And here we go

Parts arrived, a nice clean crystal and a N.O.S. MB8719 to be transplanted into the radio.

So, in goes the crystal and immediately it springs into life on channel 1 mid, 26.961MHz, a tad out of alignment I'd say.

Fortunately there's a lot of information on these radios, there's even a full service manual for the Ranger TR-296 which uses the same board, EPT014811Z but has different arrangements for channel display and change.

A few quick tweaks later and it's on frequency, RX and TX, power is a shade under 4W into a dummy load.

Next step, pop out that cracked front bezel.

Quite a battle to do and the picture makes it look worse than it is. I'm satisfied with the appearance, it looks like a scratch.

Next up, fit the MB8719 and see how far I can make it go before the VCO etc. runs out of steam.

I'm hoping to get Lo, Mid and Hi without having to 'wide band' the VCO etc.