Kenwood TH79A LCD Fix

[@NRG4LYFE]

Great job. Very well done and explained. I’m expecting to have to do this repair. Waiting on batteries now to see about getting back on the air.

[@robertmorgan2145]

Cool! After fixing these radios and playing with them again it reminded me what a fantastic little radio this really is! It’s got features you can’t even get on radios today. And being that you had to program these via the front panel because computers weren’t around so much back in the day, they made these very easy to program.

[@NRG4LYFE]

@@robertmorgan2145 Thanks for the reply. only one question, where did you come up with the foam to use?

[@archandrogyne]

Great video! Now all I need is a TH79A....

[@rjmorgansd]

Well if you get one at least now you know what the insides look like!

[@joyceschetter5871]

Awesome video. Thank you for taking the time to troubleshoot and fix this radio. Clear instructions and good closeup video. Super quality!

[@rjmorgansd]

RR

[@iamalwayswrite]

Thank you. Very well done!

[@robertmorgan2145]

You’re welcome, hopefully it helps someone resurrect their dead radio.

[@philippeprades5509]

Thanks for this video. Very clear instructions with all the steeps. F1AGS

[@robertmorgan2145]

You’re welcome. It was fun to take apart this old radio and get it working again.

[@beechpilot57]

I remember fixing mine for that 15 years ago. Sure they must all do it.

[@mschetter1187]

Great video Robert. What a smart & talented fellow you are!! 2:17

[@rjmorgansd]

Thank you kindly!

[@O.JosephSimonetti]

Followed the procedure and worked well. However, backlight no longer works. I know it could be anything, but any ideas regarding this procedure and effect on the backlight functionality? Great explanation otherwise. Thanks.

[@robertmorgan2145]

The backlight is going to be powered by one of those pins, so there is either a slight misalignment or not quite enough pressure from your new piece of foam pushing down on that pad. So I would take a careful look at that connector where the piece of foam pushes down on the board, and also the Kenwood piece of foam that has the little connectors in it that you line up over the printed circuit board pads. Something isn’t touching there. The little piece of foam from Kenwood needs to line up directly over those printed circuit board pads.

[@WESDEANEMARTIN]

I have one of these that looks like it's in mint condition except the screen has a oval black blob radiating about two-thirds from the center of the display. I have no idea how to fix this, but I think the LCD actually needs to be replaced on mine.

[@rjmorgansd]

A black blob in the middle of the screen sounds like the liquid has come out of the containment area of the liquid crystal display and yes, the screen needs to be replaced. In every other case I’ve seen of a repairable display the screen looks perfectly blank and clean when the radio is off. When you turn the radio on it can be anything from blank to garbage characters to vertical lines or other things like that. But a black blob is a failed display.

[@WESDEANEMARTIN]

@@rjmorgansd Yup, so now I wait until I find a donor radio somewhere that I can salvage an LCD from. :-)

[@rjmorgansd]

Donor radio will be your best bet. Some parts are available at PacParts but looks like the LCD is discontinued. www.pacparts.com/model.cfm?mfg=kenwood&model_id=TH79A&action=list_part&mode=auto&back=0

[@WESDEANEMARTIN]

@@rjmorgansd Yep, I checked there a while ago, unfortunately nothing available., That's OK - it's been sitting on the shelf for a few years already, so what's another few? Lol! :-)

[@rjmorgansd]

You might also check with eham.net and put up a wanted ad.