17-10-2023, 05:10 PM
Sadly, marriage guidance is probably a bit beyond the remit of this forum 
Either way, this is likely to be technically easy, but as is so often the case, the human factors are the problem. As Mike says, hopefully time will help. From what you've said, you're clearly not a complete beginner, so you're in with a good chance of success when the time comes. The service manual is available free of charge from the Hacker Radio group, and physically they are one of the easiest radios to work on. Between here and the Hacker Radio group there's no shortage of people who can help you once things have eased. There's no harm in preparing for that eventuality by studying the service manual (if you haven't already) and asking questions in advance.
https://groups.io/g/Hackerradiogroup
The schematic of just the A205 amplifier is here: https://markhennessy.co.uk/articles/hacker_a205.jpg
It's pretty reliable on the whole, but the AC128/176 can suffer from tin whiskers and reduced gain. The latter is what caused my immaculate blue example to distort at higher levels (no, it's not for sale!). If you decide to obtain new replacements, watch out for the modern version that doesn't quite fit the heat sink clips: https://markhennessy.co.uk/articles/to1_...nd_new.jpg
Good luck!
Either way, this is likely to be technically easy, but as is so often the case, the human factors are the problem. As Mike says, hopefully time will help. From what you've said, you're clearly not a complete beginner, so you're in with a good chance of success when the time comes. The service manual is available free of charge from the Hacker Radio group, and physically they are one of the easiest radios to work on. Between here and the Hacker Radio group there's no shortage of people who can help you once things have eased. There's no harm in preparing for that eventuality by studying the service manual (if you haven't already) and asking questions in advance.
https://groups.io/g/Hackerradiogroup
The schematic of just the A205 amplifier is here: https://markhennessy.co.uk/articles/hacker_a205.jpg
It's pretty reliable on the whole, but the AC128/176 can suffer from tin whiskers and reduced gain. The latter is what caused my immaculate blue example to distort at higher levels (no, it's not for sale!). If you decide to obtain new replacements, watch out for the modern version that doesn't quite fit the heat sink clips: https://markhennessy.co.uk/articles/to1_...nd_new.jpg
Good luck!
