ICOM M710 wont transmit

[Spicemariner]

My 710 has been receiving fine but hasn't been used to transmit for some time, other than a test email about 2 months ago. Now we are in USA, Norfolk VA, just about to leave for the BVI, we have been listening to Herb but when we tried to transmit no bars appeared on the bottom of the display, the TX symbol appeared when the mike was keyed but no power draw was shown by the voltmeter or Link 10. We tried sending emails and again no bars or draw was seen. I called ICOM USA who were not very useful. A dealer wanted to sell me a replacement radio and couldn't fix mine for "at least 3 weeks". As it is a bit urgent that we leave soon, has anyone any ideas what might be wrong and how to fix it.

 

[fisherman]

Sometimes the inline fuse gets a bit green with verdigris. You will receive OK, that only draws about a half amp, but to transmit needs maybe 7 amps and the connection breaks down. Lucky if that's all it is.

 

[Bilgediver]

My 710 has been receiving fine but hasn't been used to transmit for some time, other than a test email about 2 months ago. Now we are in USA, Norfolk VA, just about to leave for the BVI, we have been listening to Herb but when we tried to transmit no bars appeared on the bottom of the display, the TX symbol appeared when the mike was keyed but no power draw was shown by the voltmeter or Link 10. We tried sending emails and again no bars or draw was seen. I called ICOM USA who were not very useful. A dealer wanted to sell me a replacement radio and couldn't fix mine for "at least 3 weeks". As it is a bit urgent that we leave soon, has anyone any ideas what might be wrong and how to fix it.

The first thing to remember with SSB that when you key the mike there is NO power draw. This has been pointed out to a few asking the same question on other forums. There is no carrier transmitted with SSB so no demand for power until you actually speak and the louder you speak the more power.

Have you got an SWR meter in the line between the transceiver and tuner as this is a good indication.

You could just have a poor power connection as has been said earlier or possibly poor connections in the modem circuit.

There will be no power draw when keying a silent mike so you need to use the tune facility which sends a modulated sound and also tunes the antenna. You can just whistle however if there is a problem then you should fit a dummy load rather than annoy you neighbours in all 49 states...You might not reach the other 2


Please note that the bar display is not a voltage display but a power display so will only show a reading if you are sending a signal...IE whistle speech or tuning tone. It should give a reading if the modem is correctly connected to the accessory socket and sending data however you may have a problem with these connections IE no e-mail and then forgot to make a noise while keying the mike.

If you are lucky then just a loose or bad connection.

 

[Spicemariner]

No Luck

Thanks for all your ideas. We had of course tried voice transmission and using the pactor modem, which makes all the right noises but obviously doesn't connect as we are not transmitting. All fuses and connections are sound with no corrosion. we are intending to call Icom UK tomorrow who have been very helpful in the past, turning round a repair in 24 hours when ICOM USA said 8 weeks minimum (3 weeks if we paid an extra $90 for premium handling). We are getting the feeling that the quickest solution might be a new radio and not much more expensive than a repair and transport costs. We are running out of time here.