R.I.P. Icom R75?

[ridgescan]

That's not just a "desk" that's a STATION I can't remember, what do you run for antennas bott? I'd sure like to know what rigs run on what antennas.

 

[mbott]

Good question. I have one HF antenna which is a Wellbrook ALA1530LNP. I have a Pixel RF Pro-1B but it's giving me fits at the moment, so it's in the basement until I can figure out what to do with it. The antenna coax comes through the house to the "radio room". First it runs through a PAR AM Broadcast High Pass filter. It's usually "off" unless the locals are extremely strong. From there, the circuit passes through a Timewave ANC-4 which does eliminate about 15% of the noise I deal with. From there, the antenna circuit passes through a Stridesberg 4-port passive Multicoupler. One output goes to my KiwiSDR, one to my IC-7300 and one of several of my SDRs via an antenna switch. The last output goes to a Stridesberg MCA108M active Multicoupler. Those outputs go to the rest of the tabletop radios and a SDRplay RSP2 with one output going to a 3.5mm plug which allows me to use any one of my portables.

The loop sits about 13' in the air on top of a Hy-Gain AR500 rotor.

I live with the little bit of loss from the passive multicoupler. This set-up allows me to use any radio without having to switch feeds and I'm good with that.

 

[mbott]

Get your paper towels ready. What I'm about to share with you is a pic that was posted to FB this evening in the R-75 group. And it is quite possible that one of the R75s in the pic is one I sold about a year and a half ago.

Talk about impressive.

 

[MDScanFan]

That is and impressive setup. I can understand having different HF receivers but I am wondering why someone would want/need four duplicate HF receivers. Utility listening with each set to a different frequency?

Then again I should not second guess someone who owns a 9500

Get your paper towels ready. What I'm about to share with you is a pic that was posted to FB this evening in the R-75 group. And it is quite possible that one of the R75s in the pic is one I sold about a year and a half ago.

 

[Boombox]

Wow. All those quality receivers and an SDR to-boot. And an oldie transistor comm rig on the shelf to the far right of all the main receivers.

 

[mbott]

The owner of the 4 actually owns 6. Two are at other locations.

 

[mbott]

The R75 in the lower left is the one I sold. He does some specialized monitoring and he has found that the R75 is just about perfect for when he needs.

 

[GB46]

The owner of the 4 actually owns 6. Two are at other locations.

I would think it must be confusing with all four of them together like that. He could easily reach for the wrong radio when he wants to tune something in or adjust the volume.

In my case, it's the earphones that get me confused once in a while, as I have one pair plugged into the R75 and the other into the 909X, or sometimes the laptop, so from time to time I put on the wrong earphones and wonder why I can't hear anything from the radio. Or the audio from the portable sounds oddly different, until I realize that the earphones are plugged into the computer, and I'm hearing the radio's speaker.

By earphones I mean earbuds, actually. They're both the same kind.

 

[ka3jjz]

That looks like a Perseus on the top of the R75 on the upper right - or if not, what? Mike

 

[WB9YBM]

Yesterday morning my R75 was working just fine, until I decided to relocate it to a different part of the room, which was simple enough. I unplugged the power supply, disconnected the antenna, moved the radio to the new location, then reconnected everything. Making sure the power supply was live, I then pressed the receiver's power button ... nothing! Even the backlight didn't come on. When powering up the radio I would usually hear the click of a relay as well, presumably the antenna switcher, but I don't even hear that now.

I've checked the radio's internal fuse, which hasn't blown. The power supply's fuse is intact, as well. Not having a multimeter, I tested the power supply by connecting it to a 3-volt flashlight bulb, expecting it to burn out immediately, which it did.

When you tested the supply, where did you test it--at the power supply itself or at the other end of the cable where it gets connected to the radio? (You probably see where I'm going with this...) Also, depending on how easy/hard it is to open up the radio, can you test the voltage inside the radio at the radio's connector itself? I'm thinking that during the move, maybe a connection went bad: a cold solder joint opened, a previously pinched wire may have flexed enough to have opened (in the case of a wire going bad).

In other words: what happened during the move that could cause problems? When we've exhausted all of those options and it still doesn't work (possible, but not my first guess)--if you believe in coincidences--then something else coincidentially decided to go wrong at the exact time you moved the radio, in which case it might need to go in for repair.

 

[GB46]

When you tested the supply, where did you test it--at the power supply itself or at the other end of the cable where it gets connected to the radio? (You probably see where I'm going with this...) Also, depending on how easy/hard it is to open up the radio, can you test the voltage inside the radio at the radio's connector itself? I'm thinking that during the move, maybe a connection went bad: a cold solder joint opened, a previously pinched wire may have flexed enough to have opened (in the case of a wire going bad).

In other words: what happened during the move that could cause problems? When we've exhausted all of those options and it still doesn't work (possible, but not my first guess)--if you believe in coincidences--then something else coincidentially decided to go wrong at the exact time you moved the radio, in which case it might need to go in for repair.

You must have inadvertently replied to my original post from January of 2019, probably because the thread still has its original title. It has drifted a bit to various other discussions of the R75. A full year later I reported that when I brought the receiver back out of storage it no longer malfunctioned, so it's been working perfectly since January 2020. I suspect that the problem may have been an intermittent connection between the power cord and power supply that didn't show up no matter how often I tested it. At any rate, the R75 is functioning just like out of the box now, a full 22 years after I bought it new.

