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Strange Issue With My Yaesu 857D
#1

A couple of weeks ago when I got on the 6 meter net my Yaesu 857D was "beeping" three times. I though that maybe this was an SWR warning but checking the antenna was set for 6 meters, power out was OK and the SWR was zero.

Tonight when I tried to check into the net the radio shut off on me but I was able to turn it on and get on the net. Again I was wondering what the issue was. Well after the net I turned the radio off and put the mic on top of the StepIR box. All of a sudden I noticed that the radio was turning on and off by itself. I suspected the 35 Amp Astron had issues but the meter said 13 volts no problem. I could not turn the rig on. So I turned the power supply off and on again and the rig came on. Then went right off. So I got my VOM out and hooked it to the terminals. No problem 13.5 or so volts out on the Astron steady. I turned the radio on set the rig to 6 meters and just let it sit, no problem. I picked up the MD-100 desk mic and the radio shut off. Figured maybe the mic was going bad. I hooked the hand mic up and everything seems to work well. I connected the MD-100 back up and the radio shuts off. I was able to turn it on and I started to try and figure out what the problem was with the mic. The MD-100 is set up with an RJ45 connector at the radio and an 8 pin round on the end of the mic. It's set up so that if you have an 8 pin round, you just reverse the mic cord and plug the RJ45 into the socket on the base ot the mic, (which has an 8 pin round and RJ45 in parallel for just that purpose). I shook the cord and the radio beeped as I was shaking it and eventually shut down. Problem found. The 8 pin round connector has a bad, loose or shorted wire on it. It's not on the radio end but even though I guess from movement of the mic all the time wore the connection at the mic end. Fortunately I've got about a 6 foot RJ45 straight cord that I can use until I can get a replacement for the curly cord from Yaesu, or maybe HRO has curly cords. That little plug is a bear to solder, it's probably just as easy to replace it with a new one. If they are reasonable I may get two in cause something ever happens to the one on the 1000 MP.

Well at least I don't have a major radio problem that has to go back to Yaesu.


Al - N1API
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#2

I got out the small Phillips head screw driver cause that's what is needed to take those real small, (maybe number 2 or even number 1 screws) out and pulled the connector apart. I found two broken wires, one was the ground, probably return ground from the mic cartridge and one other not sure what that one is. Others have that semi-frayed look. The ground may have been attached with a thread and broke as I was removing the connector's cover. The other one may have been the one that was broken and could have been hitting other pins as I flexed the wire. I don't know how they solder those especially since the ground pin has a very short piece of heat shrink over it. The heat shrink is just a long as the wire. How they ever got that piece on and shrunk after soldering it I'll never know. I've soldered some of those before but surly not with such short wires. The jacket is only stripped about 1/2 to expose all the wires. Maybe I'll take a shot at it sometime but I got the email from Yaesu as to the part number to order. That wire is on the microphone that came with the Yaesu 1000 before I put it on the 857D so it's seen some years of use and abuse.

Al
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#3

This morning I managed to order a couple of new mic cords from Yaesu Parts Department, they should be here by the end of the week.

But I also got out the soldering tools and decided to take a shot at doing a repair on this one. After stripping down and tinning the wires the next task was to clean the old wires off the connector pins and get new tin on them. They are concave so if you fill them with tin then you should be able to heat the pins and lay the wire in there to cool off.

The hardest one was the center pin which also is the microphone "hot" wire. I bent one outside pin slightly and (with shaky hands) managed to get the center pin done. Then the rest the 'ol hands are not as steady as they used to be when trying to do delicate work! But I did manage to get a decent repair done, checked the audio out on County Hunter and they said it sounds fine, no humming or breaking up.

So now I have a "good spare" and two new ones on the way, good thing to have anyway just in case.

So "case closed" as they say.

Al - N1API
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