VHF transmitting but not recieving

[TonyC]

Have a strange problem with our Fixed VHF (M411).

It was working perfectly the other week, but this weekend we could transmit (and was told we were loud and clear), but we had extreme difficulty in recieving ANYTHING on the main set.

Now when I mean anything, I mean apart from the odd 'burp' of recieved traffic, there was nothing. The handheld (M-71) was picking it all up, so it wasn't a range issue (tried between 1 & 3Nm) so not sure what the issue is.

I checked the aerial end, took the tape off, cleaned up the plug, couldn't see any water damage, looked pretty clean, re-taped it all up again.

Any ideas anyone? (and yes, the squelch was adjusted )

[willk]

Wonky speaker? Try the AUX out feed...

[Erin]

Turn the volume up

In all seriousness, I have been having a similar problem with my Icom M505. It is intermittent and not very reassuring when it is a primary bit of safety gear. I've ended buying a new Garmin VHF, partly because I don't feel I want to trust a repaired set, partly because new sets are less than £200 and partly because I wanted N2K connectivity. I have read a few articles about tuning circuits failing in Icoms, so in the fulness of time I will send the old unit to Icom and see what they say.

[jyasaki]

Squelch was adjusted, but did it make any difference? Could be a faulty potentiometer on the squelch adjustment not allowing adjustment.

Could you pick up the HH being keyed next to the antenna? SHould be a lot more power to the antenna than normal ship to ship traffic.

Does the VHF show busy when receiving (if it has that indicator) around the bursts of received traffic? Or only when the bursts get through?

Is the received "blurb" of traffic reasonably loud? If not, points to speaker or audio amp prob.

jky

[boristhebold]

I had a similar probelem with my fixed set recently, I found the fault to be of my own doing, while cleaning the front of the unit I had accidently switched the operating frequency of the set as there are a couple of options whether its in UK/Europe or US/Internationaly etc, it might be worth checking this.

[TonyC]

Hi All, thx for the help so far,

adjusting the squelch gave normal results in terms of static etc, but didnt help hear the signals (as you would with a weak signal)

When you keyed the HH in the RIB, the Fixed set picked it up easily

What traffic it did pick up showed as busy, but when it wasn't picking it up - the set just kept scanning (set is usually scanning 3 channels)

the 'blurb' was reasonably loud when it picked it up

The set was on INT as per normal

[BumbleAbout]

It sounds as though there is a dodgy aerial connection somewhere (i.e. weak incoming signals not being picked up, but stronger outgoing ones appear to be good at close range during a radio check) - have you checked the connection at the back of the fixed VHF and for any aerial water ingress or damage ?