 

[WB9YBM]

You must have inadvertently replied to my original post from January of 2019, probably because the thread still has its original title. It has drifted a bit to various other discussions of the R75. A full year later I reported that when I brought the receiver back out of storage it no longer malfunctioned, so it's been working perfectly since January 2020. I suspect that the problem may have been an intermittent connection between the power cord and power supply that didn't show up no matter how often I tested it. At any rate, the R75 is functioning just like out of the box now, a full 22 years after I bought it new.

Thank you for the clarification! I'm glad to hear it's working again. Your solution brings to mind a trick I've used in the past called "the wiggle test"--wiggle connectors and wires to see if power (or signals) drop out...

 

[GB46]

Thank you for the clarification! I'm glad to hear it's working again. Your solution brings to mind a trick I've used in the past called "the wiggle test"--wiggle connectors and wires to see if power (or signals) drop out...

Wiggle them enough and signals or power (or both) will drop out for sure when metal fatigue sets in.

 

[ridgescan]

You must have inadvertently replied to my original post from January of 2019, probably because the thread still has its original title. It has drifted a bit to various other discussions of the R75. A full year later I reported that when I brought the receiver back out of storage it no longer malfunctioned, so it's been working perfectly since January 2020. I suspect that the problem may have been an intermittent connection between the power cord and power supply that didn't show up no matter how often I tested it. At any rate, the R75 is functioning just like out of the box now, a full 22 years after I bought it new.

The R75 has a soul, loves to work its ass off and wants to live. That is all.

 

[GB46]

The R75 has a soul, loves to work its ass off and wants to live. That is all.

Somehow that remark reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode I saw many years ago, in which a guy gets so frustrated with his household appliances when they don't work properly that he starts swearing at them. The appliances then come to life and start chasing him.

 

[nevesjerry]

My second equipment problem in less than a year:

Yesterday morning my R75 was working just fine, until I decided to relocate it to a different part of the room, which was simple enough. I unplugged the power supply, disconnected the antenna, moved the radio to the new location, then reconnected everything. Making sure the power supply was live, I then pressed the receiver's power button ... nothing! Even the backlight didn't come on. When powering up the radio I would usually hear the click of a relay as well, presumably the antenna switcher, but I don't even hear that now.

I've checked the radio's internal fuse, which hasn't blown. The power supply's fuse is intact, as well. Not having a multimeter, I tested the power supply by connecting it to a 3-volt flashlight bulb, expecting it to burn out immediately, which it did.

Has anyone else experienced this, or heard of it happening to an R75? The radio is more than 20 years old, so I suppose a component could have died, but which one, and why it gave out so suddenly, is a complete mystery to me.

Oops! I just noticed that this should have been posted to the equipment forum. Could a moderator please move it for me? Thanks!

 

[nevesjerry]

I had the same problem with mine. I contacted, I believe the Icom repair center in St. Joseph, MISSOU

My second equipment problem in less than a year:

Yesterday morning my R75 was working just fine, until I decided to relocate it to a different part of the room, which was simple enough. I unplugged the power supply, disconnected the antenna, moved the radio to the new location, then reconnected everything. Making sure the power supply was live, I then pressed the receiver's power button ... nothing! Even the backlight didn't come on. When powering up the radio I would usually hear the click of a relay as well, presumably the antenna switcher, but I don't even hear that now.

I've checked the radio's internal fuse, which hasn't blown. The power supply's fuse is intact, as well. Not having a multimeter, I tested the power supply by connecting it to a 3-volt flashlight bulb, expecting it to burn out immediately, which it did.

Has anyone else experienced this, or heard of it happening to an R75? The radio is more than 20 years old, so I suppose a component could have died, but which one, and why it gave out so suddenly, is a complete mystery to me.

Oops! I just noticed that this should have been posted to the equipment forum. Could a moderator please move it for me? Thanks!

 

[nevesjerry]

Hello, I had my Icom R 75 which also quit on me a few years ago. Called the Icom repair center in St Joseph, Michigan and had my radio back in a week! Working like a charm. The owner is Matt Adrian and he’s quite a gentleman. I live in California, repair and shipping was totally fair. Contact me and I’ll provide his phone number.
I forgot what the problem was.
Regards,
Jerry

 

[GB46]

Hello, I had my Icom R 75 which also quit on me a few years ago. Called the Icom repair center in St Joseph, Michigan and had my radio back in a week! Working like a charm. The owner is Matt Adrian and he’s quite a gentleman. I live in California, repair and shipping was totally fair. Contact me and I’ll provide his phone number.
I forgot what the problem was.
Regards,
Jerry

Hi, Jerry with a J. This is Gerry with a G.

As I mentioned a few posts back, the radio has been working perfectly for 8 months now, and there was probably nothing wrong with it in the first place. I'm guessing there was an intermittent connection between the power cable and the supply. There's an Icom repair centre up here in Western Canada, but if I had sent the radio to them their diagnostic test would have found nothing the matter with it. Thanks for the info, anyway.

Side note: Does anyone know how I can change this thread's title? The current wording is unintentionally misleading.

 

[mbott]

If it can be changed, I'm sure it would require a admin/ moderator. Other than that, start a new thread.