Hi Steve, of course you are right. It's just plain weird when something like that happens so unexpectedly. I thought it could be because my rig had been subjected to some more temperature extremes than earlier but who knows. I think it has to do with the lunar cycle as others have intimated here. Smile, Jim WA6EKS ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve Dresser <[log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Date sent: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 22:22:09 -0500 Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working Of course. We're so used to almost perfectly working electronic components that rarely, if ever, fail. In the days of discrete components, things failed all the time, usually stuff like capacitors (which, incidentally, are still the weakest link in any electronic device), or resistors which had this nasty habit of changing value. And don't forget good old tubes, which had to be replaced on a regular basis. Listen to some of the guys on AM, and you'll know all about component failure. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask] To: <[log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 15:16 Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working Hi Steve, right you are, but it's pretty disconcerting when it happens. 73, Jim WA6EKS -----Original Message----- From: Steve Dresser Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 12:05 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working Jim, Maybe some stray voltage hit the chip and destroyed it, or maybe it was just defective and failed for some other unexplained reason. We're not used to seeing component failure much these days, but it certainly can still happen, as you discovered. Steve ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask] To: <[log in to unmask] Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 14:54 Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working Hi Darren, I called Kenwood this morning and got ahold of Leo who does amateur tech support. He had no idea why the original chip quit after working fine for over two years, and wasn't interested in checking out the old chip to see what might have happened to it. I'm just relieved that the chip fixed the problem and that I didn't have to send the rig in for a check up. At $75 per hour, that could get very eenxpensive in a hurry. Jim WA6EKS ----- Original Message ----- From: KK4AHX Darren Duff <[log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Date sent: Fri, 4 Jan 2013 13:30:44 -0500 Subject: Re: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working Hi. Great to hear you got your rig up and talking again. I would like to know what the folks over at kenwood tell you. I am really enjoying my tmv71a as well. 73. Darren Duff. amateur radio station KK4AHX. Vice President, Cherokee Amateur Radio Society. http://www.cherokeehams.com Cherokee County ARES. http://www.cherokee-ares.org -----Original Message----- From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim Gammon Sent: Friday, January 04, 2013 12:38 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: New Vgs-1 chip installed and working Hi list, just wanted to give you a foblow up about the Vgs-1 chip. I got a new one from HRO yesterday, installed it and the rig started talking again. Now I think I will take the old chip, dip it some salsa and eat it. No, on second thought if I did that, I may stop talking just like it did! Sorry to Bob who I sent a similar message to last night thinking it would go to the list. I plan to call Kenwood and ask them there thoughts about why a chip would just quit after working fine for more than two years. Jim WA6EKS