[BOMBER]

Hi All,

Well what I thought was a good deal has turned into a bit of a nightmare, purchased an Icom IC-730 from the US it had an intermittent fault which was finally diagnosed as a Transmit/Receive Switchover relay unsure if thats the technical name but the one the Gentlemen fixing the radio called it. He contacted Icom in Australia and Japan who told him that they could not sell him the part it was available and he would have to purchase through Andrew's Electronics in Sydney. He called Andrew's was told that the part was available but they would not sell him the part he would have to send the radio to them they would fit it and obviously charge as well at $100.00 per hour mind you plus freight down and back works out approx $300.00 for a part thats worth approx $40.00 so I guess I have been caught so my hobby now will have to wait until I can afford to pay for this the radio that originall cost me $355.00 with freight from the US is now over $600.00 if I have it repaired. What annoys me that I am being black mailed to use this company for the lousy part not only to buy it off them but have them do what they wish to the radio very cranky right now.

Bomber

[Spectre]

I'd get onto "Strictly Ham" (vocal Andrews Communications rival) and see if they can help you out... what about the other Icom dealers in QLD (or Australia for that matter) do they all have to send their older Icom gear to Andrews Communications,

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advertise they conduct repairs on older gear on their site why the side diversion?

Seriously that's like buying a BMW and having to send it to Sydney for servicing because all the other dealers are only authorised to wash the bloody thing

[BOMBER]

Yes my thoughts exactly I have no idea what is going on other than that is what I was told has me beaten it just doesn't make sense.

The Bomber

[Mitutoyo]

Do you have a service manual? See if you can get the part number of the component. I have purchased parts from the Icom head office in Melbourne...you just walk in and tell them what you want.

[bodyguardnz]

there is more than one to skin a cat Bomber,

ebay someone might be parting out a radio

[BOMBER]

I Called Icom Melbourne and they told me to contact Andrew's yes looking at ebay will just keep hunting.

Bomber

[bodyguardnz]

what was the fault bomber ?
what was the radio not doing ?

[bodyguardnz]

Bomber pass this on

Another matter for 730 owners are those *%&$^* mechanical relay switches. The seemingly universal problem with the IC-730 are the pre-amp and TX/RX relay. There's a third mechanical relay which is activated by the TRANSMIT button on the front panel, but that one doesn't seem to give problems.... probably because it isn't used nearly as much as the other two, which are both labeled "RL1", depending on which board they appear. The pre-amp relay is a cinch to access and clean, replace, or jumper around the relay to leave the amp on permanently depending on your preference. I've kept my 730's pre-amp relay working just by cleaning the contacts. An ICOM service bulletin exists which instructs performing a "circuit update" to fix the pre-amp relay failure problem, but I'm in possession of a several-years old email from ICOM which says there is no such thing as an update (never figured that one out).

The TX/RX relay is another matter. It's buried quite deep and requires quite a bit of disassembly to access. Mine has been giving me problems in the receive mode, often requiring a tap on the case to make the connection, or wait until the car hits another bump. Knowing it was just a dirty contact on that simple SPDT relay, I put off replacing it not only for its difficult, but because the relay appeared to have a one-piece molded construction which I couldn't take apart for cleaning. Well, I was wrong about that!

About 1/8th" up from the relay's base you can see a fine line separating the base of the relay from the top cover. A tiny jeweler's screwdriver will pry the top cover off easily and expose the switch innards. I did the usual naptha-soaked paper strip dragged several times through the contacts, slid the top cover back on and problem fixed. The 730 is my dedicated mobile rig and despite the roughness of mobile service all I've ever done to the rig is replace panel lights, clean two switches and do a re-alignment a couple years ago.

