F4GS Problems

[methusaleh]

I recently got a great deal on two F4GS HTs but I am having trouble with them. At first it was one radio, now it is both. Any and all assistance is greatly appreciated!

Both radios were received and originally tested yesterday, but briefly.

Radio #1 - The radio powers up fine. Sometimes after powering up, the display starts flashing (backlight is on, LCD figures flash). Sometimes it does not. Radio does not RX and does not seem to TX, however sometimes when I press the PTT, the little "lightning bolt" icon appears on the screen, as if I am TXing, however nearby receivers do not receive anything, not even a dead carrier. Tested with 3 different batteries, same results. It took four tries before my computer would read it, I kept getting error messages. I was finally able to read it, and today I added a couple channels and programmed it with those. Radio still does not TX; LCD characters on the display blink sometimes when PTT is pressed, "lightning bolt" symbol sometimes appears when PTT is pressed.

Radio #2 - Worked fine yesterday on intial testing. Powered up, RX and TX fine, software was able to read on the first try. Today I went to read the radio again, and after about 50 attempts I can not. Nor can I write to it. Using the same cable and software, I am able to read and program an F3GS that I have, so I am guessing the problem is the radio and not my computer or setup. Radio still TXs and RXs fine, I just can not get my software to acknowledge it.

 

[methusaleh]

Update...upon reading the programming manual, there is a section on page three that deals with the Com Port Menu. There is a picture of the exact same popup warning box that I am seeing, headed with "Check the Following." The manual then recommends checking the Com Port settings. However I have done that and everything appears fine and the software still successfully reads my F3GS every time I try. No more luck on reading either F4GS however.

 

[bezking]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

The blinking LCD means the frequency is out of range.

 

[methusaleh]

bezking thank you so much!

Then that might confirm my greatest fears-- that someone hacked into the software and played with the VCO? That is what a Motorola guy I know suggested, but I thought it was just a worse-case-scenario type idea!

EDIT TO ADD:

Which brings up another question...these radios are from a Canadian gentleman. They have no FCC ID so I can not run it and see what the proper freq range is. They were programmed with 454MHz frequencies. Could they be for a different split?

 

[bezking]

I don't have much experience outside the US... If you post the *exact* model number (usually something like IC-F4GS-x), we can see what exactly the unit is designed to handle.

 

[methusaleh]

Thanks! They are labeled only Icom IC-F4GS.

 

[n1das]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

The blinking LCD means the frequency is out of range.

The LCD can still blink if the frequency is in the normal range. The blinking LCD indicates PLL out of lock. It would explain the dead Rx and Tx.

 

[methusaleh]

Thank you for your input. Would that indicate that someone may have hacked the VCO or something? Are the radios just paperweights now?

Sigh...

 

[dwh367]

Thank you for your input. Would that indicate that someone may have hacked the VCO or something? Are the radios just paperweights now?

Sigh...

So that we can try to help you further, what frequency range are you trying to program? This radio does have several different splits:
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]IC-F4GT/GS[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica] 400-430 MHz 440-470 MHz 470-500 MHz
490-512 MHz (USA) 490-520 MHz (others)[/FONT]
At this point, it appears that you have the one with the 440-470 split which is the most common.

 

[methusaleh]

I have not even got so far as to attempt to program either radio. They came to me with a few 454-455MHz simplex frequencies programmed into them. At this point I can not even "read" either radio, while my software and cable work perfectly to read the F3GS and F21 that I own.

 

[DODGEIT]

My experience with Icoms, Yaesus and Kenwood is the first thing you do is after connecting the cables, setting the COM port and after opening the program is to upload anything on the radio first. This helps to establish communications with the radio to the computer. Save it as whatever file name you choose. Then download the file you want to the radio. Works most of the time for me without issues.