justtis wrote:

Two responses: one from the customer service rep and the other from the
service department, both "at the same dealer". Prices are in Canadian
dollars BUT they sure seem a little unreasonable.
At those rates it'll be sold on an "AS IS" basis.

Hi
This is come with R-5000's and TS-440's. The repair cost will be $210 as the
VCO unit needs to completely cleaned and realigned. Kenwood used an epoxy
and in time this corrode the components in the VCO section. The only problem
on the R-5000 we can not fix is if the keypad is intermittent. Kenwood
discontinued this part and we can not fix this. It should like you do not
have this problem so anything else we can do. If you want the lithium
battery replaced, this will be an extra $30 for parts.
Customer Service

Hi.
Our service charges are $70.00 per hour, plus parts, return shipping and
taxes where applicable. We also charge $70.00 plus return shipping and taxes
on all refused estimates. This is for the time spent evaluating the repair
costs. If the estimate is approved, there is no additional charge for having
performed the estimate above the cost of the repair.
Once the repair is completed, we will contact you with the total
charges, including freight and applicable taxes.
The problem with your unit is a common one. The PLL has become unlocked.
Depending on the severity of the problem you could be looking at $300 - $400
to fix it. This is a worst case scenario and could be less.
Service Department

..........
All of the epoxy compound was carefully removed by myself, Q7 and Q8
replaced, an attempt made to align the coil (L16) and it still has the same
symptoms. Exorcism next?
Sure wish there were cheaper rates for service!
I've checked on the original manufacturer of the PLL chips and apparently
Kenwood bought up ALL of the discontinued line. Anyone for a game of
MONOPOLY?


I don't know about that 'epoxy'. From what I read it was wax, and when I
opened up mine it was indeed wax. Following the suggestions of others I
softened it with a hair dryer and removal was relatively easy, but time
consuming - especially getting under the transistors - using a small
pair of tweezers. However, even with nice clean VCOs there was NO
DIFFERENCE in the unlock problem.

It turned out to be simply a matter of realigning the PLLs - different
board - and only required a small screwdriver, DMM (although I have
better, I used a $16 Canadian Tire meter because it was small and
convenient) and the instructions from the service manual. Took less than
a half-hour and totally solved the problem. No more dots, no more
distortion. It's been running fine for a couple of months now on all
modes.

Dave