Icom 402 going mental

[hoges in wa]

Came back to the boat last week in the dinghy to an awful racket. A very loud alarm going off. Don’t know what the poor bathers on the beach thought of it. (just outside Cassiopea on Corfu)

Thought it might have been a bilge alarm but it wasn’t, it was the VHF going crazy and very loud, both down below and the cockpit hand set. Turned it off and on and no more alarm.

Then it happened again as we were motoring along, a few days later

It is a very fast paced ee-aw-ee-aw-ee-aw. Nothing in the Icom 402 manual about alarms.

Any ideas what it is?
thanks
Hoges

 

[Brian D]

DSC maybe? CG does a test every Wednesday, I think. Not sure if 402 has DSC. I should have checked before posting.

 

[LloydB]

Many alarms can be made silent while you go about finding cause or correcting a fault before you perform an alarm reset. Powering off not only makes the noise stop but may also erase event, type and time of the alarm when turned back on. However from your description I suspect it was a -- review owners manual--, alarm.

Came back later to see if the solution had been found(was not) so decided to download the manual to see which alarms could be possible as I've not used that equipment.
I couldn't find even one reference to setting an alarm at all, although others after my post mentioned possible alarms. Went back to reread the thread to see if I'd missed the model number or somthing.
AND THERE IT WAS...." It is a very fast paced ee-aw-ee-aw-ee-aw. Nothing in the Icom 402 manual about alarms." ...right in the original post!!!

I apologize for the unnecessary post and any distraction it may have caused. Lloyd B

 

[RobChichester]

If it is a DSC radio, it could be a proximity alarm or an alarm for an automatic (DSC) distress signal. Alternatively, it could be an alarm a weather hazard which is about to be broadcast on a weather channel.

I would not think you would necessarily want to silence the alarm unless you fully understand its meaning and implications.

 

[chuckwayne]

the 402 is a dsc radio but not a class d. it will alarm if it detects a distress signal. just threw mine away so I don't have the manual handy but it should be online at icom's site

 

[hoges in wa]

Hi Chuck,
I do have the manual. I can see the section on Dsc alarms but dismissed it asthe source for several reasons. One I wasn't monitoring Ch70, and two it has never ever gone off before yet went off twice in a matter of days. The manual talks about monitoring 70 then going to 16 but we were on 16. And, as I say, it has never ever gone off before - we live aboard and have done for 2 years so it's on most of the time.

No weather alerts, no CG tests, no zilch.

 

[Brian D]

Understood. My DSC will also alarm if I lose my GPS lock. You may want to check to ensure your GPS is working OK. Not sure if that is the problem but something else to just look at and confirm it is making good connection.