QTH.COM Swap Chat

Bought a complete Kenwood TS-850sat station locally off craigslist.
Late model unit, 6mil serial# so it has the good dds chips in it. Have not found any leaking caps in it yet

However it is only putting out 90 watts at best on most bands, tested into a dummy load on cw. Also have noticed
The alc seems to have a mind of its own, works one minute them quits. After warm up and an hour of use gets a funk smell to it. Not a hot or Smokey smell, just a strange smell.

It gets good reports on air and seems to do what it should be doing.

So is it worth having it repaired??? Spent too much on the whole station but might be ahead if I just sell the radio and find a replacement, but then again $300? For a repair or 500 for a new or good used rig????

Money is an object in this household!

Ideas??? Input??? Or putt!

I am sure it's repairable. But the question is, " how much money do you want to invest in an old radio?"
I had a TS850SAT from new. I think I had it for 22 years. It's really a great radio. I only sold it because of its age. I knew there would be a time that it
would quit and did not want to invest in the repairs.

It was replaced with a Kenwood TS 590SG. Best decission I ever made.
If needed, wait until Xmas season and check the price of a new 590 from HRO. They really cut the prices on radios around that time. I did see a used TS590SG on either QTH or QRZ for a tad under $1000 and that's pretty good.

No reason a 590 won't work for 22 years like my 850 did. Do you think your 850 is going to work for 22 more years once you repair it?

Good luck,

de KU3X, Barry
www.ku3x.net