TS990 : Pièces détachées rares ?

When N0QO resurrected my dead TS-990S, there were some sheet metal parts that had corrosion on them that Kenwood said had never been ordered, and likely would never be available.
Considering a front glass could get scratched or broken, that part certainly should be available.

The other odd part I was unable to order was a replacement shipping box when the radio went to Virginia for service.  No shipping box can last forever, let alone a couple trips via UPS or FedEx.  This not being a non-available part is nuts.

It is bad enough when a radio is no longer in production, but if it is a current product, this OEM attitude is unacceptable.

There is another problem.  My TS-990S lost its microprocessor because there is no ESD protection on the key line.  All the setup programming is on two EPROMs, and that data is NOT stored in a Kenwood database.   I gave the radio to N0QO who ordered a new microprocessor board, and moved both EPROMs from the board with the blown micro to the replacement board that had EPROMs with no data on them.

I could not have begun to move those zillion pin EPROMs.  The only way a 990S with a blown micro can be fixed, if you are not a guru and are able to physically move the two chips, is for Kenwood to use proprietary software and reprogram the radio from scratch.  No user will ever have access to that software and whatever other hardware is required. 

In the case with my zapped micro, if the EPROMs had also been blown, the radio would now be a doorstop.  Kenwood wouldn’t fix it at any price since it suffered damagae from corrosive liquid while in FedEx’s hands.  After a battle with FedEx, they paid off the insurance claim.

I really enjoyed my 990S for 3 years, but for several reasons, I replaced it with an IC-7610.

Rob - NC0B