After twelve years of faithful service my old FF7 has developed a fault and needs a new potentiometer. Are such parts still available for such an old radio? I also wonder if it is worth repairing an old radio which will surely develop more faults as it ages. Maybe I should just draw a line under it and buy a new tranny. Whadyathink?
Something new and shiny is always fun if you don't mind parting with the money.
I'm the proud owner of a new 7CAP I bought last year, it might be a good place for you to start at if you're interested in shopping.
| After twelve years of faithful service my old FF7 has developed a fault and | needs a new potentiometer. Are such parts still available for such an old | radio?
I doubt the pots changed much from model to model. I'll bet if you had another radio from the same era that the pots would work just fine. You might even be able to swap out the entire gimbal assembly for less work.
(Modern era parts may also work, but the odds of a difference will be larger.)
| I also wonder if it is worth repairing an old radio which will | surely develop more faults as it ages.
Is it worth repairing? That depends. Do you like it? Do you find yourself jonesing for something with more features? If yes and no, and you can fix it yourself, do so.
It is possible that the pot isn't the problem, that the problem is more fundamental. I don't know. But if the radio works for you, there's no need to replace it.
It's probably not cost effective to send it to Futaba to have it repaired, unless you're really attached to that specific radio. Ebay would probably find you plenty of other FF7's for less than Futaba would charge.
But just because it's old, that doesn't mean it's useless, and doesn't mean that it's more likely to develop additional faults.
| Maybe I should just draw a line under it and buy a new tranny. | Whadyathink?
Depends ...
The FF7 pots are different to those used currently and were difficult to obtain even 18 months ago. Rather than have one part fail after another, with probable loss of an expensive model, it is now time to consider a replacement. Good comparison chart at
Batteries switches and pots as electromechanical components are the only things that really wear out in electronic equipment.
Apart fr=om tuibes that is. Juts fished refurbing a 1960's valve radio for a pensioner. Copious squirts of switch cleaner got the switches and pots going again and the tubes correctly making contact with their bases..Oh. The mains electrolytic filter caphad gone low value, so I strapped in some modern ones.
Still a hell of a radio.
Bet your futaba has YEARS of life left in it. Try switch cleaner first, otherwise pots haven't changed much in the last 40 years.
Thanks for the input guys. I think that I will try to source a new pot for starters before resorting to retail therapy. I would like to keep it going because it is such a good radio, even after all these years it still bears comparison with modern radios though only four memories is a tad limiting. I have a Cockpit MM as a secondary tx so I can still fly some model in the meantime while I get it sorted out, though I am very tempted by the new Cockpit XS which has good programming options for sailplanes (which I mostly fly) and synth freq technology at a very attractive price.
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