On Tue, 11 Nov 2003 17:10:56 -0500, Harry Krause
wrote:
I have an ICOM VHF, model IC-M502, new this past spring, and two
weekends ago, I noticed it was not transmitting properly.

I was "rafting up" with a friend in his boat, and while we were
negotiating the boat hookup, I tried to stay in touch with the VHF. He
could not hear anything at all when I transmitted at the one watt
setting, but could hear me with some signal breakup at the 25 watt
setting. We tried several channels; same results.

It's not the antenna or its fitting, as far as we can tell, because we
hooked up a spare VHF and it did fine.

The friend believes there may be some problem in the M502's mike. My VHF
radio electronics knowledge is minimal. I am going to send the radio
back to ICOM for a look-see and repairs, but I'd like a better
indication from the experts here as to what might be the problem.

Any ideas?
================================================== ======

If you've tried the antenna AND cable with another radio, and all was
OK, then you've ruled out the most common trouble spots. Another easy
check would be to test the voltage at the radio while it is
transmitting at high power. If less than 12.6 volts, you have a bad
connection in the DC suply wiring. If voltage is OK, there's a small
possibility of a bad microphone or connector. Any thing other than
that and you will need test equipment and a licensed technician.



--