ICOM IC-F21GM does not work between radios

[WSDF258]

I purchased two used FC-21GM radios along with the CS-F11 and OPC-478UC cable. I'm able to read the radios to see what the settings and program them alike, but cannot for the life of me get them to talk with each other. I'm new to GMRS and radios in general, so I don't exactly know what I'm doing, but it seems that if these radios are programmed alike, there's no reason they can't talk to each other. Perhaps I have one setting turned on or off or have left out?

Can anyone share with me a screenshot of what your IC-F21GM radio programming looks like or see where I may have screwed up?

Below is how I have both radios programmed as of right now.

 

[kny2xb]

I would change channels 1-8 to wide instead of narrow
Your channels 1-8 are set up for repeater use, most repeaters use wide-band instead of narrow

Channels 9-15 are set to simplex, so the radios should talk to each other on those channels
Unless you need them, I'd remove the CTCSS codes from channels 9-15

Your radios should talk to each other through any repeaters that you can hit, just don't have the radios too close to each other

Unless I'm missing something, it looks good

I only have repeaters programmed into my F21GM, no simplex

 

[WSDF258]

I would change channels 1-8 to wide instead of narrow
Your channels 1-8 are set up for repeater use, most repeaters use wide-band instead of narrow

Channels 9-15 are set to simplex, so the radios should talk to each other on those channels
Unless you need them, I'd remove the CTCSS codes from channels 9-15

Your radios should talk to each other through any repeaters that you can hit, just don't have the radios too close to each other

Unless I'm missing something, it looks good

I only have repeaters programmed into my F21GM, no simplex

View attachment 172625

Thanks for the reply. I updated the settings based on your guidance and they still don't work. Not sure what I might be doing wrong unless it's the radios themselves.

 

[mmckenna]

Make sure the scan function is turned OFF. If the radios are in close proximity, it's likely to overload the receiver and the scan will stop on the wrong channel.

 

[kny2xb]

Make sure the scan function is turned OFF. If the radios are in close proximity, it's likely to overload the receiver and the scan will stop on the wrong channel.

Arghh, I'm having a Monday, I didn't notice that in his screen shot

 

[mmckenna]

Arghh, I'm having a Monday,

It -is- Monday.

 

[WSDF258]

This is driving me crazy that I cannot solve this. I appreciate all of the assistance on this forum. Below are the settings on both of the radios as of right now.

 

[FKimble]

Freqs 9-15 only have a RX freq set. I would think you would want the same freq set for TX

Frank

 

[mmckenna]

Freqs 9-15 only have a RX freq set. I would think you would want the same freq set for TX

Frank

That's how Icom software shows that the TX and RX frequency are the same.

 

[mmckenna]

Does the green receive LED indicator come on when you are transmitting with the other radio?

Do both radios behave the same? Both transmit, and both do not receive?

 

[WSDF258]

Does the green receive LED indicator come on when you are transmitting with the other radio?

Do both radios behave the same? Both transmit, and both do not receive?

The green receive LED indicator does not come on for either unit. The red LED indicator does come on when pushing PTT button. Both appear to transmit and neither appear to receive.

When I first received the radios, I was able to transmit from one and receive on the other on channel 15. After I attempted to program each radio the same for all channels to work, neither one of them can receive on any channel.

I also attempted to decrease the power to the Low2 from High just to see if there was an interference issue, but that didn't help.

 

[mmckenna]

I'd read each radio individually and go through the file carefully to look at changes.

The Green LED not lighting means it's not receiving, not even wrong PL/DPL. Been a while since I touched an F21, though.

 

[rescuecomm]

Check your common settings screen.