I hate Icom IC-9700 for that. They blocked not only transmitting (which is fine) but also receiving anything outside ham bands. There is, however, a small mod which a bit improves the situation. I live in the UK and amateur bands are limited to 144-146MHz and 430-440 MHz. The mod below will let you extend the RX and TX at VHF from 144.000 up to 148.000 and UHF from 430.000 up to 450.000
I (of course) do not take any responsibility for the instruction below. I toy cock up your radio, blame yourself.
You can ask the question: what is a point to do this mod – well, currently in the UK you can have your NoV extended by the extra 1MHz up to 147.000MHz. Also, the mod will extend the UHF band up to 450.000MHz which will let you use PMR band – better this than nothing.
There is no chance to have a proper mars mod unfortunately.
1. Remove screws holding the bottom cover – remove all of them from the bottom and sides
2. Locate diodes:
3. Pray 🙂
4. Remove 2 diodes marked in red squares:
5. Pray again, as the diodes are fu****g small so they are difficult to remove with no proper equipment:
6. Diodes removed:
Size of the diode:
