ICOM F21 not receiveing

Business Radios
1

I’m a radio novice looking to fix my existing set.

I have several ICOM F21 (programmable 16ch UHF) and F21GM (pre-programed GRMS 16ch).

The F21s I bought off ebay 5 years ago and the F21GMs I bought new. At that time I programmed everything to work together for the first 8 channels (programmed subchannels on the GMs and programmed F21s to match). Besides chasing some weak batteries, everything has worked fine for 4 years.

For the past year I’ve had some of the radios apparently quit receiving. They all seem to have the same problem, but its a mix of the F21s (used) and F21GMs (new). They all transmit just fine. I just checked the programming on the F21s and can’t find any issues. I also cloned a working raido to a non-working radio and got no change. Swapped anntennas and batteries, still no change.

They’re used about once a month, roughly. The operators are sometimes low IQ and I wouldn’t put it past them to be randomly pushing buttons when they’re bored (I caught one doing that).

Any ideas? Is this a common failure on F21 radios? Internet search showed nothing. Are there ‘button programming’ settings that might be getting changed (but why would cloning not clear that?).

Thanks,

Jay W

2

With the radios in question, are they making any kind of noise at all (beeps, tones, etc…)? It is possible the speakers are blown.

3

I’ll have to double check when I got home, but I’m pretty sure they’re making the turn on beep noise. I’m also pretty sure they’re not getting the green light as they would when receiving.

They do pretty much live at full volume.

Jay W

4

Yes they beep when turned on, and no ‘receive’ light when I try to speak to them.

I have about 16 total and 8ish are doing this. I might take one to the repair shop to see if they’ll give me a DIY fix plan for the others. I definitly can’t afford to professionally repair them all.

Jay W

5

Took these radios to a “professional” yesterday. They just confirmed my issue, didn’t try to repair or even offer advice, they just reflected back what I told them was wrong with the radios. Not so sure why they even took them in.

Anyways, any suggestions on what to try, or even a better repair shop in the Huntington Beach, Ca area (I’ll drive 30miles)?

Jay W