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My Icom IC-A210 Locked up Today

snopercod

Well Known Member
I launched off out of Asheville this fine morning on my way to Chattanooga. Twenty miles West at 8,500', AVL switched me to Atlanta Center, only my radio wouldn't switch. Pressing the <--> button did nothing; I was stuck on Asheville Approach. After fiddling with the darn thing for a few minutes, I told Asheville I was coming back for a landing. After making a U-turn and fiddling some more, I explained to approach that I would be unable to switch to tower frequency, so they cleared me to land and taxi back to the hangar after I touched down. Thanks for the help, guys! Back in the hangar, I powered up the radio again and it was totally locked up; I just got a screen saying "Icom 1.63.001. Since this is my only radio, I guess I'll be grounded until Icom sends it back. Maybe this is God's way of telling me I need a second radio?
 
I was right seat with a friend when his Icom 210 did the same thing. Tried a ?technology reset? but when powered back up it showed a single frequency on the display instead of the usual two and remained locked-up, so we returned to land. Mysteriously, when he returned to the hangar the following weekend it was behaving normally, but by then he had lost faith in the Icom and it?s now been replaced by a Garmin.

We never did discover how or why it failed so I can?t offer anything more than solidarity.

The Icom 210 in my plane hasn?t been without problems and I feel it?s a matter of when not if it lets me down. I like the new Trig radios.
 
I guess my best option for a second radio might be a Garmin GTR 200 ($1359). The Trig radios seem kind of expensive. Right now my AoA is wired to the AUX input on my Icom. I guess I can move that to the audio panel if I buy one of those. Any recommendations for inexpensive audio panels?
 
... it showed a single frequency on the display instead of the usual two and remained locked-up
Mine did that, too. I even tried holding the <--> button down for two seconds to enter the "direct entry mode", but that didn't do anything. When I got home, after retrieving my engine monitor data, I checked my buss voltage and it was fine. Tomorrow, before I pull the unit, I want to make sure the radio hasn't come loose from the connector on the back. I've had flawless service from the A210 for five years, so I am distressed...
 
I like my flightcom 403 intercom, $250 from Van?s. when I switched out my Icom for the Dynon Radio I kept the 403.
 
Try this

■ Lock function
The lock function prevents accidental frequency changes and accidental function activation.
Hold down [DIAL] for 2 seconds to turn the lock function ON
D ? appears when DIAL lock mode is selected.
P ? appears when PANEL lock mode is selected.

To turn the function OFF, repeat step above.
? ? D? or ? P? disappears.

NOTE: AUTOMATIC LOCK RELEASE FUNCTION
This transceiver has an ?Automatic Lock Release Function? which releases the Lock function automatically when an operator gets into a panic.
The lock function is released when pushing any keys (ex- cept [EC]) eight times or rotating any dials (except [VOL]) 25-clicks for 5 seconds.
ON.

Page 19 of the A210 users manual.

Good luck

Brian
 
■ Lock function...
Now that's interesting. Do you suppose I could have inadvertently activated the lock function by pressing the small frequency dial? I admit that I've never used that function and didn't know how to unlock the panel had you not posted this. THANK YOU! There are a couple of lessons here. 1. Know your equipment (I didn't), and 2. Don't get distracted from flying the airplane when something breaks. While I was fiddling with the radio, my heading drifted about 45 deg. off course and approach had to give me a vector to wake me up. For the record, here's the video of the whole episode.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/28ixxzaka55u66e/2017-11-17 Radio Failure cockpit_0238.mp4?dl=0
 
So I went to the hangar this morning and powered up the Icom; It was locked up and displayed the startup screen. Pressing buttons and turning knobs had no effect whatsoever. Then I pressed and held the <--> button for two seconds, and the normal display came up. The radio was working fine again. I checked the SETTINGS and the LOCK function was disabled. So I couldn't have accidentally locked the unit in flight. I removed the face plate and inspected the ribbon cable and didn't see anything abnormal. I'm not sure what to look for, but the connector was seated in the face plate socket. I also checked the tightness of the radio itself in the tray and it was tight. I re-attached the face plate and everything still works. I have no idea what caused the original lockup but cycling the power then pressing the <--> button for two seconds re-booted it for me.

