For some time I've been looking into getting all my equipment fully synchronised.. There was always a couple of Hz here and a couple of Hz there give or take between them. I recently invested in a 10Mhz GPS time standard for The Shack so not only I can now synchronise ALL the equipment but ALL the equipment is now extremely accurate to GPS time clock standard. Info: (https://www.endruntechnologies.com/timingspec.htm). Now whenever anything gets a realignment done we are EVEN MORE on frequency to 0.01hz Cant beat that guys!

Yaesu FT-100D Sent into The Shack for a once over.. The sender was asking me to check it over before he bought it from the owner, there was a suspect PTT issue noted and if required give it a service/realignment. I checked her over and found no PTT issue using my own MH-48 mic which leads me to suspect a possible issue with the original mic which had not been sent in with the radio. moving on I set about the full realignment procedure which went swimmingly. This is an excellent example of an FT-100D and I hope it's well looked after in the future. Job Done!!

LDG 100 ProII Auto ATU sent into The Shack with the owner saying it was burning up on 10M FM... :/ I checked it out and sure enough the coil and ferrite ring had burned out. It had cooked so bad that during removing the coil from the ring the ring just broke up. I rebuilt the coil with a brand new ferrite ring, fitted it and ran some tests.. he's all working again. I even fitted an inline fuse to keep it all safe :) The owner can now get back up and running on 10M FM again :) Just remember guys that these units were never designed for long overs on FM and also should be kept within the bands they were designed for. ;) Another job done..

Microwave modules MML 432/100 sent into The Shack with no PTT detection. I noticed a few issues at first. There had been either an overheating issue or over voltage as one of the caps was swollen on the DC input rail. Replacing the cap for a higher voltage rated device I moved on. As the cap hadn't leaked I'm guessing overheating issues, which moves me on to the other fault or faults. No PTT detect and intermittent power led also?? Dry solder joints!!.. After looking over the whole amp I found a few suspect solder connections which I reworked. After that I ran some tests and the amp was alive again. Luckily no finals were damaged and the amp was doing exactly what it says on the tin. Just because an amp ain't working don't always mean its the transistors.. Eyes open guys! :) Sorted!

I've got Cobra's and Yaesu's awaiting parts and I think the suppliers are still munching on Easter eggs!!.. Where are all the bits I need.. ?? This is nuts!.. LOL

Easter is here and I cant do anything over the break as I'm currently awaiting parts for a few radios etc and the postman is on holiday.. So it's fun time!!.. Post photos of matching gear you have in your collections! CB or Amateur gear.. Here's My Harrier CBX and Matching PSU Old School LINE UP! lol

Alinco DX-70 Sent into The Shack with a few time consuming issues. I switched it on and my heart sank.. I obviously thought the worst. The LPF (Low Pass Filter) Stage had a couple of duff relays on the 40M band causing a much reduced RF power output on 7Mhz. Once these relays were replaced the power shot up again. But you could tell the radio needed a right good realignment as the power wasn't at quite the right level. Moving on I decided to pull the head unit apart as the owner said the controls had a mind of their own which they did.. The volume control was intermittently loud and noisy, the selector control was all over the place which is a common fault. I did my usual strip down and clean up of the controls and there as good as new. I also found a few dry joints in the head unit socket which was causing the volume intermittent fault. After testing the head unit and making sure all controls are solid again I ran a full realignment. All went swimmingly and I even gave it a quick clean up.. She's all Shiny and working fine again. Sorted!

Icom IC-737 sent into The Shack with no TRX on the 20M band. After a wee bit of investigating I found the VFO voltage to be way too high all the way through 10.5 to 14.999. Not only that which was causing the issue but the other VFO voltage readings were off.. After I realigned the VFO stages I ran a test to find 20M was locking just fine. I decided to go through the rest of the radio just to be sure nothing else had been SCREWDRIVERED!!.. All good now and back to being a good working set. Job Done!

Superstar 360FM sent into The Shack for a once over. This one was in near mint condition on the outside, It had already been recapped and partially reworked but not cleaned up. The UK channel modification was working as was the rest of the radio but the workmanship left something to be desired LOL. However I wasn't asked to strip her down tidy it up or anything. The owner asked for a full realignment and re-fit the roger beep switch as it had been snipped off for some reason. Once that was all done the receiver was more sensitive and the rig is on frequency once warmed up to room temperature. Job Done!

After a nice long weekend in Scotland at my Parents 50th wedding anniversary I spent the last two days working on this beast! Ham International Jumbo II Sent into The Shack in a but of a state.. The only band it would work on is UK channels, The only mode that would work is FM. When I opened it I noticed the low and mid band crystals were missing, there was an EPROM PCB under the main board and and I could see there was the usual leaking cap near the audio stage. From the mode switch 3 of the wires were disconnected from the main PCB and the 10.695Mhz IF filter was missing all that and noisy pots I decided to let the owner know what needed doing. He wanted to keep it and decided to get everything up and running. After a hunt for crystals, one of which I couldn't get I opted to make the rig operate from 26.956 to 28.305 instead of the usual 26.515 to 27.855. Still three bands just not the original three. moving on I made the EPROM PCB switchable and added an offset to save the operator having to mess with the KC shift on UK FM mode. I replaced all the electrolytic capacitors for upgrades including the PSU. Fitted the filter and AM-SSB wires back on to the main PCB. I then reworked the PCB in order to eliminate any further dry joints. I cleaned all the pots and switches.. Moving on I went through the realignment procedure and added a modification to the KC shift pull switch which keeps the rig on frequency when pulled on. I put the rig back together and cleaned it up a bit and she's back to being a good working set. Job Done

The Shack has just over reached 6000 followers.. I'd like to thank everyone for the ongoing support over the years. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading my posts and please do comment whenever you want. When I started this page it was to let the local operators see what I get up to in The Shack.. I never ever intended to get this page the world wide attention it now has. I'm deeply humbled by the interest you all take in what I do here. All I can say is THANK YOU ALL.

Yaesu FT-897 sent into The Shack deaf as a post on RX. This is a well known fault which involves replacing all three 455kc filters. The original filters corrode over the years, they are not sealed units. The new ones I've fitted are sealed. The owner also asked me to do the MARS/CAP modification which allows him to operate on the 60M bands, well anywhere really Hi.. After the filters were replaced I ran another test on the receiver and she's back up and running again. Job Done!