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- Subject: Icom W2A Mods
- >crisp@mips.com (Richard Crisp) writes:
- >
- >>I have gotten a very large and much appreciated response for the mods I
- >>requested. Many thanks to all that responded.
- >
- > I have recently got an IC-W2E, and I'd also appreciate
- > those mods, or even hints, where to look them for..
- >
- > Thanks
-
- Here is a collection of the mods. Enjoy folks, and thanks for the help!
-
-
-
-
- For crossband repeat, just set up each band with the mode which
- you want to use, and then hit <function>2 <function>ENTER - To cancel
- hit <function>2 <function>ENTER again.
-
- -fred
- --
- | Fred Lloyd AA7BQ Fred.Lloyd@West.sun.com |
- | Sun Microsystems, Inc. ...sun!flloyd |
- | Phoenix, AZ (reality -- what a concept!) (602) 275-4242 |
-
- ________________
-
-
- This is less of a mod than it is a function. To expand the receiver
- frequency range of the new Icom IC-W2A to 118.00-170.00, 322.00-513.00,
- and 800.000-970.000, do the following:
-
- o Hold down the Light, B, and # keys while turning the power on.
-
- That's actually a four button sequence, since power on is controlled
- by a keypad button.
-
- --
- 73, Paul
- _____________________________________________________________________
- From the shack of Paul MacDonald! Packet Radio: WA1OMM@KB4N.NH.USA
- / / /\ / /~~/ /\/\ /\/\ /\ / /\ (~ / / / / /\ /\ / / /
- \/\/ /~~\ / /__/ / / / / ~ / V /~~\ ) /~/ /_/ /~~\, / V /~/
- Internet: ...ubbs-nh!wa1omm!paul CIS: 70411,626 PLink: UPPERCRUST
-
-
- ________________
-
-
-
- Modification Instructions for the IC-W2A Handheld
-
- Two mods, one for Cross Band Repeat and one for extended TX range
-
-
-
- Cross Band Repeat Function
-
- To access the cross-band repeat function, first perform the extended
- receive mod by holding down the Light/B/# keys while turning on the
- power.
-
- To enable cross-band repeat, set each band to the frequency and mode
- desired. Set the current band to VHF.
-
- Press (Function-2) (Function-Enter) and the little "L" indicator will
- flash. The radio is now in the cross-band repeat mode. Do disable,
- press (Function-Enter) again.
-
-
-
- Extended Transmit Mod
-
-
- Call the ICOM parts department ((206) 454-8155) and order a pair of
- MA133 diodes (P/N 1790000850). These are the three terminal surface
- mount diode packages. It is probably not advisable to substitute
- conventional leaded glass diodes here due to size restraints.
-
- The modification involves removing one surface mount component and
- installing two others. The working parts are extremely small and the
- mod should not be performed unless you are comfortable with working
- while using a loop eyepiece or other magnifying device. This is a
- "surgical" operation. Take all the usual precautions with respect to
- static electricity, etc.
-
- Remove 5 screws holding back on, and two screws on side of case below
- the PTT switch. Gently pry the unit apart.
-
- Inside the unit are two RF "stack" units. The complete RF "stack" is
- composed of two enclosed sheet metal boxes sandwiched together, about
- 1.5" wide, 2" tall and .5" thick. Each RF stack unit (one per band) is
- totally self contained, is about .25" thick, and plugs into the
- "motherboard" using connectors mounted on one end.
-
- First, remove the stack units. To do this, remove one screw from each
- side of the stack. Remove the single screw off the bottom end of the
- stack and gently remove the metal spring clip holding the stack
- together.
-
- Carefully lift each stack unit out by pulling it back and down. They
- should easily unplug from the upper motherboard. Set them aside for
- now.
-
- At this time the back side of the front panel is clearly accessible and
- the two CPU's are visible side-by-side across the top. Now refer to
- the following illustration:
-
-
- Top of Radio, Back side of Front Panel
- _____________________________________________________
- |
- -------- -------- |
- | | | | |---
- | CPU-1 | | CPU-2 | | |
- | | | | | P |
- -------- -------- | T |
- | T |
- -------- | |
- -------- |---
- .<: <-D1 ---------- |
- .. | |fuse | | |
- D2-> V ---------- |
- .. |
- D3-> V |
- .. |
- V <-D? |
- |
-
-
- D1, D2 and D3 are locations on the board. Only D2 is installed
- at the factory. To perform the mod, you must do the following:
-
- Remove D2
- Install D1
- Install D3
-
- The locations of D1 and D3 are clearly silk screened onto the circuit
- board and are easy to locate. Don't attempt to re-use D2. The periods
- (..) show the approximate location of the solder pads for the 2-legged
- sides of the diodes.
