So you'll have noticed that there's a large square cut out on the heatsink on your DR-M03SX that looks like a fan was meant to go there. I wanted to use mine as part of a 10 Meter repeater I was building so I figured I that I had better install the fan. Alinco doesn't sell this as an aditional feature like the CTCSS decoder so I had to find one.

I measured the spacing between the screws and then went off down to RadioShack to see what they had. Lateley RadioShack has been pretty bad with its stock. If the part you want doesn't have anything to do with Satellite TV or Cell Phones they don't have it. At least, thats what the "assistant" will tell you. RadioShack really should train its staff better. To do this mod you'll need a 4mm 12V fan RS part # 276-240. Watch out as it'll cost you $10!

Note the little black blanking plate above the antenna cable on the back. Remove the screws and you'll find a healthy sized hole in the radio. I have no idea what thats for other than maybe the power cables for the fan thats not there? Drill a hole in the plate and put it back on the radio. While you are doing the screwdrver thing, install the fan onto the back of the radio with some screws.  I only used 3 screws with mine as the cable has to route past one of the screw hole and so I couldn't get the screw in.

Now its time to take the covers off the radio. Remove both the top and bottom cover as you'll need to have access to both sides of the board in there. Feed the fan's power cable through the hole you drilled in the black plate and into the radio. It will arrive on the top side of the board as below. Feed the cable through the first hole in the board that you come to. This will bring the cable to the under side of the board.

Now for the fun part. Fire up your soldering iron and dig out the solder and wire clippers. Locate the part of the board where the writing is like the picture below. Note the pad on the right marked CP3. Apply some solder to this pad (make sure the radio is not plugged in first!).

Prepare the Fans power cable so that it can be installed like the picture below. The positive (red) wire will be attached to the pad you just soldered. The negative (black) wire will be attached to the boards ground plane (see picture).

That's it! You have installed a fan into your DR-M03SX 10 Meter Transciever. Replace the covers and fire her up. You will notice that as soon as you turn on the power button the fan will come on. It will be on as long as you have the power switch turned on.

I could have built a temperature controlled gizmo to put inside but as I was using it for a repeater where the fan would always be on I didn't see the point..

The usual caveats apply. I take no responsibility for you destroying anything as a result of you doing this modification. Oh and it voids your warranty too.

© & ® Mark A Phillips, G7LTT 1997/8/9/2000/01
This page was last updated Wednesday October 06, 2004 18:36 Eastern Daylight Time