Indeed! I've also learned something about troubleshooting my HT, in addition to taking it apart and putting it back together. And I was challenged there in the strangest of places (the battery holding clip and belt holder screws) but I've done it! And the radio works. It's flashing low battery so it'll go back on to the charger I have in lieu of a better option. I've also learned that my Tx was indeed set to High. It's now set to Low. Once I'm recharged that might help. New components will be here tomorrow so hopefully I'll be back on the air soon!

Thanks again.

Jayne
KD9WLM

On Sun, Oct 29, 2023 at 10:04 AM, Jayne Rising

<jayne.rising@...> wrote:

Thanks for your responses. Brother Murphy can indeed be a pain in regions far south of my neck, and I can well imagine the stupidity level that traverses your collective bandwidth. I promise I'm not one of those! I'm only in need of teaching. The ink on my ticket is barely dry LOL. And the danged radio was working fine two days ago!

A local elmer suggested it's a battery problem that's more related to old technology-new batteries. Apparently he had an old Icom W-32A that he was given. He bought a new battery, had to charge it through the radio as I've been doing, and the new battery simply wouldn't charge to capacity. A drop charger solved the problem. FYI I was charging my batteries, old and new, using the DC charger that came with the radio. The elmer said that the old DC charger cable may also be the problem. So, I've ordered both a drop charger and a new DC cable. Hopefully these things will solve my problem.

The Baofeng UV5R is also on the charger. Again, I could hear but not transmit. It'll be interesting to see if a full charge solves the problem there as well. I don't use that hunk of junk often but this episode has illustrated the goodness of a backup HT, even one of those.

Jayne
KD9WLM

On Sat, Oct 28, 2023 at 10:20 PM, Kevin - K5ABX via groups.io

<k5abx@...> wrote:

You are getting standard and good advice.

Fact is, voltage is only one indicator for a battery. The ability to produce current is more important. Older batts may show voltage but can't supply the current
.
The FT60 wants 1.5 amps at 5 watts (high) power transmitting. High should only be used IF needed. Generally you can hit a repeater with the Low or Mid? power settings.
The voltage you are reading with the radio or a DVM is a surface charge and not under a load.

Just like a 12 batt which starts out at 13.3 to 13.5? volts surface charge and drops to the 11.0 to 12.5 needed for use under a load, your 7.2 batt is not able to stay above the needed 6.0 volts minimum and provide 1.5 amps current.? Using the DV VLT menu option, you can see the voltage at idle. Then key up and see what it says. If it goes below 6, it is not charged and able to handle the load. You can watch this with the menu option while you operate a test. It is a valuable function when in the field.

At this moment my FT60 reads 7.7V on startup. It reads 7.6V under idle load. If I transmit on high, it drops to 6.6V. If I transmit on low it reads 7.2 V.

If the radio goes blank then flashes its display on transmit then comes back on, it means a low batt but can still listen or maybe even transmit on Low power setting. If it goes blank and shuts down, most likely a very low to dead or bad batt.

My 2 cents worth.

As chance would have it, I do have a newly purchased battery that HRO has to replace because it’s bad. The thing is: I’ve been transmitting at that power level without any difficulty. I was transmitting yesterday at that level. This is the NiMH that came with my radio, which I bought used. The radio was purchased in 2008, the battery in 2019. Why the sudden dysfunction when my HT was working under these conditions yesterday??

I certainly plan to try again when I put it back together tomorrow. Another ham suggested checking for fried circuits and a bad capacitor.?

jayne?