Help with a Ten Tec RX340

[fpeconsultant]

Hello all,
I have an (old) RX-340 and recently the light (bulb?) that illuminates the S meter has burnt out/died.
Is there anyone interested in fixing this for me if I were to UPS or Fed Ex it to them - of course I anticipate paying for this to be done.  I am near Chicago so if you are too I would be willing to drop it off and pick it up.
Thanks and if you’d rather contact me offline, my email is in my profile.
Thanks for reading my post.
FPE

[ThaDood]

A passing contemplation, but being near Chi-town, there's got to be a High School vocational electronics class, or even electronics college curriculum out near you. With the stupid high price of shipping such a receiver, like that Ten Tec, a suggestion would be to go to a principal, or a school Dean, and ask if you could present what you want done by students, and have them get a grade upon doing that project. That's what was done in New York State's BOCES, and later SUNY College, where folks could submit items for repair, students would get graded on the work, and the submitting person would only pay for parts, and not the labor. That's, what I did in High School, then College. And, it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than shipping that Ten Tec. Good luck to you.

[fpeconsultant]

A passing contemplation, but being near Chi-town, there's got to be a High School vocational electronics class, or even electronics college curriculum out near you. With the stupid high price of shipping such a receiver, like that Ten Tec, a suggestion would be to go to a principal, or a school Dean, and ask if you could present what you want done by students, and have them get a grade upon doing that project. That's what was done in New York State's BOCES, and later SUNY College, where folks could submit items for repair, students would get graded on the work, and the submitting person would only pay for parts, and not the labor. That's, what I did in High School, then College. And, it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than shipping that Ten Tec. Good luck to you.

Thanks - this is a good idea!  Do you think that the parts needed would be readily available?  I emailed dishtronix (who apparently purchased Ten Tec) about buying the parts and so far no reply.  But maybe all that is needed is a common part?  I am not an electronics guy at all!
What do you think?

[ThaDood]

Well, one thing that I have done with older backlit displays is to update them to white LED's, especially the 12VDC ones, with the 1.2k-Ohm resistor built-in. Unless, you are a radio purist, (Which is fine, and want to stick with incandescent wheat bulbs.), White LED's will look nicer, last longer, run about 1/4th the current, and will not add heat to a radio, like light bulbs will. The only thing that you might want to know from Ten Tec is the actual voltage going to the display light bulb. I am suspecting 12VDC, but I could be wrong. That said, any decent tech can get in there and put a voltmeter to the terminals and physically measure that, to confirm. Then, go from there. To modify the mount, to host an LED, you can use hot-melt glue, since cool-running LED's will allow you to do so. Again, this is a suggestion that I would do, since I like the 21st Century advantage of LED's as lights in radios. However, you may consider other-wise. Thanks!!!!

[RobRich]

S-Meter is nice and huge with markings that give the standard S-units for most nonprofessional types along with dbm. It has been reported that the lamp in this meter can and does burn out fairly easy and is not a easy chore to replace (direct wired inside the meter). Note: Later production samples now use LED meter lighting (untested).

Source: https://www.qsl.net/n9ewo/rx340.html

RadioReference has a forum for the Chicago metro area. Might be a good place to inquire about a repair tech recommendation.

https://forums.radioreference.com/forums/chicago-metro-area-discussion.174/

[fpeconsultant]

S-Meter is nice and huge with markings that give the standard S-units for most nonprofessional types along with dbm. It has been reported that the lamp in this meter can and does burn out fairly easy and is not a easy chore to replace (direct wired inside the meter). Note: Later production samples now use LED meter lighting (untested).

Source: https://www.qsl.net/n9ewo/rx340.html

RadioReference has a forum for the Chicago metro area. Might be a good place to inquire about a repair tech recommendation.

https://forums.radioreference.com/forums/chicago-metro-area-discussion.174/

Thank you!