One of the radios wont transmit

Strange. Could it be any of the radios are from different countries? The channels are not worldwide. For instance, Canadian radios are on different frequencies than USA radios. They look identical.

sounds like the PA has failed, I would have the radio shop serviced

Very interesting, what happens if you turn it to channel 1? What channel is it on?

look for other fingers that have been in the radio. then back track from there. It could be a switching diode thats burnt.

These are FRS/GMRS (Family Radio Service/ General Mobile Radio Service) radios. The legal power limit for FRS is 500 milliwatts - or 1/2 watt. GMRS on the other hand is limited to a much higher 50 watt level. The wattage you transmit determines if you need to have a GMRS license. Most GMRS radios are in the .5- 5 watt range however.

The likelihood of your XT20 being a 1/2 watt out on both FRS & GMRS is very good. For Midland (or anyone else for that matter) to produce a radio with a 1 watt output that can run on just 3 "AAA" batteries would be quite the feat! If Midland did do this, the radio's battery life would extremely short. To balance the needs of light weight and battery life, output power needs to be reduced.

Claims of 20 miles is crazy. If you had these radios on mountain tops 20 miles apart - with a clear line of sight between them - MAYBE - you could hear one on the other. This would need to be done under only the most ideal conditions. The actual distance you can expect to get out of a pair of any brand FRS radios in "real world" conditions (line of sight blocked by trees and buildings) is about a mile.

An FRS/GMRS radio limited to 1/2 watt output when used on a GMRS frequency that is close enough to access a GMRS repeater system could easily cover 20+ miles. The key here is having a license and access to the repeater. Repeater owners take a dim view of unlicensed users access their repeater.

Channels 1 thru 7 are FRS and GMRS. That is, if transmitting .5 watts, you can use it as FRS. If transmitting more than .5 watts, you will need a valid GMRS license.

Channels 8 - 14 are expressly for FRS. Only .5 watts transmit power is permitted.

Channels 15 - 22 are expressly for GMRS at any transmit power up to 50 watts. Even if transmitting .5 watts, you MUST have a valid GMRS license on these frequencies.

I know - more infor than you wanted and no vclear cut number for wattage - but there's no info on these radios on Midland's site or anywhere else that I could find. Good luck!

You may have a bad microphone, not uncommon problem.

Stock
1- Shield (Ground)
2- Yellow (Audio)
3- Red (Transmit)
4- White (Receive)

Cobra
Stock
1- Audio
2- Transmit
3- N/C
4- Shield
5- Receive

CB radios and hand-held CB radios can operate on the same channel and be in contact with each other. Other hand-held radios do not operate on the same frequencies and even though they may have channel numbers the channels have different frequencies and will not operate to CB radios.

did you touch the dimmer switch? make sure its on or it won't light up.

http://www.motorola.com/mdirect/manuals/fv200_userguide.pdf

Check your Interference Eliminator Code.