my icom marine radio shuts off and back on again if I hit the transmit button, it did this once befor and I cleaned the battery terminals and it worked good again. This time I cvleaned the terminals and it still shuts off and back on again when I push the transmit button
any ideas what could be wrong ? is it possible that it draws too much power ?

Rebs:

If you haven't done it already, look at all the connections between the battery and the Icom, particulary the fuseholder. If it is one of those in-line glass cartridge fuseholders, consider replacing with a blade-style fuse holder, like this one:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102781

Obviously, replace the 20 amp fuse with the right size for your radio. I don't trust those in-line glass fuse cartridges- have had contact problems in them in the past.

Rebs,
VHF radio'w draw about 5A when transmitting which could drop the battery voltage enough to drop the radioif your battery is bad or not fully charged. When the transmit button is released the battery voltage comes back up to whatever that raido's threshold is. Take a volt meter and put it on your battery and see what the no-load voltage is. Turn on the radio in receive mode, it sould stay the same or drop silghtly, key the mike and my guess is it drops substantially. If not make the same test on the radio side of the fuse holder (leave the ground on the battery if you can) and see what it says. This sould help you track it down.