I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3 button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned the circuit board and the back
side of the rubber keypad with rubbing alchohol. Now most of the keys
do not work. I thought I was cleaning gunk off the contacts when I
probably cleaned some type of conductive gel off the keypad.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this problem?

thanks

Having wrecked the conductive rubber keys myself, I have successfully glued
tiny pieces of foil to the keys and had that work for quite some time...



wrote in message
...
I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3 button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned the circuit board and the back
side of the rubber keypad with rubbing alchohol. Now most of the keys
do not work. I thought I was cleaning gunk off the contacts when I
probably cleaned some type of conductive gel off the keypad.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this problem?

thanks

wrote:
I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3
button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned
the circuit board and the back side of
the rubber keypad with rubbing
alchohol. Now most of the keys do
not work. I thought I was cleaning
gunk off the contacts when I probably
cleaned some type of conductive gel
off the keypad.


The stuff most companies use on these pads is similar to the consumer
product commonly called "Liquid Solder." There were two varities, one that
requires heat and a flexable one that doesn't. Obviously, you don't want the
one that requires heat. Sadly, the non-heat flexable stuff is almost
impossible to find anymore (it's also hard to use - hard to spread evenly
over the surface). But I've found a fairly good alternative. The pens used
to repair traces on circuit boards contain conductive inks that seem to work
fairly well on flexable pads. Radio Shack has one called the "Greg
CircuitWriter" conductive ink pen (item 910-3890, special order only). I've
never used this specific product but, if it's typical, put two coats of this
(giving each coat time to dry before the next coat) fully over the center
contact of each pad, being careful not to get it anywhere else on the pad.
This should last almost as long as the original material and can be cleaned
off and replaced if necessary. By the way, if you do find the flexable
Liquid Solder, make sure to use only one very thin coat and spread it
evenly. Good luck.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/

You could order a new keypad from RadioShack. RSU part
#10789808 - cost is $11.26 + $3.50 S&H + sales tax. I
ordered one on 12/23/03 and it arrived 01/02/04.

Mike Riffle
KC8MZM

wrote in message ...
I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3 button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned the circuit board and the back
side of the rubber keypad with rubbing alchohol. Now most of the keys
do not work. I thought I was cleaning gunk off the contacts when I
probably cleaned some type of conductive gel off the keypad.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this problem?

thanks

In article ,
says...
I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3 button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned the circuit board and the back
side of the rubber keypad with rubbing alchohol. Now most of the keys
do not work. I thought I was cleaning gunk off the contacts when I
probably cleaned some type of conductive gel off the keypad.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this problem?

thanks



Sheesh, just buy the keypad for 8 bucks or whatever, and pay someone 25
bucks or so to do it. Takes like 10 minutes. I probably have done,
without exaggerating, about 100 of them. One guy is on his 5th or 6th
pad. I think his 43 isn't gonna be around much longer, it's in sad
shape, but with the use it's had, it deserves a nice retirement.

BDK

common problem,
use rf nickle screening spray & a cotton bud to replace the 'tit' (quite
cheap for a big can)
or rearwindscreen heater repair paint
but very expensive for a little bootle the size of nail varnish

mike

wrote in message
...
I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3 button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned the circuit board and the back
side of the rubber keypad with rubbing alchohol. Now most of the keys
do not work. I thought I was cleaning gunk off the contacts when I
probably cleaned some type of conductive gel off the keypad.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this problem?

thanks



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Dwight Stewart k.net...
^ wrote:
^ ... Radio Shack Pro-43.
^ ... most of the keys do not work.

^ ... product commonly called "Liquid Solder."
^ .. good alternative. The pens used
^ to repair traces on circuit boards ...

Thanks Dwight. I'm having to press very hard on the buttons of my 20 year old
PRO-43 so I might use your alternative.

Frank

Hey guys, thanks for the input. With your help, I checked other
options I hadn't thought of and found what I needed. There is a kit
"rubber key pad repair kit" by IT chemtronics. part number CW2605 for
$10.89. It sounds exactly like I need and if you want follow up
information after I try it, email me at

thanks again.



On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 04:30:30 GMT, wrote:

I have a Radio Shack Pro-43. My 3 button was not working on the
keypad so I disassembled and cleaned the circuit board and the back
side of the rubber keypad with rubbing alchohol. Now most of the keys
do not work. I thought I was cleaning gunk off the contacts when I
probably cleaned some type of conductive gel off the keypad.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on this problem?

thanks

ok, here is a question. my keypad quit working on a pro 39. i tried to clean
the tips off a little on the keys themselves. then i used a pencil eraser on
the pc board to clean it off the contacts a bit. i had seen somewhere, that
was good to do. is it? when i tried my scanner again, most of the buttons
work, but like 3 of them. 3 that had worked before! did the eraser cause
harm? how can i counteract that? as to the key pad, i've been checking this
thread out, so will follow along with the tips as shown. btw, was told i
can't get parts even keypad for the pro 39 as it is able to be modified to
cell and some stupid law prevents the shack from selling parts or repair
manuals for those types of scanners. is that radio shack bs or what? tia....
scanman

never been able to get a new 39 keypad
had mine since it first came on the market & have to do the 'rf screening'
tip about once a year.
as for the 800m mod
you have already seen the diode row below the keypad.

here is the mod

PRO-39


Radio Shack Pro 39



TOOLS NEEDED: Fine-tipped soldering iron, desoldering wick,
small Philips screwdriver, long-nosed pliers, rosin-core solder.

(1) [Turn off your radio. Removing the batteries when the radio is ON can
erase the memory! ] Remove the battery door, holder and [battery
pack] from the bottom of the radio.

(2) Remove the four screws from the back of the scanner and carefully lift
the back off.

(3) Unplug the two wiring harnesses at their connectors and remove the six
bright colored screws that hold the circuit board in place. Unsolder
the ground wire from the lower right corner of the circuit board.
Unsolder the two wire connections from the BNC antenna connector at the
board. Carefully lift the board (grasping it near the Molex connector)
and set it aside.

(4) Remove the two bright colored screws from the next circuit board.
Carefully unplug the two-wire connector [and remove the board, as I
recall]. Unsolder and lift the rectangular metal shield exposing
the diodes.

(5) Carefully unsolder and remove diode D6 only; this will restore the
missing cellular frequencies which can be searched in appropriate
30 kHz steps.

This completes the cellular restoration. Reverse all procedures
to reassemble the radio and test it by entering any frequency between
869-894 MHz. [If you are as lucky as I was, the memory will still
contain your other frequencies! ]

Curious about the other diodes? D4 would enable 68-88 MHz
coverage, but deletes 30-54 MHz; D5 (present) allows 800 MHz band
operation; and D7 would make cellular spacing 12.5 kHz (incorrect).


mike UK


"Scanman" wrote in message
...
ok, here is a question. my keypad quit working on a pro 39. i tried to
clean
the tips off a little on the keys themselves. then i used a pencil eraser
on
the pc board to clean it off the contacts a bit. i had seen somewhere,
that
was good to do. is it? when i tried my scanner again, most of the buttons
work, but like 3 of them. 3 that had worked before! did the eraser cause
harm? how can i counteract that? as to the key pad, i've been checking
this
thread out, so will follow along with the tips as shown. btw, was told i
can't get parts even keypad for the pro 39 as it is able to be modified to
cell and some stupid law prevents the shack from selling parts or repair
manuals for those types of scanners. is that radio shack bs or what?
tia....
scanman










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