All I know is that I'll be carrying my handheld/adapter/headset with me from now on.
 
I always carry a spare handled radio

I have one that includes the adapter for the headset too. It turned out to be quite handy when the radio went dead in a friends plane. He was all smiles when I offered up my handheld radio that easily reached the tower frequency.

I carry extra batteries for handheld radio too.

I added having a handheld to my preflight checklist.

https://www.m0a.com/emergency-transponder-squawk-codes/ is a good reference. I’m always learning! :D

And best of all, you flew the plane first (aviate), navigate and communicate with an emphasis on safety.

Hope this helps too.
 
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I went flying today and the Icom worked normally. Go figure. Before I took off, though, I did a comm check with tower on my handheld with the headset and adapter. Five by Five.
 
Me too

... my radio wouldn't switch. Pressing the <--> button did nothing ...

I'm a few days late posting this but exactly the same thing happened to me and on exactly the same day.

Icom IC-A210, "<-->" button did nothing, eventually wound up on the startup screen ("Icom 1.63.001") with all buttons and knobs ineffective. This was on the ground before takeoff. Power cycling did no good but eventually it somehow recovered and I flew a couple of uneventful long flights.

Then while flying this morning it malfunctioned again and nothing would make it work. Felt like a microprocessor lockup. Now I'm 900 NM from home and had to use my handheld radio to get back into a towered field under class-B airspace.

Like you, I also had flawless service for 5 years. About all I can do on the transient ramp here is take it apart and look at the ribbon cable (yuck).

So I'll be very interested to know if you (or anyone) discovers the root cause of this problem.

And I'd love to have someone in the Mesa/Phoenix, AZ area offer to loan me their Icom A210 (or A200) to get home (Independence, OR) after Thanksgiving. ([email protected] or 503-383-1205). (I'm currently at KFFZ, Falcon Field, Mesa, AZ.)

--
Joe
 
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I'm a few days late posting this but exactly the same thing happened to me and on exactly the same day.
Weird. You probably read how I got out of the startup screen by holding down the <--> key for two seconds, then everything started working again. I've taken two uneventful flights since then but noticed something today. In the DUAL mode, I got strange symbols up at the top in the block that supposedly says DUAL. Pressing the DUAL button twice made it go away. Otherwise the radio worked fine. I really don't know what to look for on that ribbon cable.
 
I really don't know what to look for on that ribbon cable.
The ribbon cable is essentially a piece of plastic with metal traces bonded to one side of it. The ends that plug into the front panel and the PCB inside the main body are exposed on one side, and the traces tinned with solder to improve connectivity.

If the cable is repeatedly inserted/removed, it's possible for a trace to lift off the plastic carrier, and fold back. Without looking for it, you could miss it, so put it under a desk magnifier and check. In some cases it's possible for the trace to fold back at an angle and short out to an adjacent trace as well. Either situation could cause incorrect operation, or outright damage inside the radio or frontplate.

With a strong magnifier, you can inspect the length of the cable and check that there aren't any broken sections of the traces inside the plastic. If you gently bend it back and forth a broken section will "poke" from the inside and make a sharp point on the plastic. If nothing is broken, gentle bending will only make a smooth curve on the plastic.
 
With a strong magnifier, you can inspect the length of the cable and check that there aren't any broken sections of the traces inside the plastic.
Thanks for that. Until recently, I have never had the faceplate off in order to inspect the ribbon cable. With the faceplate off last week, I could only see the part of the cable that protruded out of the rectangular hole in the body of the radio. I didn't use my "cheaters", but didn't see anything abnormal with normal eyeglasses. It's been my experience that most problems are at the connector ends, but the traces on this ribbon cable were extremely small, so this could be different. I fear if I send the unit back to Icom, it will come back "No trouble found".
 
Most owners report weird thinks that happen when the ribbon cable becomes defective. The contacts are so small at the ends of the cable ,its hard to even see the damage. It is true that a damaged ( shorted) cable can result in having some pretty expensive repairs be done to the radio or faceplate. I think they are priced at $1.00 from Icom. Thats how i ended up with several.
 
ive got a spare ribbon cable if you need one shipped from Ga. Not that far away if you wanted to stop by and pick it up. let me know
You've convinced me that I need to change out the ribbon cable. Could I take you up on your offer? I'll PM my mailing address and if you could send me yours (or PayPal), I'll send you a few bucks for your trouble.
 
