- Joined
- Mar 17, 2012
- Messages
- 4,407
- Location
- Australia
- Vessel Name
- Insequent
- Vessel Make
- Ocean Alexander 50 Mk I
My old Icom M127 works perfectly, but the screen has reached the point where it is very difficult to see what channel you are on.
I found a business in Florida that offers a repair service, but sending to FL from Australia isn't practical.
I then found a August 2011 post on sister forum CF, noted below:
Originally Posted by fairbank56 View Post
The lcd panels in these radio's are connected to the front panel circuit board via elastomer connectors. We tech's commonly call them zebra strips. After a long period of time combined with heat, they can leach out a substance called siloxane which creates a film on the edges that are in contact with the lcd on one side and the circuit board on the other. This film makes for a poor connection and causes some of the display segments to fade. It is possible to remove them and scrape the film off with a razor blade restoring the display to like new condition. This may or may not be your problem as it could also be that the lcd itself is failing. Either way, it can be fixed although I doubt that Icom services them any more. I could fix them for you but with the low cost of radio's these days it might just be time to upgrade to a modern class D DSC unit.
Eric
I'm not clear whether the segments themselves need scraping or whether its the side connectors. Has anyone done this?
The most obvious dual channel replacement is the Icom 2730A, selling for a mere $542 here. I am happy to try a razor first, if I know just what I should shave with it.....
I found a business in Florida that offers a repair service, but sending to FL from Australia isn't practical.
I then found a August 2011 post on sister forum CF, noted below:
Originally Posted by fairbank56 View Post
The lcd panels in these radio's are connected to the front panel circuit board via elastomer connectors. We tech's commonly call them zebra strips. After a long period of time combined with heat, they can leach out a substance called siloxane which creates a film on the edges that are in contact with the lcd on one side and the circuit board on the other. This film makes for a poor connection and causes some of the display segments to fade. It is possible to remove them and scrape the film off with a razor blade restoring the display to like new condition. This may or may not be your problem as it could also be that the lcd itself is failing. Either way, it can be fixed although I doubt that Icom services them any more. I could fix them for you but with the low cost of radio's these days it might just be time to upgrade to a modern class D DSC unit.
Eric
I'm not clear whether the segments themselves need scraping or whether its the side connectors. Has anyone done this?
The most obvious dual channel replacement is the Icom 2730A, selling for a mere $542 here. I am happy to try a razor first, if I know just what I should shave with it.....
