Shookdown! VHF transmitting but not receiving...?

[MagicalArmchair]

So, we went for our first epic voyage of the season. A 30 minute chug out of the lock adventure at 5pm last night with all three kids on board. MacDonalds in the cockpit: There's nothing quite like cold chicken nuggets and floppy fries to stoke the sense of the great outdoors! :encouragement:

Things wot broke:

• Tiller extension snapped in half and sent the eldest rather amusingly flying backwards.
• My much used hand held VHF was flat as a badger on the A21 (enough juice JUST to radio for locking out).
• My main ICOM VHF down below will TRANSMIT, but not RECEIVE, which caused some complication when trying to lock back IN again.

Any thoughts on what would do that? What I should check?

 

[VicS]

So, we went for our first epic voyage of the season. A 30 minute chug out of the lock adventure at 5pm last night with all three kids on board. MacDonalds in the cockpit: There's nothing quite like cold chicken nuggets and floppy fries to stoke the sense of the great outdoors! :encouragement:

Things wot broke:

• Tiller extension snapped in half and sent the eldest rather amusingly flying backwards.
• My much used hand held VHF was flat as a badger on the A21 (enough juice JUST to radio for locking out).
• My main ICOM VHF down below will TRANSMIT, but not RECEIVE, which caused some complication when trying to lock back IN again.

Any thoughts on what would do that? What I should check?

I'm not sure what channel your marina use but having the wrong channel set selected may be the problem

Eg Channel 80 is a two frequency channel on the International set used in the Uk but a single frequency channel on the American set

 

[Pye_End]

Also well worth checking all antenna connections. Transmit is a lot more power through the antenna, so may cope with a poor joint better than receive.

 

[neilf39]

How old is your radio? There was a problem several years ago on ICOMs as they had a bad batch of filters which could fail after an indeterminate period. I had a radio with this problem and sent it into Icom. They replaced the filters foc. It may be worth checking with them if your radio is likely to be one of these. I found them very helpful. They did not do a recall if I remember but just repaired them when they came in.

 

[Sandy]

So, we went for our first epic voyage of the season. A 30 minute chug out of the lock adventure at 5pm last night with all three kids on board. MacDonalds in the cockpit: There's nothing quite like cold chicken nuggets and floppy fries to stoke the sense of the great outdoors! :encouragement:

Things wot broke:

• Tiller extension snapped in half and sent the eldest rather amusingly flying backwards.
• My much used hand held VHF was flat as a badger on the A21 (enough juice JUST to radio for locking out).
• My main ICOM VHF down below will TRANSMIT, but not RECEIVE, which caused some complication when trying to lock back IN again.

Any thoughts on what would do that? What I should check?

1. Your tiller extension
2. Your handheld battery charger
3. A radio check before leaving your berth (in this case)
4. Your choice of fast food

Sounds a great shakedown

 

[SteveNotlob]

As another person has mentioned, ICOM radios are susceptible to IF Filters failing. I have replaced literally dozens of them in the last 5 years or so. If it is a DSC radio then ensure the DSC IF Filter is replaced at the same time!
Takes about an hour to strip the radio, remove old filters and replace with new ones.
Getting the solder out of the ground PTH is sometimes a sod.
If you are only 'average' with a soldering iron then best to bite the bullet and have someone more proficient repair it for you.
Cost of parts and labour shouldn't be more than £50. The filters are about £5 each or less at trade.

Regards,
Stephen

 

[Irish Rover]

I had a similar problem last year with the fixed VHF on a new to me boat. Turned out the radio was receiving but the speaker was blown. Temporary fix was to connect it up to one of the entertainment speakers which got us home on a long delivery trip - I also had a backup handheld.

 

[elton]

Squelch control?

 

[SteveNotlob]

Squelch control?

Not if the transmitting station is within a mile or so - it would (or should) over-ride the squelch easily.

 

[elton]

Not if the transmitting station is within a mile or so - it would (or should) over-ride the squelch easily.

I was just asking if he'd tried adjusting the squelch control. Do you know? If it was set to maximum it might make no difference how close the transmitter is.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks all, to address the points:

• The ICOM is ten years old I suppose? Praps older!
• The Marina does use Channel 80, however, this radio has worked with Channel 80 and MDL Chatham before? Come to think about it, I haven't picked anything up for a while on it, channel 16 or otherwise.
• There is a connection at the base of the mast, I will unplug and replug that little sucker and see if that helps.
• I'll plug some external speakers in to test this.
• Nothing wrong with Maccy D's (apart from the salt.... and the taste.... and the lack of nutrition... and the taste... everything other than that is great).
• Nope, no radio test before setting off Sandy, and no 12V charger for the hand held (I do have an inverter and a 240V charger, but couldn't be bothered as I had my mobile). It was a pile on board and go job - not the way I like to do things, but it was a very magical little trip nonetheless with the radio bits making it a mini adventure. I had first started from the position of "Its too late, we don't have time to prepare adequately boy, we are not going out through the lock." - I'm glad I relented.