-
- Diode D2 may be removed by carefully heating the leads and prying it up
- using a sharp tool. Be very careful since it's easy to lift the solder
- pads.
-
- One method of installing diodes D1 and D3 is to use a very small drop
- of super glue to mount the part, and then use a soldering iron to tack
- down the pins.
-
- After the parts are installed, reassemble the radio. Although the
- manufacturer recommends that the microprocessor be reset after this
- mod, I have found it to be unnecessary. All memories retained their
- settings after the mod. Tests using a dummy load and a frequency
- counter showed TX ability on UHF from under 400MHz to over 490MHz.
- TX on VHF covers from 136MHz to 174MHz.
-
- -fred AA7BQ
-
- --
- | Fred Lloyd AA7BQ Fred.Lloyd@West.sun.com |
- | Sun Microsystems, Inc. ...sun!flloyd |
- | Phoenix, AZ (reality -- what a concept!) (602) 275-4242 |
-
- ________________
-
-
- Now for the added part - multi-digit entry for mhz
-
- After doing the above, REQUIRED!!
-
- select the VHF band as MAIN
- push F (above the PTT button) and SET (the 8 button)
- then using the ^/SCAN button make the lower right symbol of the band say PL
- rotate the right knob to set the display to 1,10, or 100 as desired
- 1 sets entry to single digits only
- 10 sets entry to 10's and single digits
- 100 sets entry to all digits
-
- hit PTT
-
- Now - repeat the above for the UHF band - Note It WILL NOT work unless you do it for BOTH bands.
-
- You now have a walkie that requires all the digits (assuming you chose 100) to program it's frequencies.
-
- /s/ Bob Gettys N1BRM
-
-
- ________________
-
-
- Rupert,
-
- Here is more info on the the performance of the W2A after the mod.
-
- John. N0LHW
-
-
-
-
- Well folks I have had my IC-W2A for one week now & am,needless to say
- suitably impressed. But now my comments...
- Why did Icom have to change the DC input socket to what the W2A has.
- It is very unusual & as far as I can find out, Icom are the only people who
- can supply a plug for it. I think they should have stayed with the more common
- 2.1mm DC jack as per the IC-32AT.
- I did some checks of the receivers using an IFR 500A signal generator
- & the following is what signal level I needed to get 1 "S" point on the W2A's
- S meters.
- At 70mhz, 1mV (milli-volts)
- 80mhz 0.5mV
- 90mhz 0.25mV
- 100mhz 75uV (micro-volts)
- 110mhz 1.5uV
- From here to 170mhz less than 0.2uV
- 173mhz 1.5uV
- 174mhz 75uV
- 200mhz 75uV
- 250mhz 0.5mV (whats going on here???)
- 275mhz 4uV
- 300mhz 1.5uV
- 320mhz 5uV (changed to UHF main VFO from here on)
- 400 - 450mhz less than 0.35uV
- 460mhz 0.75uV
- 465 - 510mhz less than 1uV
- 520 - 690mhz less than 2uV
- 700 - 999mhz varies from 7.5uV to 2uV, dips to 0.35uV at 900mhz.
-
- Quite impressive, but I would really like to get better sensitivity
- at the 70 - 80mhz end. Studying the circuit diagram shows bandpass/bandstop
- filters all over the show, so maybe its possible to modify a few to increase
- sensitivity here.
- I am gathering together the ciruits of the Icom IC-R1, IC-24AT &
- W2A to compare the front ends so we will see what comes of this experiment
- in the near future.
- One other worry was the on/off switch, how do you turn the set off
- when the battery is flat. I am concerned about running the battery to zero
- volts, hopefully this does not occur. I have been disconnecting the battery
- when charging to prevent anything funny happening.
- The antenna supplied with my W2A is an FA-1443BB, whats the difference
- between this & the FA-1443B, & the FA-4B supplied with an IC-R1.
- One more gripe, I dont like the plastic plug/covers over the DC jack,
- headphone, external speaker sockets, they should have been rubber as per the
- IC-32AT, as I can see already that they will not last very long after prolonged
- use. Boy what a moaner, you say, small complaints but this would really have
- made it the best. I wonder what Yaesu & Kenwood are going to do to compete
- with this???
