The gentleman who sold me the TS-820S was actually quite generous. For what little I paid for the transceiver compared to it’s online costs, I not only got the unit, but several microphones, and a matching external speaker and VFO, as well as all sorts of parts to build several cables.
I was a little confused on how the nine pin cable went together at first, but I managed to figure out that I was originally putting it together backwards! Once I turned it around the right way it was fairly straight forward to build.
Unfortunately, I left my fine tip soldering iron at work, so I had to use this big brute of a soldering iron to get the job done. That certainly made it a bit trickier, but I managed.
Once it was all hooked up, it seemed to work pretty well. I think I need to take apart and clean the VFO up, because as you turn the knob, it seems to have a few “dead spots”, but if you wiggle it a bit, it comes back. Maybe I just need to exercise it a bit, as it may not have been used for over 10 years for all I know.
But, to God be the glory, it is great to have the cable built and the unit working!
Linux – keep it simple.