Icom V80 Mod for Paragliding

This is for the Icom V80 Handheld Radio. Note: Only perform this modification if you are permitted to transmit in the frequency range of 148MHz to 174MHz. If you don't know, do not perform this modification.

• Philips Screw Driver
• Flat Head Screw Driver
• Pliers
• Razor Blade
• Tool of your own design for removing the nut on the BNC antenna jack.

Undo the clasp from the back of the radio and remove the battery pack.

First gently pry beneath the volume nob with a flat head screw driver and remove it, being careful not to loose the rubber gasket underneath it.

Then remove the nut on the BNC antenna jack. There are two slots on either side of the nut that can be used to get a purchase on the nut to spin it off. The first time I did this I used two flat head screw drivers and was able to remove it with some struggle. The second time I took a thin long nail, cut the head and point off, bent it into a U shape such that it fit in the two slots then used pliers to hold on to it and twist the nut off. This worked pretty well.

Also remove the mic and speaker jack port covers. Other wise you will be unable to pull the circuit board out of the housing.

Next remove the two screws in the back of the radio holding the circuitry in place.

Gently push on the buttons at the bottom of the radio from the front to push the bottom of the circuit board up such that you can grab it and pull the board down from the housing. Careful not to pull to hard so you do not break the wire connecting the board to the speaker. Once out, remove the wire connecting the speaker to the board at the connection point. Gently prying at it with your finger or a small flat head screw driver should easily pop it free.

There is a small resistor just to the bottom right of the display screen. You will need to remove this resistor. If you have a small solder iron you can use that to heat the solder holding it down and then simply pull the resistor off. You must be very careful not to heat other components in the board with this method and ensure that the solder does not reconnect the circuit where you just removed the resistor. Instead of this method I used the razor blade to gently scrape at the solder till enough was removed to pry the resistor off with some light pressure applied underneath the resistor. I place the corner of the razor blade under the resistor and gently applied upward force to it till it released. Once removed, simply reassemble the radio in reverse order and you should be able to transmit on the full 2 meter spectrum.