FT-726 Adventure, Maintenance and Repair Log.

Pictures at end for now

This radio is a dream come true! I got lucky on Ebay with this as a shot in the dark that worked out wonderfully! The seller has done me very well with this and I am certainly enjoying it even more than I thought I would, if I ever got one :-).

I am working on overall upgrades here because of this :-). The antennas (necessarily limited because of apartment living) are being beefed up since I am going to have amps which will certainly help in this environment, both from the pre-amps they have as well as the extra power to compensate for the simple antennas!

I tossed this together rather quickly and will update it and re-organize it some once I get going.

First thing I did was to get power set up for the amps, 2 12V 32AH batteries with a distribution buss so all I have to do is drop the amp in, cable it in and connect the power to it.

Antennas are now being upgraded. The twin lead dipoles are getting a revamp to be able to handle the higher power levels. First is the corner reflector [Add URL to plans as well as a local copy of these] for 70cm. Small enough and with a bit of modification to the mounting arrangement it should serve for terrestrial as well as satellite usage, more to follow. The 2m twin lead dipole is also pending replacement with, if all goes well, a very light weight 2 element beam that will be suspended from the ceiling with an "armstrong rotor" :-) or at least a much huskier 2m dipole (metal element rather than twin lead) to start with.

Yep, having all the fun I thought I would :-)!!! More to follow!

09/06/06

A bit behind keeping up with this :-). Been having fun :-)!

Got the 70cm corner refelctor done and "up" such as it is. Turned out well, I'm pleased.

Been pretty regularly on 144.220 but not hearing too much with the new dipole, I suspect that everyone is off doing things with the end of summer upon us.

Ah, the new dipole. Replaced the twin lead dipole with a hacked set of TV rabbit ears. Should handle a 2m amp and it is now oriented N/S and hanging from the bedroom ceiling rather than stapled to the wall. Better I think. With a preamp and CW I should do fairly well but the contest this weekend will give me some idea.

Found a neat way to get around the need for a PTT switch to be able to key the rig for CW. Paralleled a phono plug off the 1/4" key plug and stuffed that into the PTT jack and it solves the problem for now.

Had a good pass off AO-51 this evening and using the corner reflector (armstrong rotor) I was able to copy it down to about 15 degrees above the horizon. Quite pleased with that. Need to get the PL changed and will try getting into it the next good pass we get here.

Still haven't heard a thing out of the ISS dispite some really good passes here.

QRN on 6 from the industrial park and local computers is not making life good on 6 lately :-(.

Started working on plans for a J-Pole, currently learning how to thread a 3/8" aluminum rod as I have several projects that are going to need that.

More to follow!

08/29/06

Dropped Tony a line about the disconnected diode and got back a great reply. I can re-connect the diode at leasure and until then I can use a foot switch (or whatever) on the back panel PTT input to put the rig into transmit mode and then proceed with the CW! MUCH appreciated Tony!

Everything below needs a bit of re-roganizing!

Just some quick pix. Yes, I am still learning to use the new digicam.

The backup battery was dead, no surprise as the radio has a few years on it :-). To replace the original battery it would require removing the entire front panel and probably more. The original battery is protected against back EMF by a diode so I decided to just let it be.

It was replaced with 2AA alkaline in an enclosed holder. The holder was modified by placing a 1N914 between the positive battery post and the red lead wire. The holder was servo taped to the top of the satellite unit and wires dressed and covered where there might be a potential for shorts.

Seems to be working perfectly and it will be stone easy to replace when those run down, which might take a few years :-).

The tone board (Communications Specialist TS-32P) was set up to require a tone to unmute the receiver in FM mode. Removing the blue OUT-2 connection took care of that problem neatly. I'm not a real fan of FM, but it is there if I need it.

Thanks again Tony :-)!

Discovered that the key circuit doesn't work, that us why the data sheet for the MC14069UB hex inverter was in the docs, I wondered about that. Ordered some from digikey today (08/21/06) and will jump on that once they arrive.

Will have to remove the Satellite unit and probably the tx unit as well, but fortunately the docs for installing the satellite unit came with the service manual pdf!

Pix, of course, will follow if iran doesn't nuke us tomorrow.

08/24/06. Digikey order came in and I dug into the TX board. Found a diode that had been disconnected, not sure why yet (D42). Replaced the MC14069 anyway, it didn't solve the problem. Going to spend some time with the schematic to try to figure out why that diode is disconnected.

Good news is that other than pulling quite a few connectors off the satellite unit and TX unit, it is really easy to get apart, so I won't worry too much about having put it back together until I get this figured out :). Yes, it still works just as well as it did, just no CW. More to follow.

click on any one for a larger view.

Cover off ready to go to work!	Mods all completed.	Tone required on receive disabled.	Backup battery pack tacked to switch and ground side of cap
Station in it's temporary home.