. . .but it powers up. I have a Midland Regatta VHF installed on my boat and I never got sound though it did power up. I thought it was due to a bad antenna on the mast so I replaced the antenna. Still same problem.
So, no knowing what to do I thought it would be easier and cheaper to just buy another inexpensive radio which I did do. A Cobra. I installed that and tried it out - it worked. Then a few weeks ago while motoring I went to use it (usually I keep it off on the sailboat as to not draw power) and the same thing. It powers up but no sound - no squelch, no nothing, no screech when I press the speaker button.
??? Any ideas how to proceed to figure this out? Should I try to wire up an external speaker? But that still doesn’t help with the microphone does it?
I am thinking about taking the first radio and putting an accessory plug on it and plugging it into my car; then somehow fixing an antenna to it to test it there. Is that doable?
Doable (as in technically possible), yes. Legal, no. Marine radios are intended for installation and use on marine craft only. Operation of a marine radio on land, such as in a car, is illegal.
As for the issue itself, I need more information. First, what model is the Cobra? Is it still installed on your boat? You mentioned you were motoring - is this on your boat or in a car? Are you using the same speaker mic or a different one for the other radio?
Thanks for the quick response. The Cobra is on the sailboat. I am not on the boat and don’t recall the model - it was a $99.00 job. Each unit has its own speaker and mic so I basically just wire the unit(s) to a dedicated fused circuit (which does not blow) on the panel and plug in the antenna cable that comes down from the mast.
Now that I am thinking about this I realize that this is my 4th radio! When I initially purchased the boat 7 years ago it had a radio and after just a few days trial sailing the same thing happened. The seller who was an electrician came down, looked at it and just installed a new radio. The radio worked as I had to radio harbor master, etc. So that was radio number 2. So the next year I had the same problem and thought it might be the antenna because the antenna had blown off in a storm. So I just bought a handheld and then decided to get a new radio anyhow (the Midland) So this went on until last year when I finally climbed the mast and installed a new antenna. Well the Midland worked for awhile and the same thing happened. You see I am thinking that it is something I am doing that is blowing out the speaker - like turning up the volume or something.
So that now brings me up to date - I purchased the Cobra thinking the Midland is bad and it worked as I turned it on initially. Then now it doesn’t work.
You see I don’t use the radio a lot so I just keep it off but when bringing the boat in to a harbor I tried to use it and - nothing - powers on but no sound at all. So I use the handheld.
This is crazy - I cannot figure out what would cause this. My panel is serviced by one 12v deep cycle battery and my 9.9 hp outboard charges the battery using a rectifier (not a regulator). My mechanic says the rectify produces so little amps that it won’t over charge the battery.
You see I was thinking that somehow when the engine was running at full tilt it was giving too much volts to the radio or something - ?? just fishing - I haven’t a clue.
Your problem is that you should have had a two way tech install your transceiver for you.
Technicially it is not a radio - because it talks and receives…
A radio only talks.
When you installed the radio - and knew the antenna was bad - how did you fix it.
Just replacing the antenna does not solve the problem.
A basic understanding of communications and how a radio works is necessary to work on any type of two way radio.
The coax is a conductor that carries the signal from the Generator ( radio ) to the load ( antenna ). If the antenna is resonant and installed properly - then the length of the coax is irrelevant.
When it is not resonant - then it becomes a major issue.
All vertical antenna’s requires some type of ground plane and the radio and antenna needed to be grounded and bonded together - a fiberglass boat does not offer this.
You will continue to burn up radios until you have it installed properly.
So do you even own a SWR meter and a dummy load?
You can’t work on radio equipment without these two basic tools!