[ICOM] IC-756PROIII No Transmit

[Lawrence Young]

Phil: I am not an" Icom" in all cases type of guy, having owned many different rigs in over 50 years of ham and professional radio design. I certainly can understand your frustration. Not having examined and measured your stations antenna system. I am surmising that you have a severe case of ESD. This can happen in locations of dry as well as snowy weather. Usually the stations involved have little or inadequate ESD protection. This is best done at the antenna itself. All antennas should be at DC ground potential. A  1:! voltage balun, or a 1:1 dc continuity current balun will usually suffice, or an RF choke or resistor across  the antenna feed point to drain any static build up.
   There is a video on U-Tube with a ham demonstrating an arching voltage discharge across the pl-259 plug of an antenna. Just imagine how much voltage it takes to be able to do that. Hundreds, perhaps several thousand volts.
I just can't believe you have a lemon, but anything is possible including your antenna system.
Larry K4LXV

--- On Thu, 6/18/09, Phil Krichbaum <vailphil at sopris.net> wrote:

From: Phil Krichbaum <vailphil at sopris.net>
Subject: Re: [ICOM] IC-756PROIII No Transmit
To: "ICOM Reflector" <icom at mailman.qth.net>
Date: Thursday, June 18, 2009, 9:02 PM

    I have a  PROIII purchased in August 2007. The first hour I used it 
the xmit went to super QRP after two QSOs on 20 CW at 5w and one at 
100w. I sent it to Icom and they charged me over $250 to fix the problem 
claiming I operated it out of warranty! I have no idea where they got 
that idea but I did manage to get a refund but still was out the 
shipping both ways. I was using it into a 20 m antenna with nice low SWR 
and had not had time to hook up the amp or RX antennas before it went 
toes up! The next three times it died the same death I sent it to 
Midwest Technical Service for Tim Moes to work on it as I was 
unimpressed with the attitude at Icom!  It has now died the same death 
on transmit a 5th time less than two months after the last repair. It is 
not the drivers or finals, but fets and diodes, mostly stuff in the 
tuner. I'm told it is RF getting back in to it. I do have beverage 
receive antennas but do not bring them in thru the RX antenna jacks, I 
use one of KD9SV's DXpedition II boxes with a 160/80 preamp, 4 positions 
of RX antenna switching and the RX antennas come in thru one of the 
SO239 antenna plugs when not in xmit.
    I'm seriously convinced I got a lemon from the start. I really like 
the performance when it works right but I can't continue to go on like 
this. I wonder if they fixed these problems in the 7600? It seems that 
this is not a real common problem but the two of us are not the lone 
ranger either. Does Icom have a policy for dealing with lemons? I'm fed up!
    73 Phil N0KE

k0bx at arrl.net wrote:
> Larry, thank you for your comments.  I do agree with what you said.
>
> But in my case, I do not have any other antenna connected.  The 1st time was on 20 CW using my Hygain 204BA 4 element monobander with no amp.  I agree that some RF must be getting back to the rig somehow, but I do have grounding devices on all my antennas.
>
> The 2nd time, I just (Like the other guy) just turned on the rig to find it dead on transmit.  I know that sounds like an e-bay thing, "It worked the last time I used it". 
>
> One of the gentlemen in my DX Club got rig of his PROIII after 3 repairs for the samething.
>
> I have used a TS-850S on this antenna for 12 years and when taken out of service it performed on transmit like the day it was brought.  My IC-706MK2G have been on this antenna for the last 5 years.  No problems with them.
>
> As far as the Burghardt BEV-756, Burghardt recommended it as a solution to my problem even though I do not use a Bev Antenna.
>
> It seems that others are having the same problem and only using one antenna at a time.
>
> Joe K0BX
>
>
> Stop the insanity!
> Please do not add me to any distribution lists (Joke, Stories or Junk) without my permission.
>
>
> --- On Tue, 3/24/09, Lawrence Young <k4lxv at bellsouth.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> From: Lawrence Young <k4lxv at bellsouth.net>
>> Subject: Re: [ICOM] IC-756PROIII No Transmit
>> To: "ICOM Reflector" <icom at mailman.qth.net>
>> Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 9:03 AM
>> Guys: Products like the Burghardt BEV-756 are designed to
>> serve as a front end saver for those hams who may not
>> understand that one cannot safely transmit on one antenna
>> and leave another one such as a Beverage receive antenna 
>> still connected to the receiver. I am amazed at the number
>> of hams that I know who may do this without realizing the
>> possibility of damage to the radio.
>> Larry K4LXV
>>
>>     
>
> ----
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>   
----
Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC: icom-owner at mailman.qth.net
Icom Users Net: Sundays, 1700Z, 14.316 MHz
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