Dearly Beloved (put your own name here)
Yaesu FT-707
Poking around the insides far longer than I should, it seems like it is a fairly common ailment that got to her: The display board. The receiving and transmitting seems to work fine but the indicated frequency runs all over the place and finally got stuck somewhere high up. And this presents me with a big dilemma: Do I sell; do I fix; do I keep (yes, my name is Leon and I am hoarder).
I made the big mistake of searching on the internet for solutions, and Teruhiko Hayashi JA2SVZ in Japan makes a drop-in replacement module that will cost me ZAR300 plus a bit of assembly (during which time I will not be able to operate). A working radio is worth lets say ZAR2000 and if I let it go for spares maybe I can get R1000. There is no magic in the numbers: Whether I sell or keep, it’s going to cost me about the same in money, all things considered.
The case for keeping it: My friend Hannes Kloppers yesterday said: Any radio that works is a good radio. It can be a great standby. You can do so much with it! It has a good working 100 watt amplifier!
The case against keeping it: You can only operate one radio at a time. Another collectors piece will just fill up my storage. To be honest, it is not going to get used for actual operating a lot.
I guess I’m going to have to make a decision before I pack it away in the cupboard “for a rainy day”. Once it disappears into the boxes it doesn’t come out easily.
What do you suggest?
