Wayne.B wrote in
:

I'm getting ready to have a new Icom M-802

Wayne, just for information.......

That crappy PC board connector they expect you to leave out in the weather
on the AT-130 antenna tuner and the crappy CB coax pigtail SO-239 connector
CAN be eliminated at the tuner.....

The control cable pigtail is soldered to some U-shaped wire loops inside
the tuner where the book shows a screw-terminal connection. NOTE WHICH
WIRES GO TO WHICH LOOPS. Unsolder the pigtail from the loops and pull it
out of the tuner's stuffing tubes. Throw it overboard before it cripples
your HF. Cut the plastic plug off the control cable before trying to feed
it through the boat to the tuner. Makes installation MUCH neater and
easier! Run the cable through the now-empty stuffing tube and solder the
appropriate wires directly to the PC board loops you took the crappy
pigtail out of. You do NOT have to remove the PC board to accomplish this.
Just remove the cover off the tuner.

The coax is another matter......

You'd have to remove the whole tuner PC ass'y to replace the coax soldered
to the board. No fun at sea...So.... I cut the coax plug off the tuner's
RG-58 pigtail and pulled the coax back through the stuffing tube inside the
tuner. I cut the coax to a convenient length and put a new cable-mounted
SO-239 connector INSIDE the tuner, where it won't get drown in salt water.
Feed the unconnectored coax through the stuffing tube and put a PL-259
connector on it INSIDE the tuner. Use a piece of shrink tubing to seal the
coax connections and insulate the grounded connectors from touching
anything inside the tuner. Tywrap the connectors to the control cable
right where it comes in from the stuffing tube to secure it from moving
around.

ALL antenna tuner connections are now SEALED inside the environment of the
sealed tuner.....NOT LAYING OUT ON THE DECK OR IN SOME WATER-SOAKED
COMPARTMENT RUSTING AWAY!

M802 is a great radio....

Turn it on and press MODE + TX + 2 together to open its transmitter to FULL
coverage, including 150W on all the ham bands. Do it again to put it back
to marine-only transmit. (I'm afraid to leave it open when I'm not on the
boat for fear my captain will be out-of-band transmitting, probably on BBC
World Service...(c

MAKE SURE THE M802 TRANSCEIVER IS NOT WHERE ANY WATER CAN GET ON IT! The
fan sucks sea air into the chassis to corrode everything inside and destroy
it....part of Icom's Planned Obsolescense System, I think. Stupid
design.... I have the transceiver mounted behind the nav panel high up in
the boat above the flooding and the control panel is on the end of the
extra cable mounted in the mahogany panel right by it. Sorry we can't get
rid of the cheap crap connector on the RADIO end of the control cable.
They don't even give you EXTRA PINS for the plug in case you bend
one....how awful. Putting that plug on is the worst part of the job.

If the antenna tuner fails to tune....Unplug and plug that little white
plug into the radio several times and it will...(c;

Connecting M802 to your NMEA system needs to be done through an opto-
isolator. How stupid....a GROUNDED BNC connector, UNBALANCED, for NMEA
data to tell DSC where you are. My optoisolator is in a little box stuck
to the front of the radio....Stupid, Icom...Stupid!