VHF Help needed

[Jakers 69]

Does any one know of someone who can help with VHF problems?
I have a new IconVHF and antenna and it seems to have problems transmitting, I can receive but no sending unless I am in very close range.

Voltage seem to be ok
Antenna is new
cables and connections seem to be fine.


THANKS

[scottar]

Make sure it is set to international and on high power for starters. Did you have to fit the connector on the antenna yourself?

[Jakers 69]

Scottar, yes its on INT and 25W, no I didn't install it but it was installed by a reputable marine installer. Only thing I can think of is that the cable got damage when they pulled it down the T Top

[scottar]

Who did your install ? Wouldn't be the first time an experienced installer manged to get a connector not quite right (me included). You are going to need an SWR / RF power meter realistically to move forward. Other other option is to find another boat that you can plug your radio into to prove whether it's radio or antenna or another radio to try in your boat. Is it the only radio that was installed - any chance they got the antennas crossed ?

[Jakers 69]

Thanks Scottar,
Its the only radio, what do you mean by got the antennas crossed?

[groverwa]

I think he meant that you may have put a 27 meg antenna on by mistake.

As suggested try the radio on another vessel and if it is OK I would suspect that the coax has been kinked very badly which is what I have seen on a few occasions with vehicle based HF sets. This causes the impedance of the coax to change dramatically resulting in the power going into the antennae being reflected back into the set. The coax must have an impedance of 50 ohms and not 75 ohms which is used for TV reception.

As suggested previously you need to get someone with a power meter to test everything out.

[chocolatemoose]

most marine dealers should be able to have you bring your head unit and or antenna in to try on theirs to see whats working and whats not

[scottar]

I think he meant that you may have put a 27 meg antenna on by mistake.

As suggested try the radio on another vessel and if it is OK I would suspect that the coax has been kinked very badly which is what I have seen on a few occasions with vehicle based HF sets. This causes the impedance of the coax to change dramatically resulting in the power going into the antennae being reflected back into the set. The coax must have an impedance of 50 ohms and not 75 ohms which is used for TV reception.

As suggested previously you need to get someone with a power meter to test everything out.

Not so much put a 27 Meg antenna on but with GME antennas it is certainly a possibility as any whip will fit the standard base. Just check the label on the whip to make sure it's right. The comment was more along the gist of getting wires between two antennas mixed up as they were run but if it was a single radio install that won't be the case.

[BigE]

Hi J69
see my below thread I had the same issue and it turned out to be the radio requiring GPS data before transmitting, i did want to hook the VHF to my GPS so I had to turn all the setting options to off and then turn on the options that i wanted that did not require GPS data and it worked perfectly after i did that. No where in my manual did it indicate the VHF would not transmit with the GPS not connected and the menus not turned off, it took me about 25 mins to turn every option to off and then turn them on 1 by 1 until the issue occurred again, very frustrating.

Re: lowrance Link 5 VHF radio

got it sorted today, went to the options menu and turned everything off one by one.
then started turning each option on one at a time, problem seemed to be the GPS Data option, once it was off the radio transmitted fine.

BigE

[BigE]

Jakers
how did you go? get it fixed yet?

[SUPERDAFF]

Jakers - had a very similar problem. I hooked up a SWR meter - seemed okay to me (a novice). I put on a new aerial and base. I checked and double-checked connections. I re-wired aerial cable through targa tubes - you name it, I tried it, but no still joy. This went on for more than a year of total frustration and probably cost me the best part of two weekends' work. In the end, took it to the experts - Trymax Marine at Capalaba (Brisbane) and asked them to check it out for me, fix it or replace it altogether. In less than an hour, they found there was a fault with a chip in the radio itself - had been there since day one apparently. I did the math and it was going to make more sense to replace the radio - they did the job and I've never had a problem since - same brand, same model. Bottom line - sometimes, no matter how silly it sounds and no matter what the symptoms seem to be, the answer can be in the device itself and not the (seemingly more likely), aerial, wiring etc. Oh yeah ... and go to an electronics expert.... that was the big lesson.