Non-transmitting VHF + Glue on gelcoat.

[mick]

My VHF receives fine but will not transmit. Any suggestions?
Also, any tips for getting rid of dried glue residue left when styling stripes are removed? I thought cellulose thinners might do it, but I'm a bit worried in case it might damage the gelcoat.
Thanks in advance.

 

[chippie]

Re the vhf, I once had a similar problem on a boat with a whip aerial;I found it to be the connector - jackplug where the cable screwed into the aerial -a slight film of corrosion. Dont ask me why it would receive and not transmit. You could also check your mike switch and the mike cable connector.
Re the glue residue, I would try a small amount of whatever solvent on a concealed area to determine what effect it has. Have you tried petrol?
Good luck.

 

[ccscott49]

Celulose thinners wont hurt gelcoat, unless its been painted with non two pack paint, it will however remove the glue.

 

[trev]

It's usually the fistmike or handset transmit connection which goes first as thats the bit that gets most wear and tear.
Try to borrow a neighbour's handset from a similar set, and see if it works on your radio. (after checking all the obvious connections, of course).

Trev

 

[Guest]

VHF - I hope you are luckier than me. It could be a poor connection or a mike switch, but... My VHF had similar syptoms and it was found to be beyond an economic repair. The problem was caused by trying to trasmit with a broken aerial connection. This had damaged the set. Suggest you try and borrow a back-up (emergency) aerial and try that. This would eliminate the aerial as a source of trouble. You would be welcome to use mine - but unless you happen to be in St Helier...
There is an excellent radio specialist in Gosport, based in the Haslar marina car park.

 

[ChrisJ]

Re: Non-transmitting VHF

VHF transmitting problem:
We had this. Approaching Kingsferry bridge - we had to resort to the fog-horn.
We dismantled the VHF, took the hand-set to other VHF's, and brought theirs to ours - definately not the mike.
We re-attached a different VHF to the aerial socket at the bottom of the mast - not the aerial up the mast.

In the end, I gave up fiddling, and asked my wife - explaining to her what I had done to see if she could help any better - it worked first time!!
But, I was sitting on the top of the companionway steps, and as soon as I moved down into the cabin, it stopped working again. Took the top off the steps, and just underneath (very handy and easy to get at) is the set of fuses. The fuse connector on the VHF was the end one, and it had worked loose.
There was enough juice getting through for receiving, but transmitting was not working. Re-tightened the fuse connector, and it all worked perfectly for the next 3 years.

When it went wrong again, a slight panic before memory returned, but then it was fixed in 30 seconds.

Cheers, Chris

 

[Guest]

My set did the same, then stoped altogether. Then I worked out it was worth getting am emergacy arel which would eliminate the arel etc from the problem. In the end I had to fit a new VHF and found then the old on had a 3A fuze fitted and couldn't have transmited on 25 w since I had the booat.

Befor then I found with an earlier problem water had goten into the deck plug and this caused the loss of function! Use electronic grease now to seal it and improve contact. No problems with that since.

 

[brian_neale]

When my VHF went into "receive but no transmit" mode, and after much investigation and head scratching, I found that it was due to a corroded fuse in the fuse holder. Too much voltage drop when drawing significant current on transmit, but just about OK on receive.

 

[mica]

Having tried everyone elses suggestions, check your battery. It could be that if your battery is low, it won't transmit as it takes more power to transmit than receive.

Good luck.

MICA

 

[Guest]

Don't know about the VHF but the suggestions you've been receiving seem useful. WRT the glue....I had the same problem when I removed loads of go faster strips from my boat. I used antifoul thineers. These worked a treat and didn't damage anything.

Since the fumes from the thinners are heavy and strong, this must be done outside in a well ventilated environment. Don't do this inside the boat as it will fill with fumes very quickyl

 

[brianrunyard]

Mick.
I've repaired lots of VHF's in my time, apart from the mechanical failure (ie broken core in the mike lead), the usual fault is the output stage blown, caused by a bad antenna, (if the power can't be transmitted by the antenna it overheats the output stage of the transmitter). Repair costs depand on the make and model, some set use discreet components, some use output modules. Whatever you do check your antenna connectioins and cable, try to borrow a VSWR meter.

 

[johnt]

its almost certainly corrosion at a joint, check the set, fuse, deck and mast head connections, and check the cabling at these points, if the braiding is black it needs changing or cutting back.

Give it to the ' Professionals' and they will have you! I got stuffed for over £200 at Brighton this summer and got a cheap kiwi aerial for my money!