I have an a210 that I got through the group several years ago on a group buy. My radio all of a sudden quit working between my hangar and the runway a couple weeks ago. I switched to my backup radio and was able to fly. The radio went to real low audio. If I switched it off and turned it back on would be at a real high volume , about 1 minute later back to no audio. I got a new ribbon and installed, it had a bad spot on the connection on one end. Did absolutely nothing for the radio, still works the same. Tried pushing all the buttons that have been talked about on this thread and in the history threads. I'm so fed up with this radio that I'm going to buy the 200 radio from Garmin. That's all folks, if you want to keep screwing with this piece of junk, go ahead. I want something I can trust.
 
You've convinced me that I need to change out the ribbon cable.
Me too. I haven't touched it since initial installation 6 years ago but remember having a hard time with at that time. It worked until last weekend until I went cross-country for Thanksgiving.

I hope Dennis is correct about the ill effects of a defective cable because I may be able to re-jigger it and get it going again. What a lousy design from Icon, a well-respected radio company.

Alas, I'm parked on the transient ramp at KFFZ (Falcon Field, Mesa, AZ) so it's going to be hard to work on it but I don't have anything to lose at this point. Wish I had my reliable old A200 instead of this A210 . . .

In any case, my thanks go out to Dennis Rhodes who contacted me with an offer to try to get me a loaner Icom radio when he heard I was at Falcon Field. (Unfortunately it's a different Falcon Field: KFFZ, not KFFC. So close but so far away :)
 
My A210 worked great for a few years until I got it wet one day after opening a rain-covered tip-up canopy without thinking and dumping a load of water down the backside of my panel. I dried it out best I could, and it worked again for about 3-4 months and then packed it in again. Many rounds with iCom trying to diagnose what exactly had failed (with full disclosure to them about what happened) but I never did get it to work again.

The Garmin 327 transponder below the A210 weathered the downpour perfectly and still works perfectly to this day. I replaced the A210 with a Garmin GTR200.

Not that the GTR200 didn't bring its own problems... The custom harness from Aircraft Spruce has the left and right stereo channels swapped, so my active and standby frequencies are backwards in my stereo headset. I haven't taken the time to disassemble it and rewire.
 
Today I changed out my old ribbon cable for the one that Dennis was so nice to send me. The old one was bent sharply in a couple of places, which can't be good. When I re-assemble the unit, I'll take extra care to make nice, gentle folds in the ribbon. (I did this at home because it was below freezing at the hangar.) Tomorrow I'll reinstall the radio and check it out. Thanks Dennis!

Old ribbon cable:
X7ZVHL.jpg


The new cable was sticking straight up in the air over the connector, so here's what I did to make a nice even curve toward the front.

2YNWnj.jpg
 
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Today I changed out my old ribbon cable for the one that Dennis was so nice to send me.
I hope you'll update us on your results after a few hours of flying time on the radio.

In my own case (post #16 on this thread), I opened up the radio on the transient ramp while cross-country and found nothing special. The ribbon cable (actually a "flex cable" I think) was in OK shape. I put it back together and flew about 7 hours to get home with only one lock-up incident. It cleared when I pressed the memory recall button and selected a memory channel. Upon recalling this and previous incidents, I seem to remember changing frequencies and pressing the "<-->" button to precipitate each event.

So perhaps it's a stuck keyboard (in my case anyway). When I have time I'll take the radio apart on the workbench for a proper look and will post any findings.
 
I reinstalled the radio in the panel today, being extra careful not to kink the flex cable. When I powered the unit up, it worked, but I observed some strange behavior right off the bat. When I activated the ICOM mode, it un-activated itself after a few seconds. I pressed and held the DUAL button again and the Intercom came back on and stayed. The second weird thing was that on 121.9, the squelch wouldn't close. I had that happen (on another frequency) three years ago, and it just went away eventually. Maybe today it was because my plane was in the hangar rather than outside. Bottom line is I can no longer trust this radio and, from now on, will always fly with my handheld/adapter/headset at the ready.
 
Switched to A220

After flying for several years my A210 started being glitchy.

