[Icom] IC-746 built-in Antenna Tuner problems

[WB8FEQ at Home]

Hi all.

My IC-746 has been working great for over 3 years but over the last couple
of weeks I noticed that the antenna tuner is not locking in propperly.  At
first I thought it was on all bands but further investigation I find it is
primarily on ten meters.  I even connected a good 50 ohm dummy load with
three different jumpers.  It can never find a good match (thought the on
screen SWR readings do go through a good SWR and back to infinity.  With the
tuner out of line the dummy load shows a 1.1:1 reading.  The other bands I
normally opearte on (75, 40, 20 and 6 meters) seems to be funtioning
correctly with their respective antennas.  I was wondering if anyone has
encountered this before and if there is any known "normal" that would be
seen as the cause of this.   Aany other thoughts/suggestions before I give
up and send it to a service center (which based on the current size of
components and my less than perfect eyes may happen even if I find a
defective component) would be appriciated.

Thanks in advance - Al WB8FEQ