The Mustang in my collection is a nice looking radio. But on receipt, that’s the best that can be said for it. Initially there was no RX, TX was there at 2w but no audio. The microphone was faulty and the rear power connector was broken. When I opened the box, the ballast resistors on the final stage, two in series, looked fried. The VCO was out of lock. This is not untypical for radios coming from eBay but, where to begin?!
I started by opening the mic, cleaning the switch and re-soldering a loose cable. That restored the audio on TX. Then I got the VCO into lock, but something is still not quite right there (will investigate further). The radio was off frequency. Got it back on frequency. Attempting the initial RX tune, the IF was misbehaving. RX is restored but the radio remains insensitive. Gave up after an hour and will revisit when I next have available shack time. However, an apparently dead radio is now alive again and getting good reports on the air. Getting it finally sorted is all part of the fun!
Update (20/12/23): – Replaced the ballast resistor(s) and did another tune today. Got the TX up to just above 3w, which seems to be the best this radio can do. Radio now fully functional and serviced.