I replaced with an A220 a year ago on the basis that it doesn't use a ribbon, was a straight swap in the tray and didn't need any harness work. And in the hope that they had fixed any bugs!

It worked great for six months and then on one XC flight I noticed after 30 minutes or so that no one was talking. To check that I really wasn't alone in the sky I tuned to a nearby ATIS - nothing. I switched on and off and the world came alive again. This has happened several times since and is almost as if it has a shutdown timer activated.

Has anyone else experienced this? ICOM have not responded to my help request of several months ago.

These radios are "too clever" for their own good.
 
I had high hopes that changing out the ribbon cable would fix the problem, but it didn't. Today the %$#@& thing locked up again. Just after landing, I went to switch to ground frequency by pressing the <--> button and it stuck on tower frequency in "direct entry". I manually dialed up the ground frequency and told them I was clear. When I got back to the hangar, I yanked the radio and will be sending it to an Icom service center. I've had it with this POS.
 
I reinstalled the radio in the panel today, being extra careful not to kink the flex cable. When I powered the unit up, it worked, but I observed some strange behavior right off the bat. When I activated the ICOM mode, it un-activated itself after a few seconds. I pressed and held the DUAL button again and the Intercom came back on and stayed. The second weird thing was that on 121.9, the squelch wouldn't close. I had that happen (on another frequency) three years ago, and it just went away eventually. Maybe today it was because my plane was in the hangar rather than outside. Bottom line is I can no longer trust this radio and, from now on, will always fly with my handheld/adapter/headset at the ready.

Florescent lights in my hangar break squelch continuously and doesn't matter the frequency.
 
I had high hopes that changing out the ribbon cable would fix the problem, but it didn't. Today the %$#@& thing locked up again. ...
That's very disappointing and I hope the factory can resolve it for you.

In my own case (identical symptoms, post #16 above) I made it home (6 hours of flying time) without having to use my handheld. I ran the radio continuously it on the bench and strenuously exercised it for almost three days without being able to duplicate the malfunction. The only thing I did differently than in your case is that I never disconnected the flex cable; I let the front panel hang from the cable the entire time even while removing and /installing it in the airplane.

So I do not think the flex cable is part of the problem (in these cases at least). This time of year ESD (electrostatic discharge) can be a HUGE problem and I can almost convince myself the problem was related to ESD via the "<-->" switch but I couldn't cause a malfunction on the bench.

It's back in the airplane now and I hope to fly it tomorrow for the first time since the big incident. But I have no reason to believe I fixed anything. I (and others) will be interested in your experience with Icom customer support.
 
Just a potential heads-up on ribbon cable *connectors*. I can't tell for sure by looking at those pics, but many ribbon connectors are intended to be 'zero insertion force' in operation. I've seen a couple of styles, but the most common will have an outer shell that snaps up by about 1/16", which releases the terminals' pressure on the contact points on the ribbon. If those are ZIF sockets, you may be able to remove/reinsert the ends, but there's a potential of damaging the new cable if you don't release before your actions.

I repeat: I don't know if the ones y'all are dealing with fit that description; just a caution to check.

Charlie
 
Florescent lights in my hangar break squelch continuously and doesn't matter the frequency.
That's a valid concern for others, but I don't have any fluorescent lights in my hangar - just a crappy LED light on the ceiling. Thanks for bringing it up.
 
Florescent lights in my hangar break squelch continuously and doesn't matter the frequency.
That's a valid concern for others, but I don't have any fluorescent lights in my hangar - just a crappy LED light on the ceiling. Thanks for bringing it up.

Major drift going on here....

I replaced all my fluorescent bulbs with GE Daylight LED T8 bulbs. They use 15W and are 2,300 lumens. No need to remove the ballast, just put them in. What a difference they made in my hangar and garage. I don't have any static on my radio, when testing. Yes, I have an Icom A210.
 
GE Daylight LED T8 bulbs...I don't have any static on my radio.
That's good to know.

Today I'm sending the radio off to Bubba and Earl's Avionics shop and Transmission repair in Columbus, GA. /sarc Actually, I think I'll send it to the Authorized Service Center in Chicago.
 
nothing to report

So I sent my Icom A-210 off to AJR Int'l in Chicago. It arrived Monday, but I haven't heard a thing from them. I called today and was on hold for about ten minutes, then shuttled off to voice mail. I left a message. Sigh...
 
