Friday, April 1, 2016, 2 p.m. — I wish this was an April Fool’s entry, but it isn’t — trust me, I really, really wish it was.
My new-to-me Kenwood TS-450S arrived by FedEx today — woohoo! I was just getting home from town when the FedEx truck in front of me turned in my drive. Ahh! Great timing!
Nothing is more fun that a box full of ham radio goodies … in this case, the TS-450S and the power supply.
I get the rig out — it looks GREAT! No dings, no major wear, very well taken care of! Run it to the shack, plug it up and hit the button — it fires up … but the radio looks like its in Marvin Martian mode. The display has multiple things lit, the display numbers or half lit or completely on … its a mess!
The good news is that it changes mode (or at least the CW notes the button was changed). You can hear the relays click for band changes. It actually also went into transmit. But as for a usable display, forget it.
I tried to reset the rig to no avail. What the hell?? Major disappointment!
The only thing I can see is that the shaft of the PWR control (bottom row, right side) was bent upward at a pretty good angle. There really wasn’t much packing between the rig and the box, and the box also contained the power supply — the box was heavy. I’m betting the box took a hard hit on the side the display was facing. The listing photos don’t show the bent control shaft.
There’s no other damage I can see. Because of the weight, if it took a fall from a height of five feet, the inertia would cause it to hit hard; I’m guessing something shifted inside the rig. I’m tempted to take the cover off and look, but the seller has already promised a refund as soon as he gets it back.
If any of my readers have had a similar event happen, please let me know! I’m still thinking (hoping) something was knocked loose.
Back to the salt mine. 73 es CUL de KY4Z SK .. .dit dit…