KG1000G not transmitting

[CMG1012]

I have the Wouxun KG1000G radio mounted to one of my cars which doesn’t see much use unless we are traveling. The radio has worked very well up until today. I haven’t used it in a while but decided to turn it on just for kicks. When I tried to transmit the signal was not going out, instead the radio’s internal fan kicked on and stayed on indefinitely. The fan typically only kicks on when I transmit. I tried a reset and got the same thing. Nothing has changed in the vehicle since last time I used the radio 4 or so months ago. Antenna seems solid on the mount as it’s always been. No antenna cable damage apparent. Again, nothing has changed in the car… it’s been parked for 4 months or so. Any ideas?

[SteveShannon]

The first test should be to see if you can receive anything.  Did you try that?  

Although you say nothing has changed, it's obvious that something has changed that affects the radio.  It's acting like the antenna is disconnected somewhere, causing high SWR and heating up the circuits.  Since you say there's no visible physical damage, I would check for moisture damage.  Test the antenna cable with a multimeter at the very least. You should see no continuity between the center conductor and the shield.  You should see no or very low impedance between one end of the shield and the other. Same for the center conductor - continuity between ends.

If you have another section of cable (and even another antenna) you could try it to see if the radio works with it.  Again, check for reception before jumping right in and transmitting.  If it cannot receive from a nearby handheld, there may be some hidden damage that transmitting would only exacerbate.

Good luck!

[OffRoaderX]

If a factory reset doesnt clear it up and assuming the antenna is connected and there are no antenna cable issues then my guess is that it is borked..

Still less than one year old? If so, contact BuyTwoWayRadios and they'll fix you up.

[marcspaz]

Did the vehicle need to be jump-started or did the battery deplete to below 11.8 volts?

 

Other recommendations above are good, too.

[CMG1012]

1 hour ago, Sshannon said:

The first test should be to see if you can receive anything.  Did you try that?  

Although you say nothing has changed, it's obvious that something has changed that affects the radio.  It's acting like the antenna is disconnected somewhere, causing high SWR and heating up the circuits.  Since you say there's no visible physical damage, I would check for moisture damage.  Test the antenna cable with a multimeter at the very least. You should see no continuity between the center conductor and the shield.  You should see no or very low impedance between one end of the shield and the other. Same for the center conductor - continuity between ends.

If you have another section of cable (and even another antenna) you could try it to see if the radio works with it.  Again, check for reception before jumping right in and transmitting.  If it cannot receive from a nearby handheld, there may be some hidden damage that transmitting would only exacerbate.

Good luck!

I will check this tomorrow! Great tip. 

[CMG1012]

1 hour ago, OffRoaderX said:

If a factory reset doesnt clear it up and assuming the antenna is connected and there are no antenna cable issues then my guess is that it is borked..

Still less than one year old? If so, contact BuyTwoWayRadios and they'll fix you up.

Purchased July 2021. Missed it by a month. Will check with them regardless if the other suggestions don’t pan out. 

[CMG1012]

33 minutes ago, marcspaz said:

Did the vehicle need to be jump-started or did the battery deplete to below 11.8 volts?

 

Other recommendations above are good, too.

No, I have a deep cycle AGM battery so it stays full even after long periods of inactivity. Car started right up. Good thought though!

[CMG1012]

On 8/7/2022 at 10:19 PM, Sshannon said:

The first test should be to see if you can receive anything.  Did you try that?  

Although you say nothing has changed, it's obvious that something has changed that affects the radio.  It's acting like the antenna is disconnected somewhere, causing high SWR and heating up the circuits.  Since you say there's no visible physical damage, I would check for moisture damage.  Test the antenna cable with a multimeter at the very least. You should see no continuity between the center conductor and the shield.  You should see no or very low impedance between one end of the shield and the other. Same for the center conductor - continuity between ends.

If you have another section of cable (and even another antenna) you could try it to see if the radio works with it.  Again, check for reception before jumping right in and transmitting.  If it cannot receive from a nearby handheld, there may be some hidden damage that transmitting would only exacerbate.

Good luck!

Reception was fine. Continuity was fine within the antenna cable. So I went to look at the antenna specifically and under close examination the cylindrical "cover" had displaced from the base... it's a midland 3db short stubby antenna. I was able to remove the cover completely and see the wiring inside. I'm unsure if this is what caused the issued but I re-glued the cover down to the base and the radio is back to normal. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Glad my radio wasn't toast.

[SteveShannon]

55 minutes ago, CMG1012 said:

Reception was fine. Continuity was fine within the antenna cable. So I went to look at the antenna specifically and under close examination the cylindrical "cover" had displaced from the base... it's a midland 3db short stubby antenna. I was able to remove the cover completely and see the wiring inside. I'm unsure if this is what caused the issued but I re-glued the cover down to the base and the radio is back to normal. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Glad my radio wasn't toast.

Good job troubleshooting! Thanks for letting us know.

[KAF6045]

14 hours ago, CMG1012 said:

Reception was fine.

Not really a test...

For the Icom ID-5100 in my rust bucket, I have to remove the whip from the glass mount antenna base to get into my garage.

With the whip off, I still receive the local repeater (about 3 miles NW and over two intervening hills) at full scale, and sometimes get the D-STAR repeater at reduced scale -- it's some 20 miles away!

 

[SteveShannon]

7 hours ago, KAF6045 said:

Not really a test...

For the Icom ID-5100 in my rust bucket, I have to remove the whip from the glass mount antenna base to get into my garage.

With the whip off, I still receive the local repeater (about 3 miles NW and over two intervening hills) at full scale, and sometimes get the D-STAR repeater at reduced scale -- it's some 20 miles away!

 

Of course it’s a test. If there’s no reception whatsoever a person can rule out some things. 
It doesn’t test everything, but it helps rule out certain failure modes.