TS-520 Oscillator Problem
 

I have a Kenwood TS-520 sitting on my shelf with a severe VFO problem.
The oscillator frequency intermittently goes unstable, when the
oscillator doesn't cut out completely. The problem will go away if the
tuning knob is bumped a bit, and it seems to be worse at the higher
frequency portion of a band. The radio is unreliable for receiving, and
is not good enough to even think about transmitting.

Without having ripped into the oscillator yet, I am theorizing that
there is a bad connection on the main tuning capacitor. Before I _do_
tear things apart, I wanted to ask:

1. Has anyone out there seen a similar problem? What did it end up being?

2. The oscillator in this rig is well buried, and will take some
careful disassembly to expose. Do any of you have a manual that details
this operation, or have you done it yourself? I'm well capable of doing
it as-is, but if there's a known best way to do it I'd like to start there.

Thanks in advance.

--

Tim Wescott, KG7LI