Icom IC-2720

[Fdtrucker]

Hello,
I have an Icom 2720 that developed a transmitting problem. It transmits less than 1 watt of power on both uhf and vhf bands no matter what power setting it is on. Everything else works fine except for this problem. I think it might be the driver or the finals. My question is: has anyone had any similar problem with this rig? Or any solutions..
Brian

 

[park]

Yes, myself five years ago and 1000's of other people. This radio has a history of this.

73

 

[Moleculo]

I have that radio and had the same problem earlier this year. The problem is the driver. Icom will sell you a new one for fairly inexpensive if you want to put it in yourself. Or, they charge you around $80 (I think that's what it was) to do it for you. At the time I didn't know that it was just the driver that goes out, so I sent it in. If it happens again, I'll just fix it myself. If you do decide to send it to Icom, their turnaround time is pretty quick.

BTW, I believe the most likely cause of this problem is transmitting with a high SWR. I know there are a bunch of pages out there speculating how to "Fix" this issue, but I haven't seen anything that worked 100% of the time. It happened to me when I accidentally keyed the radio on high power setting with the coax unplugged.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Mole, I would think a high SWR would take out the final amp and not the driver. Are you sure it is the driver? Usually those radios have an RF module that is a self contained driver and final in one package that only takes a few hundred milliwatts input. I lost the final in my Icom IC-2000H several years ago and all it would do was about 1/2 watt. Come to find out Icom failed to put enough,or any, heatsink compound on the output module at the factory.that was a common problem.

 

[cyclops1970]

Hello,
I have an Icom 2720 that developed a transmitting problem. It transmits less than 1 watt of power on both uhf and vhf bands no matter what power setting it is on. Everything else works fine except for this problem. I think it might be the driver or the finals. My question is: has anyone had any similar problem with this rig? Or any solutions..
Brian

I remember seeing something about repairing VHF modules somewhere on the internet...pretty much you popped the cover off of the module and reheated a solder trace that formed a stripline on the beryllium substrate.

 

[Beetle]

Icom will sell you a new one for fairly inexpensive if you want to put it in yourself.

Wouldn't it work better if you put it in the radio? :shock:

 

[Moleculo]

I would think that a high SWR would blow the final also, but I'm sure it was the driver they replaced. If you search around on the internet, you'll see that's the main issue almost everyone has on this rig. Maybe the high SWR was just coincidental in my case?

 

[Fdtrucker]

Hello,
I have an Icom 2720 that developed a transmitting problem. It transmits less than 1 watt of power on both uhf and vhf bands no matter what power setting it is on. Everything else works fine except for this problem. I think it might be the driver or the finals. My question is: has anyone had any similar problem with this rig? Or any solutions..
Brian

I remember seeing something about repairing VHF modules somewhere on the internet...pretty much you popped the cover off of the module and reheated a solder trace that formed a stripline on the beryllium substrate.

So the stripline in the module could be the problem? Does this act like a fuse? I dont think I had an swr problem. I have been running another radio in it's place no problems for 2 months now no issues.