A Bit of background: I have 2 IC-718s, one in the house, one in the truck
The one I use in the house was purchased new in 2002 and has never been mobile.
The one in the truck was purchased new in 2006 by a friend who used it in is sailboat while cruising on the Gulf of Mexico for a few years, when not sailing, he lived on the boat. When he sold the sailboat and purchased a Trawler style to live on and no longer cruise with, around 2010 he sold me the radio for a price I couldn't pass up... so this second one was installed in my truck and has been there ever since.
Last week, I went to talk in Sideband mode and as soon as I spoke into the Talk, the ALC Meter Pegged to the top of the scale, and stayed there until I un-keyed the microphone... odd.
I flipped over to the SWR Meter, thinking I lost a coax cable, and the same thing, spoke into the mic, still in SSB Mode and the meter Pegged to the top of the scale... hmmm
Final Check in the truck, flipped over to the Power Output Meter and the same thing happened... OK... time to take it in the house... if I had a bad Coax, the Power Output would be low due to the Transceiver's power fold-back protection...
In the house, I put it on a Dummy Load... same thing... on 20M, 12M, 10M, Full scale Meter deflection, in LSB, USB and AM...
I pulled open the radio and everything looked good, no funny smells, no BBQ'd components (basic Electronics Troubleshooting first check Passed)
The only thing that looked odd was the internal coax connections... they should be SILVER in color... all 6 on the top board where a tarnished Brown/Tan color, as well as the 2 that pass through to the bottom board were the same.
I pulled the coax connections and started in on them the old school way: Red Pencil Eraser... just like on the old slot cars back in the day...
Here is a before and after of the coax connections. The one on the Left is cleaned up, the Right is as found.
Put it back together and SCORE! Problem solved.
Hope this helps someone out...
