Kenwood TS-530S Rebuild

The last picture is the mint faceplate the tech found for me. Looks like brand new now!

 

This guy seemed to be VERY thorough and meticulous about details. the radio is exactly on frequency. WWV shows up right on the nose...

 

That big plate choke coil between the two output tubes is black and burned because someone tried to install the bandswitch shaft 180 degrees out of alignment. A replacement is no longer available, so he had to rewind the old one with new wire. It took him 3 hours to do this while he was watching TV... Also, if you look closely at the bandswitch shaft, you will see it passes through many small vertical circuit boards (wafers). Each one of those has a disk with contacts that turn with the shaft. Its a very complicated switch. Those wafer contacts are a common problem with these radios, as they get dirty and corroded over time. This is "bread and butter" work for the techs that work on them.

 

Remember it was given to me for free. The tech gave me a good deal including new tubes. When I was in highschool I used to drool over these radios. Many hams still consider these rigs the best sounding radios on the air. Compared to the new stuff out there now this radio is a bargain.