"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 29 Apr 2012 22:59:25 -0600, "Irv Finkleman"
wrote:

I never considered that -- oh well, it should only take a jiffy
to pop the diodes out although there is always Murphy to
take into account.

Umm... the diodes don't quite pop out in a jiffy. You must first tear
apart the instrument just to get to the diodes. They're tiny little
devils, best handled with stainless SMD tweezers.
http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/crud/mfj-269b-diodes.jpg
They're the 4 black things labeled "COB". If you order some from
Digikey or Mouser, be sure to get plenty of spares. I dropped two on
my workbench, where they promptly disappeared.

After I retired from the Navy I worked for Sony as a tech for 14
years and became pretty handy with SMD. When I retired from Sony
I kept my tools which included a headband magnifier and a few
different tweezers only one of which I consistently used. I do
recall losing one or two of the smaller SMD components but
I eventually learned to take precautions to avoid doing so..

With respect to taking things apart and then getting them
back together again I have to brag about my abilities. When
I had my first interview with Sony the asked me how much
of the work I considered electronic and how much was
mechanical. I estimated 90 percent mechanical (getting
the old part out and putting the new part in and then
the unit back together). I know now that it is more like
99.9%.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to try and not blow
the diodes even though we both believe it will be
inevitable!

Irv VE6BP