Back Light Failure on IC-746 Pro

[Thomas F. Giella NZ4O]

My oldest IC-746 Pro with a serial number of 001162 finally began suffering
the intermittent back light failure a couple of weeks ago. I ordered two
transistors (one for a backup) for $8.00 including three day USPS shipping
>From Icom in Washington.

Today I replaced the bad transistor and am good to go now. The area of the
board around the transistor did show damage (uplifted circuit board traces)
due to excessive heat do to poor design, that being no heat sinking. While 
replacing
the transistor I added a heat sink so should see no more failures.

The hardest part of the repair was disassembling the front of rig which took
about 40 minutes.

73 & GUD DX,
Thomas F. Giella, NZ4O
Lakeland, FL, USA
nz4o at arrl.net
John 3:16 <><

NZ4O Amateur & SWL Radio Autobiography: http://www.nz4o.com