Sounds like a the Filters could be a good bet as it is a DSC. My soldering skills are nil, so might be best to pay someone to do it. Can you suggest anyone if it proves to be this? Or, as I do like improving said skills, is there a good guide somewhere for the method to do this?

So I can test from my handheld, what frequency could I use that would be most unintrusive to others?

 

[johnalison]

So I can test from my handheld, what frequency could I use that would be most unintrusive to others?

Any working channel will do. It makes sense to do it at a quiet time, and if you do it from another boat it will even be legal.

 

[VicS]

Thanks all, to address the points:

• The ICOM is ten years old I suppose? Praps older!
• The Marina does use Channel 80, however, this radio has worked with Channel 80 and MDL Chatham before? Come to think about it, I haven't picked anything up for a while on it, channel 16 or otherwise.
• There is a connection at the base of the mast, I will unplug and replug that little sucker and see if that helps.
• I'll plug some external speakers in to test this.
• Nothing wrong with Maccy D's (apart from the salt.... and the taste.... and the lack of nutrition... and the taste... everything other than that is great).
• Nope, no radio test before setting off Sandy, and no 12V charger for the hand held (I do have an inverter and a 240V charger, but couldn't be bothered as I had my mobile). It was a pile on board and go job - not the way I like to do things, but it was a very magical little trip nonetheless with the radio bits making it a mini adventure. I had first started from the position of "Its too late, we don't have time to prepare adequately boy, we are not going out through the lock." - I'm glad I relented.

Sounds like a the Filters could be a good bet as it is a DSC. My soldering skills are nil, so might be best to pay someone to do it. Can you suggest anyone if it proves to be this? Or, as I do like improving said skills, is there a good guide somewhere for the method to do this?

So I can test from my handheld, what frequency could I use that would be most unintrusive to others?

Use one of the Internship channels. You need to use a single frequency channel to talk to your hand held, these are all single frequency channels

Listen on the hand held to be sure the channel is not in use.

 

[SteveNotlob]

Thanks all, to address the points:

Sounds like a the Filters could be a good bet as it is a DSC. My soldering skills are nil, so might be best to pay someone to do it. Can you suggest anyone if it proves to be this? Or, as I do like improving said skills, is there a good guide somewhere for the method to do this?

I should have been clearer earlier - it is nothing to do with it being a DSC radio, it is just that Icom DSC radios (as i suspect most if not all other brands) has a separate IF Filter to the main receiver, Therefore it makes sense to change both at the same time.
What model is it?

 

[Daverw]

Not sure if the latest marine radios don’t use digital filtering and modulation now, my ICOM Ham radios defiantly do

 

[lpdsn]

How old is your radio? There was a problem several years ago on ICOMs as they had a bad batch of filters which could fail after an indeterminate period. I had a radio with this problem and sent it into Icom. They replaced the filters foc. It may be worth checking with them if your radio is likely to be one of these. I found them very helpful. They did not do a recall if I remember but just repaired them when they came in.

+1 on giving Icom a call.

I had the same problem with a VHF I bought in 2008. Must've annoyed the hell out of Douglas Harbour trying to get the bridge swung at Peel one night but they were politeness itself when I eventually made contact by mobile phone.

Icom were also very good and repaired the radio free of charge.

 

[Daverw]

++1 for calls no Icom, very helpful

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Thanks all,

The radio manufacturers in the UK really are stunning. My ancient Standard Horizon handheld had some issues and they sent me a replacement antenna for free, just like that and offered whatever help I required. Old fashioned customer service. I very nearly bought a Chinese manufactured radio as a cheap backup (for the situations like the above!), however, I'd rather pay another £40 on top and get one from one of these great outfits.

 

[SteveNotlob]

MagicalArmchair ,
What is the Model Number of the faulty Radio. I might have the schematic and service manuals.

 

[Rafiki]

I had the same problem as you with my main VHF. I cured it by changing the VHF aerial ( including the cable from masthead to below deck). As regards handhelds , obviously need to be charged up regularly, but the re-chargeable batteries eventually give up the ghost. You can replace re-chargeable battery packs. A search on the web or ebay will throw up people who make up replacement packs. Alternatively, did your come with the option of using ,say, 4 aa batteries in a seperate holder? If so simply use that yholder for 4 re-chargeable aa's.
Andrew