Yaesu: Is my Yaesu FT-70D defective?

[jtm111]

I just got my ham ticket, and have been waiting to try out my new Yaesu FT-70D.

Out of the box, charged it up while reading the owners manual carefully.

Entered my call sign. got in frequency mode. I thought it was strange that I could hear no static. To test it out, I entered the air band and tuned in to the control tower of my local airport. I saw the two green indicator lights indicating reception of a signal every few seconds. But there was no sound. checked the volume and squelch. Volume was up, squelch was low. Tried zero squelch which made no difference.

I tried several other frequencies that I knew should have traffic. Green lights, yes. Sound no.

After a lot of searching for troubleshooting help, I plugged ear buds into the mic/speaker jack on the theory that the onboard speaker was defective. Again I went to the air bands so as not to mess with transmissions on ham bands. I could hear static in the earbuds, but the digital display said "Error" and two red indicator lights were on.

Is my new radio defective? It seems everything is working except the speaker.

 

[k6cpo]

You can't plug a standard set of ear buds into a Yaesu speaker/microphone jack. The earbuds have the wrong kind of connector on them and will short the PTT contacts in the jack. That's why your two red indicator lights were on. If you look on Page 4 of the manual, you'll see it specifically warns against this action.

There is a second manual that doesn't come with the radio and has to be downloaded from the Yaesu website. If you don't have this, I recommend getting it and reading it carefully as well.

 

[hill]

Instead of the local airport you should try to enter the frequency of the local weather channel, since they broadcast all the time. Most likely your HT is in the wrong mode for aircraft communication being in FM rather the AM.

 

[jtm111]

You can't plug a standard set of ear buds into a Yaesu speaker/microphone jack. The earbuds have the wrong kind of connector on them and will short the PTT contacts in the jack. That's why your two red indicator lights were on. If you look on Page 4 of the manual, you'll see it specifically warns against this action.

There is a second manual that doesn't come with the radio and has to be downloaded from the Yaesu website. If you don't have this, I recommend getting it and reading it carefully as well.

Thank you k6cpo, I was not aware of the extended operating manual from Yaesu and I have acquired a copy. Thank you also for explaining why my conventional earbuds were not going to work.

I actually ordered another Yaesu FT-70DR because it is a solid unit and I like how it programs.

 

[jtm111]

Instead of the local airport you should try to enter the frequency of the local weather channel, since they broadcast all the time. Most likely your HT is in the wrong mode for aircraft communication being in FM rather the AM.

Aha, the weather channel here is 162.550 and it broadcasts in FM mode. Very smart. Thank you.

 

[ko6jw_2]

The FT-70 defaults to AM in the aircraft band so that is not the problem. Nor will it enter a digital mode when listening to aircraft. Push the "Mon" button below the PTT button. This will open the squelch. Do you hear noise? What is your volume setting? Something like 22 will give you plenty of level. If this does not work you may have a problem. As above, using a NOAA weather channel is a better way to test.

 

[ko6jw_2]

Another point: Are you hearing beeps when you press keys? Also, try a full reset.