So I sent my Icom A-210 off to AJR Int'l in Chicago. It arrived Monday, but I haven't heard a thing from them. I called today and was on hold for about ten minutes, then shuttled off to voice mail. I left a message. Sigh...

I'm watching this, I have A210 as well, right under a GTN650. I like the audio quality of the A210 more than the GTN.
 
I love the Icom, too. It took a while to get all those settings right, but it's nice to have them. No response to my voicemail from AJR.

Edit: The Icom tech (Sandra) just called me back. She said she changed "some diodes" on the front panel yesterday and the radio is still working OK today. Cost for that was $260. She recommended that I change the entire front panel for $550, but I declined. She told me that she had never had a return after a panel change but if mine failed again, I could send it back and she would give me $260 credit on the panel change. She told me she would FedEx it to me today, so I might get it Saturday. Sorry Icom, but if it fails on me again, I'll be replacing it with a Garmin GTR 200.
 
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I love the Icom, too. It took a while to get all those settings right, but it's nice to have them. No response to my voicemail from AJR.

Edit: The Icom tech (Sandra) just called me back. She said she changed "some diodes" on the front panel yesterday and the radio is still working OK today. Cost for that was $260. She recommended that I change the entire front panel for $550, but I declined. She told me that she had never had a return after a panel change but if mine failed again, I could send it back and she would give me $260 credit on the panel change. She told me she would FedEx it to me today, so I might get it Saturday. Sorry Icom, but if it fails on me again, I'll be replacing it with a Garmin GTR 200.

I don't think you'd get that kind of service from Garmin and Garmin radios fail too.
 
May I ask when you purchased your IC A-210? Maybe you have a later model and they fixed whatever is causing these failures? Mine is 5 years old, I think.
 
My Icom was returned via FedEx this afternoon. AJR just received it last Monday 10AM so I'd say a 5 day turnaround was excellent. The packaging for the return trip was excellent (I saved the box, just in case). Repair description was, "Replaced three s cer, ten ds, sled, flexible cable, tested and aligned unit." Total cost (including return shipping) was $260. I'll reinstall it tomorrow. Hope it lasts...
 
... "Replaced three s cer, ten ds, sled, flexible cable, tested and aligned unit." ...
Thanks for posting that; I find it interesting. With the aid of the A210 service manual I was able to translate "three s cer" to 3 capacitors, "ten ds" to 10 LEDs (used for controls' backlighting), and "sled" to possibly the main display.

I don't see how replacing any of these components can cure a bootup problem but they fixed your unit so who am I to speculate?

... tested and aligned unit." ...
That's worth a lot IMO. I wish I could tighten up the squelch adjustment myself but that and a number of other adjustments require proprietary software running on a PC according to the service manual. Not so with my old (no longer supported) A200.

My own A210 is about 6 years old. It has had no issues in the last 9 flights (about 8 hours flying time) with no fix applied (just inspection). I'm coming back to my hypothesis of ESD again.
 
I'm coming back to my hypothesis of ESD again.
That's a real possibility. The radio started failing in the winter when humidity was low. Maybe I should wear a wrist-stat when flying :rolleyes:

I would have guessed "ds" meant diodes. The woman (Sandra) told me she changed diodes, but didn't specify what kind. Zener, signal, LED? The one thing she did say was never, NEVER, unplug the ribbon cable with the power on. She said it would blow the CPU in the front panel.
 
Joe-- In retrospect, my first lock-up was in August so it was pretty humid then. OTOH, my plane is fiberglass so it could easily build up a static charge. Who knows? I was wondering h w (and why) you happened to acquire a service manual. Are you in the repair business?
 
... I was wondering h w (and why) you happened to acquire a service manual. Are you in the repair business?
Not in the repair business (professionally) but I always strive to fix my own electronics. Can't recall how I acquired it but since the word "copyright" does not appear anywhere in the PDF of the service manual, I'll email it to you if you contact me at [email protected].

Now, if someone can offer me a similar deal on the software (CS-A210 ADJ) used to adjust and align the unit, I'd like to hear from them <g>.
 
Thanks, Joe. I'll email you in a little while.

