VHF radio HELP!

Anyone had a problem with a Uniden VHF model MHS75 radio that doesn’t receive?  Bunny is having the same problem; were you able to resolve the problem and if so, what was the solution?

Thanks
Frank "Ghost"

 . 
  What is radio not doing?  Can you hear static? Theses radios have a squelch, to silence static on the channel, if the squelch is turned full up its possible no signal will "Break the squelch"
  I have no way knowing what your knowledge of radio operation is, so please don't think I'm busting on you, I'm not! If you haven't already tried, turn radio on, adjust both knobs (look carefully at volume knob, it'll probably have a wider base, that knob would be the squelch knob. Turn up volume, then rotate the other knob separately  till you hear static on the channel.
  If you get static, dial the squelch back to just to point static is off.
Try tuning in the weather channel, ( 162,400mhz?) the radio may have a button to access the weather,  if the radio is working, you should hear the weather forecast,  don't forget about the squelch, if its up to high you wont hear the weather.

We've tried all of the above to no avail.  Even though battery showed full charge; I am wondering if an old/bad battery would make difference.  I can hear her talk, but she couldn't hear me; nothing on weather channel.

Thanks for suggestions.

  If you have adjusted the squelch all the way down, it may be a broken antenna. quite common especially when people use the antenna as a handle for pulling the radio up outta their PFD.

Otherwise it's inside the unit, which means sending it in for repair.  Hopefully still under warranty?

Bushy

We've tried all of the above to no avail.  Even though battery showed full charge; I am wondering if an old/bad battery would make difference.  I can hear her talk, but she couldn't hear me; nothing on weather channel.

Thanks for suggestions.

So your radio works fine, but hers is not receiving anything? If you think it is a battery problem, swap batteries between the two radios and see if problem switches to other radio. If you already played with the squelch, it could be that her antenna has a break somewhere. Swap antennas and see if the problem switches to other radio.

Hope this works for you.

Thanks Bushy &Krusty

We'll check antennas if mine fits her's, they are two different brands. Out of warranty, looks like she will be getting new VHF.

Antennas are cheap.  Might be worth it to try that fix before a whole new unit.

OR bring it to a marine electronics store they can test for you.

Johnson and Hicks in Sausalito or Santa Cruz.

Thanks Bushy &Krusty

We'll check antennas if mine fits her's, they are two different brands. Out of warranty, looks like she will be getting new VHF.

I can hear her talk, but she couldn't hear me; nothing on weather channel.

So I did a quick test with my two Standard Horizons VHF radios. I removed the antenna from one of the radios and I was still able to send to and receive from the second radio. The only time I was unable to send and receive was when I removed the antennas from both radios. I was unable to receive the weather channel from either radio with its antenna removed.

Since you can hear her talk, we can assume the battery is working. There are 2 possible reasons she was not able to hear you or listen to the weather channel:

1) Antenna is broken. This is an easy and cheap fix.
2) Speaker is broken. Play with the squelch first. If you hear nothing from the speaker with the volume turned up, then the speaker is dead. You will have to take the radio apart and do some soldering.

will check ideas

thanks guys

Removing antennas from a CB unit back in the day and trying to talk could damage the unit. I do not know if VHF and CB are the same in that regard. Also CB had to be matched to the radio. Just exposed my age.

We've tried all of the above to no avail.  Even though battery showed full charge; I am wondering if an old/bad battery would make difference.  I can hear her talk, but she couldn't hear me; nothing on weather channel.

Thanks for suggestions.

Frank, is your battery also fully charged? I once had a SH 750 unit where I could hear others but could not transmit...turned out that my battery charge was down, but not discharged.

Battery was fully charged.  We're going to check out antenna/speaker next, then go from there.

Thanks to all you guys for the suggestions.

Well, we just ordered Bunny a new VHF radio.

Thanks for all your thoughts and troubleshooting ideas.

I know what the problem is. It's a Uniden. Shittiest hand held marine VHF radios available. Stick to Standard Horizon or iCom. West Marine branded radios are even shittier Unidens that have been rebranded.
Don't operate vhf radios without the antenna.

I've had my West Marine brand VHF250 for something like 10 years now & still going strong.  Depends how you take care of it.

I do agree that Uniden, as a whole, is pretty low lasting radios.  Icom is good quality.  S.H too.  Haven't had much of a chance to play with the Simrad hh vhf yet so I cannot comment greatly on that one.