RadioBanter - View Single Post - Pro-43 keypad replacement

June 15th 06, 02:48 AM posted to rec.radio.scanner,alt.radio.scanner

In article ,
says...
Has anyone accomplished this repair? How difficult is this repair

How do you get the bloody scanner faceplate off to swap the keypad out? :-(

Alain

I have done, well, over a hundred. It's easy, but you have to be
reasonably good with a soldering iron.

There used to be a site with pics, but it's gone.

The front doesn't come off, you go through the BACK.

First, you take the back case off. Unsolder the center of the BNC
connector. It's sticking up through a hole in the top PC board
Once the connector's center wire is free and clear, unscrew all the
little screws around the outside, and the Top PC board pulls off.
The second PC board unplugs after screws are removed. Then the bottom PC
board is removed, and then you have to unsolder the shield off the back
of the front panel/CPU board. I think there are 4 places to unsolder,
then the keyboard can be accessed. The keyboard just drops out, and the
new one drops in, and it gets put back together.

It's hard the first time, gets easier, to the point it's a 10 minute
job, max. I've replaced my own keypad 5 or six times now. One guy is on
his tenth, and that will probably be the last one, as the 43 is beyond
tired at this point.

If you don't know what you are doing, and don't have a small iron and
solder suckers, etc, don't do it, as I had a whole bag of dead 34s 37s,
39s, and 43s that I couldn't save individually, but was able to
make whole working radios from later on. They were all "donations" from
people who ruined their scanner trying to mod it, or replace the keypad.
(It's the same procedure, to a point)

Good luck..

BDK