I figured 10 minutes tops to plug the Icom back into the tray, but it took over three hours. What a cluster****. The unit slid right in and the connectors mated, then I loosened the two screws holding the panel in place so I could cinch up the top bale (bottom one not used on my unit). The front panel just fell off and the ribbon cable pulled out of the connector. The ribbon cable was only protruding 1/4" from the chassis, and it wouldn't budge when I went to pull it out further in order to re-mate it.

So I pulled the radio from the tray and removed the top cover to see what was going on. Sandra had taped the ribbon cable in place which was all well and good until it came time to reinstall the unit in the tray. Sigh... I removed the tape and freed up the ribbon cable but when I reinstalled the top cover, plugged the ribbon cable back into the front panel and went to slide the cable back into the slot, it wouldn't go; The cable just crumpled up. It was hitting something. Not good.

So one more time I removed the unit and the top cover. This time I applied a piece of teflon anti-chafe tape along the top of the ribbon cable, overlapping 1/8" onto the face plate connector. I figured that would stiffen things up and it did, but the ribbon cable still wouldn't slide back into the slot. After taking the top cover off for the third time, I saw the problem when I turned the cover over. Someone had applied a piece of hard rubber foam to the underside of the top cover to keep the ribbon cable from chafing against the aluminum cover.

It was clear that Sandra had assembled the unit with the front panel in place, giving no thought of how some poor fool (me) would be able to remove and reinstall the face plate after installation which is necessary to cinch up the unit in the tray with the 3/32" Allen wrench.

So I made a little ramp over the foam block out of more teflon anti-chafe tape, and that fixed it so the ribbon cable would slide back in there. I used 3M Primer #94 on both the ribbon cable connector and the aluminum in front of the foam block so (hopefully) the anti-chafe tape would stick. I hope the anti-chafe tape keeps the ribbon cable from pulling out of the socket because it isn't all that tight of a fit.

Teflon anti-chafe tape:
5j3Wc2.jpg


Foam block:
ZEkfXg.jpg


I also noticed a metal spring finger which apparently was a case ground for the faceplate (see picture below). It wasn't all that springy so I bent it a little so it would make better contact.

Copper-colored spring finger:
sk8A9X.jpg


I finally got the unit installed and turned it on and no smoke was noted. The frequency display came up but when I went to dial up new frequencies using the inner/outer knobs, they turned together so it was impossible to change just the decimal frequencies without using two hands. Hopefully I can loosen the inner knob with a tiny Allen wrench so that it doesn't rub on the outer knob. It's my sense that Sandra must have replaced the entire front panel after all because the knobs weren't tight like that on my old panel. Also, I didn't see any evidence of soldering on this panel.

Bottom line: The unit receives OK but I haven't tried to transmit yet. Reinstallation shouldn't have been this difficult.
 
Reminds me of my A210 on return from factory service in WA where the freq transfer button ( in the faceplate) was not operational and did not have the "push feel" when depressed. That was not the reason for return in fact that f(x) was working fine on shipment. Continued the install and flew and found the transfer switch would cycle with any bump of turbulent air! At one time it rolled about three or four cycles on a slight air bump. Returned the unit to factory and they replaced the freq transfer switch. Now the switch actually has some feel when depressed and seems to work satisfactorily. There was no charge for the re work and switch replacement . The bottom line is that you would like to think the radio was bench tested before the return, didn't get a warm and fuzzy that it was.
 
...you would like to think the radio was bench tested before the return, didn't get a warm and fuzzy that it was.
Me either. It would be hard to miss that the flip-flop button or the frequency select dials weren't working. It's my belief that there are only two techs repairing Icom radios in Chicago (Joy and Sandra) and they are extremely busy.

I used to be an electronic tech a l-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-n-g time ago, and I don't see how anybody can actually work on these surface-mount circuit boards. I'm guessing they mostly just swap out boards, not individual components.
 
Another Option

Another option would be to mate the front panel and ribbon cable with the top cover off, and abandon the use of the bale to lock the radio to the tray. That way, the ribbon cable could be routed and secured in place with tape or even glue. You would have to find some other means of securing the radio in the tray. A couple dabs of RTV or some tape? Since that ribbon cable has been a source of numerous problems, I think it's crucial to protect it from coming loose.
 
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