-
- Cheers
-
- C. Tetenburg (ZL1BQJ) Internet: charlie@mof.govt.nz
- Network Controller
- Ministry of Forestry Computer Centre
- Forest Research Institute
- Sala St.
- Rotorua
- New Zealand
-
-
- >From daemon Mon Jul 15 23:39:24 1991
- Received: by violet.berkeley.edu (5.61/1.32)
- id AA03693; Mon, 15 Jul 91 14:39:02 PDT
- Date: Mon, 15 Jul 91 14:39:02 PDT
- From: admitq@violet.berkeley.edu (Graduate Division-Admissions)
- Message-Id: <9107152139.AA03693@violet.berkeley.edu>
- To: info-admin@infoac.rmi.de
- #Subject: Re: Request: rig; Topic: icom_ic_w2
- Status: OR
-
- Thanks For The IC W2A Mods.
- The extended receive that HRO Oakland gave me differs slightly
- from the posted version...my display (sensitivity is another
- matter) indicated RX from DC to somewhere just below IR after:
- turn off
- simultaneously press-funct-3-B-# keys
- turn on
-
-
- (end of mod)
- It has been pointed out that only the funct is different from
- previously posted version, but I wonder. I get the feeling that
- there are many more hidden tricks to this rig that only ICOM
- knows about. I'd really be curious about any kind of data transfer/
- cloning capabilities it may have, etc.
- -73 de Michael Dahl
- KC6UFR
- e-mail: admitq@violet.berkeley.edu
-
-
- A couple of weeks ago I posted an inquiry about bad transmit audio in a
- IC-W2 handheld. I would like to thank everybody who sent in their response.
-
- Some said their radios work well, one said his doesn't and one told Icom
- America had repaired similar symptoms in his friend's radio. A later
- comparison with a healthy unit confirmed that the fault wasn't between
- the operator's ears...:-)
-
- However, Jukka, OH2BUA, a good friend of mine happened to work me with his
- brand new IC-2SRE. He had audio characteristics astonishingly similar to
- my radio. As a result to my complaints he opened his radio and cured the
- problem. Last Monday I did the same job and here it comes:
-
-
- ---------------------------- W A R N I N G -------------------------------
-
- Servicing your radio by yourself may void the warranty. The author takes
- no responsibility whatsoever of the possible hassles with warranty codes
- intended for technically non-experienced radio users.
-
- If you are not a qualified radio service technician on if you are not
- accustomed to work with extremely miniature surface-mount components,
- return your radio to the dealer with the following instructions.
-
- ---------------------------- W A R N I N G --------------------------------
-
- Radio: IC-W2A/E, IC-2SRA/E, IC-4SRA/E
-
- Trouble: Weak transmit audio, deviation below the specifications, high end
- of the speech spectrum missing.
-
- Tools needed: A good soldering iron with a sharp tip, desoldering braid,
- solder, sharp-nosed pliers, small cross-point screwdrivers.
-
- Cure:
-
- 1. Open the radio case following the instructions in the owner's manual
- (p. 45).
-
- 2. In radios fitted with the UT-63 board, pull out the board.
-
- 3. Unscrew the two small screws holding the tin plate against the bottom
- ends of the band modules. Pull out the plate.
-
- 4. Pull out the band modules.
-
- 5. Now you see the microfone fitted to the mother board. It should fit
- neatly against the inside of the fascia panel. If it doesn't, carry on.
-
- 6. Unsolder the microphone leads from the mother board. BE CAREFUL not
- to overheat the board and the wire insulation.
-
- 7. Pull out the microphone and the rubber gasket.
-
- 8. Re-install the gasket. Pull in the microphone so that it fits inside
- the gasket well and press it firmly to the end.
-
- 9. Re-solder the mic wires.
-
- 10. Install the band modules, the tin plate and don't forget the screws.
-
- 11. Replace the rear panel.
-
- 12. Tighten the 7 screws.
-
- 13. Test the audio response.
-
-
- (c) OH2BUA and OH3BK, 1991. Unlimited reproduction allowed.
-
-
- --
- Richard Crisp crisp@mips.com
- MIPS Computer Systems !decwrl!mips!crisp
- 928 Arques MS 5-07 (408) 524-7250
- Sunnyvale, Ca 94086
-
-
- Copied from the QRZ! Windows Ham Radio CDROM
-
-