UNIDEN 858 Chassis - COST of RECAPPING - TRC-457 & TRC-449

[Ez2cDave]

I have been searching all over the internet to no avail for information on getting two of my radios re-capped.

They are both UNIDEN 858 PLL chassis radios . . . TRC-457 & TRC-449.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there . . .

QUESTIONS :

( 1 ) Is there a list available of all of the electrolytic and tantalum capacitors used in these radios ?

( 2 ) What is the approximate cost of having the caps replaced, since I don't trust my soldering skills ? ( I have heard "job times", ranging from 1 to 5 hours, on forums and need some "real facts" )

( 3 ) Is the installation of Schottky diodes worthwhile ?

( 4 ) Since the radios are 40 years old, what other components should I consider replacing or upgrading ?

( 5 ) Who can I trust to do the job right ?

ALSO, does anyone have a scan of Sams Photofact CB-200 and CB-207 ?

Thanks, in advance, for your help !

[295 antenna]

Have you tried talking to one of our sponsers ?

[MDYoungblood]

I'll go down the list,

1 - I don't know of anyone selling a recapping kit for either of those radios.
2 - The average time it took me when I was working on radios was 2 hrs to recap and an hour to align, sorry but I no longer do that work.
3 - Installing Schottky diodes is a preference, if you live out in the boonies it would be worth it but not if you live around a lot of splattering radios.
4 - It is hard to say until the radio is checked out on a decent equipped bench.
5 - Another hard to say question, a lot of the shops just don't want to take the time to do this kind of work, just not profitable and that is the key reason. I have 2 decent shops around me in the Baltimore area but they won't take in any mailorder repairs, they are too shorthanded and have a backlog of work to do.
Last, I sold off all my Sam's years ago, I only have a few for my radio's I call "Keepers". There are websites that carry Sam's ,they run about $15 for each copy (reprinted).

3's

Greg

[Ez2cDave]

Greg,

How long ago was that and what was the "shop rate" per hour then ?

[Ez2cDave]

Have you tried talking to one of our sponsers ?

Actually, I looked at the Sponsors first . . .

Most of them only sell products and do not do radio repairs.

GI Joe's, the only one that does repairs, apparently only works on radios they have sold, or installs "kits" in radios.

I'm looking at replacing probably 45+ capacitors, plus a few other parts, something they don't seem to offer.

Thanks.

[sonoma]

A shop that closed a couple years ago charged about 100.00 labor to recap the radio then the price of the capacitors and about 40.00 to align the radio then if any other repairs were needed they charged for them. so the price just for the kit align and time for the caps would be about 175.00 to 190.00 dollars. that is what he charged a couple years ago. so this will get you in the ballpark range. this was for a SSB radio. AM only radios were a little cheaper since it does not have as many caps in them.

forgot to mention I talked to him before he shut down and he said he was getting tired of doing the recap of the radios because the customers did not want to pay for them after he did the recap even though they knew the price before he stated. they would complain that they could not get 200.00 selling a cobra 148 radio as an example of customer complaints. they wanted him to do the work for basically nothing. like he said his time was about 2 to 3 hours doing a recap. some radios like a 2510 or Lincoln were very time consuming.

[Ez2cDave]

A shop that closed a couple years ago charged about 100.00 labor to recap the radio then the price of the capacitors and about 40.00 to align the radio then if any other repairs were needed they charged for them. so the price just for the kit align and time for the caps would be about 175.00 to 190.00 dollars. that is what he charged a couple years ago. so this will get you in the ballpark range. this was for a SSB radio. AM only radios were a little cheaper since it does not have as many caps in them.

forgot to mention I talked to him before he shut down and he said he was getting tired of doing the recap of the radios because the customers did not want to pay for them after he did the recap even though they knew the price before he stated. they would complain that they could not get 200.00 selling a cobra 148 radio as an example of customer complaints. they wanted him to do the work for basically nothing. like he said his time was about 2 to 3 hours doing a recap. some radios like a 2510 or Lincoln were very time consuming.

That figure of $100 labor, plus parts and the alignment fee seems fair to me, considering how much work is involved.

I'm not looking to sell anything. I want to use and enjoy mine !

[MDYoungblood]

Greg,

How long ago was that and what was the "shop rate" per hour then ?

Like sonoma, it was around $100 to $125 for a SSB base, a little less for a mobile. The shop I helped out at bench time was $50 an hr, it is $75 now. Don't think anybody was getting rich or trying to rip people off, shop rent and equipment didn't come cheap.
I stopped working on radio equipment about 10 years ago (wasn't my only job), the arthritis in my hands was too bad to work on small items anymore, didn't help that my eyesight was failing as well.

3's

Greg