Tag Archives: Radio Repair

Icom IC-R72: a repair story

Icom-IC-R72-Front-Mehdi-AsgariIn this post I’m going to tell you how I repaired my Icom IC-R72 receiver. Although it’s about a specific device, the logic and methodology applies to all radios.

I bought an Icom R72 from a friend for about $200. At first, I just checked 7.0MHZ (40 meter band) and 21.0MHZ (15 meter band) and it was OK. After some time, I tried to listen to some ham radio on 20 meters (14.0MHZ) and it was deaf! I checked everything: antenna connectors, balun…everything.

With some trial and error, I found out that it was deaf from 11-15 MHz. With the help of the members of “Icom R72” Yahoo Group, I found one of the usual suspects: bandpass filters’ switching diodes.

I took a look at the service manual and apparently this radio uses multiple bandpass filters  for different  frequency ranges.

Schematic-Icom-R72-1

As you see in the above picture (grabbed from service manual), one of the bandpass filters is for 11-15 MHz range–that’s the range where my radio was deaf.

Note that there are multiple ways to test that a radio is deaf at a frequency. One of the simplest ways: connect an antenna or even a long wire to the antenna socket of radio. The noise level should increase; if not, there’s a problem.

Schematic-Icom-R72-2

After testing diodes with a multimeter, I found out that D31 is faulty. Almost all multimeters have a diode-test functionality.

I replaced it. The original diode was 1SS53, but I used a 1N4148 which is very common and found everywhere. Now I have a working radio! 🙂

If you have a radio that’s deaf at a frequency range, there is probably a problem in bandpass filters.

Here are some internal pictures of my Icom IC-R72:

IC-R72-Internal-IF-Stage-Mehdi IC-R72-Board-1 IC-R72-Board-2 Icom-IC-R72-Open

I should thank my friend and electronics mentor, Saeed (EP2LSH) who always helps me in my electronics adventures.

Mehdi Asgari, the author of this post, is a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Mehdi lives in Tehran and is an active member of the EP2C amateur radio club.

Spread the radio love