AOR 8200 keyboard fix

I've had my AOR AR8200 mkII for about eight years now and I'm a very satisfied customer.
While today it has a strong competitor in the Icom R20, a far better intermod rejection on low vhf band still makes it a winner for my purposes.
The only annoyance so far is represented by some keys that stopped working, starting from the low-lwft corner and going along the first column and last row, progressively.
I first fixed it some years ago (3? 4?)  and since now I need to do it again, I thought I may document the procedure.
I don't use the keyboard that much, as my 8200 spends 99% of the time scanning a preset bank, so I'm inclined to think it may be due to the material. However the problem never showed up on my AR8600 mkII, a couple of years younger, so maybe it has to do with heat or different materials used in different batches of production.

Please note that following directions may well damage your radio permanently.
Don't try opening and fixing you radio if you don't know exactly what you're doing!
Consequences of a badly gone "do it yourself" attempt are normally more expensive than sending the radio to a proper workshop for repair.

Opening the receiver
Remove battery cover.
Remove 5 screws from the back (2 inside the battery compartment).
Remove 2 screws on the sides of the wrist strap ring.
Open the add-on card door.
Unplug all the rubber connector covers.
Gently open the case. Note that the side buttons are mounted on a small panel that shall remain on the display and keyboard side.
Expose keyboard
Remove 4 screws from the circuit board on the front side. One of them is holding a brass shield on my mkII.
Desolder loudspeaker leads and bend them gently allowing detachment of circuit from shell, as the loudspeaker is glued to the case.
Push rubber keypad out of the shell.
Apply fix
Clean circuit pads gently with a pencil eraser.
Apply a small piece of kitchen aluminium foil on the back of each non-working key.
Keep in place with a very small amount of paper stick glue.

Close radio following the above steps in reverse order.

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First published: 4 March 09 Home