Radio help

[Meshach]

My radio just started acting up. Others can hear me , but I can’t hear them. Is there some troubleshooting I can do or is this an avionics shop job? Old MX 170C

[Ragsf15e]

30 minutes ago, Flying Dutch said:

My radio just started acting up. Others can hear me , but I can’t hear them. Is there some troubleshooting I can do or is this an avionics shop job? Old MX 170C

You can check a few things like turning off the squelch to see if you hear them faintly or not at all and adjust volume based on static.  If you don’t hear static, might also be a problem with your audio panel?  Is there an “rx” receive indicator that shows when it’s receiving?

[Utah20Gflyer]

My plane had a MX 170C in my plane when I bought it but I had a similar issue.  I sent it in for repair but was told it was not repairable.  I ended up using BK KX 175b for a year until I put the plane back into the avionics shop and replaced it with Garmin 255a.  From what I’ve heard the TKM radios don’t have a great track record for quality or longevity.  I was offered a new replacement at a discount when I was told they couldn’t repair my old radio but ultimately the price difference wasn’t great enough to dissuade me from going with the Garmin.  
 

If you want a temp solution I still have the kx175b I could sell you for cheap.  It was working great when removed.  

[glbtrottr]

I think I have an mx170c in the stash - let me know where you are. At least that may rule out the radio

[EricJ]

Pushing the Test button when you're trying to listen turns the squelch off and will let you hear anything that's coming out of the receiver.    You can test that on ATIS or similar as a basic check.   Can you hear Nav audio, e.g., morse IDs or voice on the nav radio?

Even though people can hear you, I'd check the antenna and cable conditions and connections.    If you have a 2nd COM and the antenna cables are accessible you can swap them to see if the problem follows the antenna/cables or not.   

[redbaron1982]

Make sure that it is sitting correctly in the tray. A few fights ago I had an issue with an old BK and it was fixed after making sure that it was sitting correctly in the tray. 

[Fly Boomer]

11 hours ago, Flying Dutch said:

My radio just started acting up. Others can hear me , but I can’t hear them. Is there some troubleshooting I can do or is this an avionics shop job? Old MX 170C

If you want to try something easy, just pull it out of the panel and reseat it a couple of times to scrape off any corrosion that may be on the contacts.  For extra credit, you can clean the contacts on the radio (contact cleaner) while it's out.

[Meshach]

20 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

You can check a few things like turning off the squelch to see if you hear them faintly or not at all and adjust volume based on static.  If you don’t hear static, might also be a problem with your audio panel?  Is there an “rx” receive indicator that shows when it’s receiving?

What does that look like?

[Meshach]

19 hours ago, glbtrottr said:

I think I have an mx170c in the stash - let me know where you are. At least that may rule out the radio

KDNV

[skydvrboy]

My KX125 had the same symptom.  Turned out it was a leaking capacitor that fried the circuit board.  Hopefully that's not your problem, but if it is, Bevan Aviation in Wichita can fix it for you.  I was quite pleased with their service.