so this started with just wanting to do the TX mod to open up the transmit range a little and somehow three weeks later im knee deep in a whole thing. did the standard jumper mod on the board which was straightforward enough, took maybe 20 minutes if you're careful with the ribbon cables. but then i got to reading about the ref oscillator and people swapping out the TCXO for something with better aging characteristics and now ive ordered parts and im not sure i actually know what im getting into

the oscillator mod specifically — has anyone done this on a 7300 and actually measured before/after? im running WSPR and FT8 pretty regularly and the frequency stability matters more to me than it used to. the stock oscillator isnt terrible but i've seen it drift enough to be annoying especially in the first 20-30 minutes after power on. figured if im already inside the radio might as well do it while im in there

also wondering about the fan mod, the stock fan profile is pretty aggressive and i know there's a resistor swap people do to make it less loud but i dont want to run the finals hotter than they should be. anyone know the thermals on that if you back off the fan speed a bit

did the TCXO swap on mine last year, used a Connor-Winfield part that a few people on the reflector recommended. honestly the warmup drift was noticeably better after, my WSPR spots were more consistent in those first few minutes. you do need a GPSDO or at least a known-good reference to calibrate after you put the new one in, and getting the soldering right without messing up the surrounding components is the fiddly part. use flux and take your time, the pads are small but not insane. tx mod ive had in for ages and never had an issue, just dont key up on anything youre not supposed to

the fan thing i havent touched personally. i know people do it but the 7300 already runs warm and i just leave it alone. probably fine if you're not doing long SSB overs or running digital at high duty cycle for hours at a time, but i wasn't willing to risk it for a bit of peace and quiet

yeah the fan resistor mod I did mine probably 2 years ago now, its quieter for sure but honestly I kind of regret it a little just because now im always second guessing myself when im doing any extended digital ops. ended up just putting a small temp logger on the heatsink for a while to convince myself it was fine. its probably fine. but i dunno