Must be my week, but this week the side B of my radio will no longer receive. I can transmit fine, but literally can barely hear someone when receiving. When I change to side A, everything works just fine. Any suggestions on what I may check? I did a factory reset and uploaded all the settings and channels into memory with RT Systems programmer, but the radio still won't receive.
Kenwood: Kenwood TM-D710GA Side B Will NOT Receive
- Thread starter KG7UFU
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Sounds like a trip to Kenwood Service might be in order. Your radio, being a G model, should be well outside the range that had bad IF filters.
But, before that, something simple. Do another full reset. Then tune to the local NOAA Weather Radio transmitter on both sides of the radio. Is there an appreciable difference in signal quality between the two sides? Difference in S meter readings? Difference in sound quality?
But, before that, something simple. Do another full reset. Then tune to the local NOAA Weather Radio transmitter on both sides of the radio. Is there an appreciable difference in signal quality between the two sides? Difference in S meter readings? Difference in sound quality?
MTS2000des
5B2_BEE00 Czar
Sure does sound like a dead filter, if his receive is low. I would also toggle the NARROW/WIDE (menu 102 under TX/RX) while set to a strong signal like NOAA. Most of the time the WIDE filter fails (as it's selected most often in ham use) and the NARROW filter unaffected, so the RX sensitivity will jump up to "normal" in narrow.
Thanks for the tip AK9R. I just tried it and could receive many of the weather radio transmissions on side A. Switched to B and couldn't get any of them. The s meter readings on both sides showed the same on each station. But I could only hear on side A - nothing on side B.
Then something else is going on. If the S-meter readings are the same side to side for the same station, then I don't think it's the IF filters. Sounds like an audio amp problem. I assume both volume controls are adjusted the same. Do you have anything plugged into the external speaker jacks on the back of the RF deck?
n5ims
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The first thing I'd check is the volume and squelch controls are correctly set for both sides of the radio. Each side had their own set of controls so it may be as simple as the volume for your B side is turned all the way down or the B side squelch is set too tight to receive properly. I say this because I have found myself turning down one side when I'm using the other and a signal appears on the side I'm not listening to and more times than I care to think about, I forget to turn it back up when I'm finished.
If you happen to have something connected to either of the external speaker jacks, this can cause one or both channels to be muted on the radio speaker and/or external speaker based on which mode you have programmed for your external speakers.
If you happen to have something connected to either of the external speaker jacks, this can cause one or both channels to be muted on the radio speaker and/or external speaker based on which mode you have programmed for your external speakers.
Yes, a Kenwood external speaker. Volume controls were adjusted the same and after changing side B's volume all the way up, I could barely hear the person speaking.
Yes, I did a number of checks on the volume and squelch controls to get them to be about the same on each side. Didn't change reception on side B.
I don't see where you said that you unplugged the speaker.
No, I haven't tried that yet. I'll give that a try. The speaker is plugged into the base unit which is behind the plastic molding in the cargo area of my SUV. I'll try to get to that next, maybe tomorrow since it takes some time to remove everything.
Ok, made a little more progress today thanks to AK9R's suggestions about taking a look at the external speaker. My rig has a Kenwood KES-3S speaker plugged into the Tx/Rx unit that sites just above the rear PS wheel well.
Thanks to AK9R's suggestion, I looked at the audio menu for external speakers. After setting the external speakers to Mode 2, the weather stations in side B came in loud and clear. Not suprisingly, they also came in on side A after changing to Mode 2. That's the good news. What's strange though is that until a few days ago, audio was loud and clear on both bands (indicated by using the SP1 jack in the image below) regardless of which mode was set in the audio menu.
Now to figure out why sides A and B BOTH don't work on Mode 1 AND 2 using the external SP1 jack like they did a few days ago . . .
Thanks to AK9R's suggestion, I looked at the audio menu for external speakers. After setting the external speakers to Mode 2, the weather stations in side B came in loud and clear. Not suprisingly, they also came in on side A after changing to Mode 2. That's the good news. What's strange though is that until a few days ago, audio was loud and clear on both bands (indicated by using the SP1 jack in the image below) regardless of which mode was set in the audio menu.
Now to figure out why sides A and B BOTH don't work on Mode 1 AND 2 using the external SP1 jack like they did a few days ago . . .
n5ims
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I agree that both sides A & B should work over the external speaker when using Mode 1 or 2. According to the chart, it indicates that the audio from sides A & B should be routed to External Speaker 1 and no audio sent to the internal speaker if you only have a connection on external speaker jack SP1. It shows (line 2 in the chart) that with Mode 1 selected and a speaker connected to only jack SP1 the internal speaker is muted (the "x"), Audio from sides A & B routed to jack SP1, and nothing routed to jack SP2. It shows (line 6 in the chart) that with Mode 2 selected and a speaker connected to only jack SP1 the internal speaker is muted (the "x"), Audio from sides A & B routed to jack SP1, and nothing routed to jack SP2. It's really weird that the modes work differently for you. Glad you got it working again though.
So, finally got it figured out. The Kenwood PG-5F extension kit was used to connect the mic, speaker and faceplate to the transceiver. The installer plugged both speaker cables into the transceiver's jacks - SP1 & SP2. Since the speaker cables support two speakers, only one wire should have been plugged into SP1 (red in the photo above). After removing the white jack from SP2, everything works as it should. I'm just not sure how it was working for the last 3+ years. Oh well, thanks for the advice everyone. Maybe this will help someone else down the line.
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