wondering why C619 wasn't pulled to isolate the input of the HPF.