I have been dreading it.. I have put it off for ages, Yes the 746 has been fixed.

A few months ago, I had been using the radio (my main HF rig) and it started making funny noises when the internal tuner tried to match the aerial. It also would not match.

I looked up on the internet for possible issue and solution and discovered that the radio had a known issue with the tuners motors, where a sonic weld fails between the ferrite core and a spindle and washer. The thing is I had a workaround which was to use an external manual ATU, so knowing just how many screws I would have to remove just to get to the motor, the job got put off for some time.

I finally bit the bullet because of the way I operate. With band conditions quite lacklustre at the moment, I frequently band hop, which necessitates frequent re-matching of the aerials. It was becoming a real drag keying up and manually tuning all the time, so I though “damn it, lets get this done’. First thing was to get the video I found about this repair up on my iPad. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdY6RhNOCWg ) and then it was a matter of removing over 30 screws and de-soldering the aerial sockets from the board before I could get to the motor and fix it.

The dreaded stepper motor, note the crimped ends which needed prying out.

The motor was extremely difficult to get apart without either damaging it or impaling my hand on a screwdriver, but eventually I got into it and glued the bits together, reassembled it all and hey presto a few hours after I started the 746 is back in action and working perfectly.

I think my new years resolution is to get things done and not let things build up. You never seem to have enough enthusiasm to fix something when you know what a ball-ache it is going to be to do it and the jobs then start to pile up and you never get around to doing them.