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Post by Red (Eazy-E) on Jul 15, 2014 1:17:27 GMT -5
Hello, I recently acquired an icom f21 (the 16 channel version) and I've really just had some questions. I will start off in advance saying I am new to the radio world, so if it sounds like i dont know what im talking about, chances are I dont and please correct me where im wrong. So from what I read, the f21 is capable of using frs aswell as gmrs frequencys, and I have been messing around trying to communicate between my two walkie talkies (my icom f21 and a crappy walmart frs radio) and my icom receives perfectly fine on some frs requencys(only some frequencys) but wont transmit properly (the frs walkie gets the transmission, but you cannot hear me speaking.) Why is this? I believe its because the icom isnt programmed to the frs frequencys properly, or is it something completely different, thanks in advance for any help.
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Post by Gunny87 on Jul 15, 2014 10:06:52 GMT -5
I used to have an ICOM F21 myself, and it's probably due to your specific radio's programming. Do you know what channels/frequencies it was programmed with when you acquired it? Unfortunately you will need a programming cable and software in order to program the radio, and the software is so old for the F21 that it requires an older operating system (Windows XP and earlier), which a lot of people have run into compatibility issues with when running later OSs.
Because I wasn't able to program mine on the fly, I sold my F21 and picked up a Baofeng UV-5R+. They work just as well and can be purchased for $40 brand new off of Amazon. They can be programmed on the fly or by using a cable and software which is much cheaper than the ICOM cable and software and because its newer you won't experience any OS compatibility issues like you will with the older software for the ICOM F21.
Unfortunately your biggest hurdle will be just getting it programmed.
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Post by X on Jul 15, 2014 10:37:15 GMT -5
This sounds like an issue of wideband vs narrow band. If you can find a setting for that try using wideband. However!!! Most walkie talkies are narrowband and that's what you should be using. You may have an old walkie talkie which is wideband and I would not worry about compatibility with it if that's the case.
You want 12.5khz width and not 25khz for best compatibility.
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Post by Red (Eazy-E) on Jul 15, 2014 15:22:45 GMT -5
Yea I thought it may be a band issue aswell because as I said, it recieves transmission fine from my little FR radio, but when I try to send transmission from the icom back to the frs radio, it recognizes that there is a signel (frs walkie makes walkie talkie noises is the only way to put it hehe) but you cant hear what is being said. So in order to change the band I would need to program it aswell yes? Or is there another way of going about doing this.
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Post by X on Jul 15, 2014 23:04:57 GMT -5
I've never used an F21, but an educated guess would say yes.
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Post by Red (Eazy-E) on Jul 16, 2014 10:38:35 GMT -5
I kid you not I managed to fix it, but not in the normal fashion.. So I took it over to a mates house to see if he could do anything for it, so when I got out of the car, I managed to drop it straight onto the pavement. Continued inside to see if he could do anything for it, and he asked me what the problem is, proceeded to test it(same two walkie talkies mind you) and it works perfectly fine now. So I stand by the fact that dropping it on the pavement fixed it..somehow..
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