[BOMBER]

Hi Bodyguardnz,

As I am only an F call and only passed that on Sunday even if I knew what I was doing I couldnt go poking around inside it anyway. By what I have been told and what you describe its sounds like the TX/RX relay. What was happening is the first week I took it to the club for testing worked a treat a week later no receive as you said tapped it and the receive seemed to come up a litttle but didn't want to mess around so left it alone. Gave it too one of the Full calls at the club who is a real whizz he completely dismantled it found the fault and then tried to get the part you know the rest. I am about to give up a bit disappointed was really looking forward to getting on the air once my licence arrives but looks like thats done and dusted now just not prepared to put $300.00 into a radio that old that has already cost me $350.00. Will just sit and do some extra work around the place to see if I can save enough to purchase another radio, anyway thanks for everybodies help.

The Bomber

[Spectre]

As I mentioned previously "Strictly Ham" is worth

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as they're an Icom dealer too, perhaps they could source the part you require?

[bodyguardnz]

As I mentioned previously "Strictly Ham" is worth

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as they're an Icom dealer too, perhaps they could source the part you require?

worth a try, but it looks Icom hasnt been supplying parts for this model for a while now

still only a phone call away

[VK4LHD]

I have 2 X IC 730 radios sitting on the bench here at home. The do work (TX & RX) but one of them is drifting on freq the other has carrier on LSB. I had a guy at the radio club look at them to see if I could make one good radio out of the two but he hasn't got the time to play with them so they are sitting here. The relays are still be working that i'm aware of so may be another option for you if you want 2nd hand bits. I have had these radios for some time now.

[BOMBER]

Hi All,

Below is the item that the gentleman looking at the radio found was faulty, maybe someone here can shed some light on it.

The Bomber


I is a small board to the far right of the main filter board, accessible when the power amp is removed from the back. it has a small relay which had a clear cover, and not a black one, and feed the output of the filter board into the receiver, and the output of the transmitter into the power amp.

[Spectre]

There is a suggested remedy at e-Ham regarding an intermittent TX/RX fault and links to other IC-730 repair modifications too @

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[bjp]

Bomber,

It looks like there is an IC-730 Yahoo Group. Might be worth joining. If it is anything like the Icom groups that I have joined, there is circuit info, fixes & mods info and plenty of folk to respond to your questions.

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Regards
Bernard

[Vampyre]

Bomber I would be talking to VK4LHD about his kind offer. Then if that doesnt pan out call Ross at Strictly Ham.

[leniboy]

Whilst I have bought a few things from the US I'm wary about 2nd hand rigs that are a bit older than some of the newer gear available here. Then again there is a lot more gear over there to choose from and a lot more amateurs selling them.

The IC730 gets good reviews on eham:

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and they sound like a good rig to own once you iron out the problems. If it were me I would get it fixed or else you will have an expensive doorstop. The Yahoo group suggestion is definitely another source of information for help. I'm with Vampyre. Get a determination of what is wrong with it and source the part yourself (VK4LHD's generous offer or others) and source another person to repair it. I can't stand being railroaded into an expensive solution if it can be avoided and I can't fix it myself.
Let us know how you go.

[BOMBER]

Thanks to all here I am going to take up the extremely kind offer from VK4 LHD, I cant believe how helpful this amateur radio community is I am so glad that I found my way into this great hobby and most of all this great site. I hope that I can be of help to some of you one day.

Thanks Again A Very Appreciative

Bomber

[jetski_28]

It all seems like a big load of crap - seriously half of the idea of HAM Radio is building/modifying/fixing radios and building antennas yourself if your license allows you to do so. If companies like the ones mentioned above ain't letting you buy parts to do so - what is the point of the hobby in the first place. Its not all about radio communications

I am not sure what the others are like but sounds like Andrew's just want to be pricks for another money making scam. I ended up not buying from them when I brought my radio gear because of their crappy customer service over the phone - sounded like they couldn't be bothered with checking / founding out the information I wanted about the products I was going to purchase from them.

[cr327]

I had a similar problem with Icom in Melb some years ago, I sent a radio via a local repairer to them and got nowhere they ranted it was a gray import ect even though it was purchased from a Icom dealer in the USA.
I got them to send the radio back and sourced the part (PA module) from

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and fitted it myself job done for hundreds of dollars less than quoted.