Icom IC-F21GM Master Reset?

[ChuckSmith]

Hoping someone on the forum knows if there is a 'reset to defaults' for the IC-F21GM.

 

I own two IC-F21GM radios that I purchased a number of years ago, one new and one re-furbished.  I have never had a problem with either and the CS-F11 programming software has been working flawlessly through Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 10.

 

Recently, both radios have stopped 'receiving' any transmissions.  The last successful use was during a ski trip in January.  The radios have not been dropped nor buried in the snow.

 

The radios transmit simplex to blister pack radios and an Icom IC-F4001 with no issues.  They are also received by my scanner and the scanner can find the CTCSS TX tones if I change them.  When I try to transmit duplex to a local repeater with +5 MHz offset and configured tone, the repeater does not enable.  The IC-F4001 setup the same way has no issues.

 

The fact I cannot receive leads me to believe an RX tone setting is enabled, but using a clone read shows no RX tone enabled or set.  Trying to program manually to 'no tones' and duplex using the multi-finger key presses and power-on sequences does not bring joy.

 

I would like to try and start from scratch and hoping someone knows is there is a 'reset' that can get me back to the defaults or if anyone has any other ideas?

 

Thank you,

 

Chuck Smith

[rockcity]

Hi Chuck,

     Unfortunately there is no way to do a master reset to default values on the IC-F21GM. How do I know this? I asked Icom Support directly. There is nothing in the manual that mentions a reset either. I too had wondered if this was possible and meant to ask Icom some time ago. Your question spurred me to go ahead and do it. 

     There are many things you cannot do with the F21GM and this is just another one. My previous question to them asked if there was ANY method of telling what channel a received signal was on when in the scan mode. There is no method other than manually scanning through the channels and getting lucky by hearing the same signal again...if it's still there. You give up some bells and whistles with the base model radio.

     I do not have the programming software and programmed in a local repeater manually on a single channel. To say the least, it is tedious and not always successful. To return to default values, you'll need to re-program the user-programmed channels back to what would have been there by default. Icom referred me to the "Setting CTCSS Tones" chart for help. 

     Sorry this is probably not the answer you wanted, but there it is.

 

Chris Hoffman

[ChuckSmith]

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for the reply. Obviously I do not monitor this forum often.

 

I did find a service manual for the IC-F21 series.  No mention of a 'reset' to factory defaults in the service manual.  The radios may become e-waste shortly as the last time I tried to re-program to standard GMRS channels (as shown in the user manual) with no tones set, the transmit frequencies are not as programmed.  Using a scanner, when trying to transmit using one of the radios on 462.5500, the scanner (and a blister pack radio) was showing the transmit was actually 462.6750.  The radios have developed minds of their own.

 

Not worth trying to get them repaired.  Time to invest in an easily field programmable radio (which means it will not be Part 95 approved) with display and keypad.

 

Chuck Smith