Walkie-talkie problem
 

I have no idea if this is the correct group in which to post my
problem, but I really hope that someone can point me in the right
direction or give me some tips.

I have two model # x32x-2 wris****ch 2-way radios (they just say "made
in china", there is no manufacturer listed; the box says "2-Way
FRS/GMRS Wris****ch Radio") that I got from the Marlboro catalog this
year and the other day one of them suddenly stopped receiving. The one
radio works fine, you can talk and listen, but with the one that is
problematic, you can talk into it and be heard on the good radio, you
just can't hear anything on the bad one, like if I talk into the good
one, nothing comes out of the bad one. The radios each have a screen
that says "Tx" when it's ready for you to talk and "Rx" when it's ready
for you to listen and on the bad one, the "Rx" doesn't even appear on
the screen now at all, as if the listening/receiving function just
suddenly stopped working.

Yes, both radios are set to the same channel (frequency) and there are
no privacy codes set on either of them, and my boyfriend and I recently
moved and I can't find my folder where I keep all of my instruction
manuals so I can't even look for troubleshooting tips in the booklet
until I find it and believe me, I've been looking all over the place
where I thought it would be and I'm mystified. I'm not a person who
misplaces things very often, so I can't understand where the heck that
booklet got to...Marlboro, not being the manufacturer, won't be able to
tell me squat, my only choice at this point if I can't figure out
what's wrong and fix it, is to have them replaced by Marlboro before my
item return window closes...I think I have 12 weeks from when I
received them (end of October) to return them for replacement. The
funny thing is, this is the first year I've actually received my
Marlboro order relatively quickly and it's been screwed up...we
received a keychain instead of a Zippo at first, then I noticed the
cooler bag I ordered has a broken zipper so I have to return that, now
the walkie talkie isn't working so I might as well return that with the
darn cooler bag...and if they think I'm paying the postage to ship
those items back, they're crazy...they already charged me like $24.00
in the first place to send my order the first time and I know my stuff
didn't weigh that much, I used to ship stuff at my last job, it would
have to weigh a LOT to cost that much. Sorry, I realize this is a bit
off-topic and that my message is really long, but I needed to vent
about this and I really would like some advice on my walkie talkies!
Thanks to anyone who replies although I doubt I'll even get one at this
point, that's the story of my life, Murphy's Law (anything that can go
wrong, will).

Okay, I'll bite.

First off, I know nothing about these units in particular.

I did a search with Google, but could only find a X2X wris****ch radio, and a
pair sells for about $40 or less. Is that the same as the X32X? I have no clue,
but it would seem to me that you have three choices ... either send them back
for replacement, try to find another pair on ebay for cheap (then you'll have
three!), or try to fix it yourself.

If $40 is a strain on your current budget, then I'd send it back.

As for the last method, I wouldn't recommend this unless you're willing to give
up on the unit, but you could try to figure out how to open it up without
wrecking it and see if there's dirty contacts on a button inside. Sometimes
some very careful cleaning of a switch will bring it back to life. The contacts
inside may have oxidation on them and just sliding a piece of paper between the
contacts, or cleaning them with an eraser will be enough to get rid of the
gunk. NOTE: this would be a last ditch effort if you have never tried this
before, since you may not be able to get it back together and end up throwing
it away, but someone with experience doing this may be able to fix it if it's a
simple problem and you'll be back on the air !

Just my .02.

Good luck !

John Wilke
K9RZZ
(ham operator for 28 years)