Any radio experts out there? I've had this radio for several years and it's always worked great, battery life is sensational.
But now, although it seems to charge and power up just fine there is no reception at all. I can't tell if it transmits or not. The radio doesn't make a sound even on the weather channels.
Could it be a bad antenna? I could send it back to ICOM for repair but they charge $89 to look at it plus repair costs. A brand new M24 at Amazon is just $136
http://www.amazon.com/Ico…io-5-Watts/dp/B004N8S1RY
Is there a way to test an Antenna? I found one for $13 total on Amazon so I guess that's worth a try.
http://www.amazon.com/ICO…r-ICMM3401/dp/B001DTSRXY
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
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ICOM M34 VHF Radio Quit Working
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Posted: May 27, 2014 - 04:56 PM
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Posted: May 27, 2014 - 11:22 PM
I cleaned the contacts on my battery with vinegar, then a distilled h2o rinse. That seemed to helped a lot.
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Posted: May 28, 2014 - 02:34 AM
can you match channels with another radio, side by side, and see if it transmits anything, even clicks?
could it be something as simple as a broken speaker wire?
1 of the problems of opening it up is busting the old seals, ie you might fix it but it will no longer be waterproof
probably best to buy another of the same type and use the battery and charger as spares
i bought 1 of these recently
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Posted: May 29, 2014 - 09:12 AM
I've had several radios do this of all makes. The electronics are notorious for going out. Seems to be fairly typical for HT's though. I've had the same dilemma and every time it boils down to chasing good money after bad. Once it's fixed now you have a repaired used radio. My advice is to just off it to the ebay scavengers for $20 and move into a new one. I know it sucks, I just lost a $500 multiband Kenwood no tx no rx. Spend $280 to be repaired or buy new again and have an extra battery & charger?
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Posted: May 30, 2014 - 06:25 AM
Yes, with some sophisticated equipment,checking signal to noise ratio measured in Db, OR, the caveman way.
I have an ICOM M36, & I think the antenna is the same setup as yours.
They just unscrew. There has to be someone with a similar radio, just swap antennae from a radio that works, & see if that cures the problem.
If the problem moves to the other radio, then try the Ebay antennae.
I hate to be a pessimist, but it probably is not the antennae. There is some engineering that goes into the design, (mostly to match the antennae to the RF wavelength), the but the antennae itself is pretty simple, no moving parts, & very little that can go wrong. Generally as long as the contacts where it connects are not corroded it will work.
If for some reason you cannot find anyone, anywhere with a like radio, mail the little antennae to me & I'll test it.
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Posted: May 30, 2014 - 08:24 AM
One other thing, are you sure the battery is good? Even a "dead" battery shows almost full voltage.
Is it actually turning on, do the lights in the keypad work?
You should get a keypad light & "beep" everytime you push a button. If you hold the the volumn button down it should beep once, then continuous squelch. It will do this even with the antennae removed.
If it doesn't, either the battery is no good, the connection to the battery is faulty,(possibly the on/off switch), or an internal power connection is broken.
Try swapping a battery from a working set.
If the problem is the on/off switch, or other internal, it's not worth fixing.
If it does actually turn on & squelch, then the antenna can be swapped.
Either way, you have now eliminated the few faults that are cost effective to remedy..
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Posted: Jun 03, 2014 - 05:13 AM
Did you have any luck?
The IC-M24, IC-M34, IC-M36 all use the same antennae, it just screws off, you should be able to borrow one & try a swap.
Once you go higher,(M73) they use a slightly different antennae.
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Posted: Jun 03, 2014 - 10:58 AM
No luck, I ordered a replacement antenna but after installing nothing changed. I had hoped it was a damaged antenna because the antenna had couple of bends in it from being stored loose in a gear bag.
Everything on the display functions normally, the radio beeps on button pushes and the display works correctly, battery indicator shows full. Just silence, like no traffic at all. Not even the weather channels.
I did get it to finally make static noises by turning the squelch down to zero. Even one tiny bar or squelch results in silence. So at least I know the speaker works.
Now, since I live in suburbia, I'm sure there isn't much VHF traffic anyway. I'll take it down by the river and see if it can pick up any barge traffic.
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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN
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Posted: Jun 03, 2014 - 07:01 PM
That generally creates no ill effects, these antennae are basically a piece of wire inside a rubber tube, you can bend the crap out of them, to the point of breaking the internal wire & they will still work.
The fact that it beeps proves the speaker/connections are good.
One more test you can do is try to transmit to a buddy close by. If it goes through to his radio, then the antennae/connection is sound.
You should be able to pick up the weather. I am 40 miles from Lake Ontario, & I can easily hear the marine broadcast on the weather channel.
If there is no foreign object that fell into where the antennae screws in, preventing contact,(did you have the antennae off?) then it is most likely a diode or other tiny internal part that fried.
Unfortunately it is probably not cost effective to fix. If you pay $89 to bench test, then even 30 minutes of time to replace a diode etc & reassemble, + shipping both ways, you are at the "new with warranty" price.
One other option is to find a radio hobbyist. Those guys love to tinker, & can probably look at it for free. Search out a HAM radio club in your area for leads.
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Posted: Jun 03, 2014 - 10:22 PM
Yes it looks like I'm going to have to buy a new one, probably an M24, anyone using that one? It's much smaller than my M34.
I just hate to "retire" the M34 without a fight because even though it's about 5 years old it looks like new and everything works on it, except the transmit and receive.
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Damon Linkous
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Posted: Jun 04, 2014 - 07:39 AM
Two more items, just maybe you'll get lucky.
You mentioned that with squelch wide open, it makes noise...you are hearing the "background " white noise, but it is not detecting a signal.
From your other observations, it does seem that everything is working.
These radios have 3 frequency bands, USA, Canada, International.
Did it get switched off the US band?
Look on the far left side of the screen, there will be a single small letter, inside a box.
U=USA, C=Canada, I=International
On mine the US band will be far left, centre of screen.
Were you testing it while using your laptop?
If I have mine within a couple feet of my laptop, (with WiFi on) the weather broadcast drops out. As soon as I move away, it comes back on.
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Posted: Jun 04, 2014 - 07:51 AM
If you feel adventurous, you could remove the back and check the solder connections to the antenna connector. I had an old radio that had an issue like yours and that was it.
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