Someone (probably) pressed the button to put it into crypto mode and the radio was not set up for that. Pass him along this cheat sheet that will put the radio into a working condition. Excuse the formating. Cut and past this into a text editor and change it to monospaced fonts so it looks right.
Or message me and I'll send a PDF.
* * * NOTE: UNOFFICIAL - This is my personal radio "preflight checklist"
RADIO CHECK LIST (PRELIMINARY SEPT 2015)
1) Turn on Power Supply *Mission Base Radios only
2) Turn on the radio. Press the left knob On-Off Volume Knob (in) once.
3) Press [TX PWR] until HI POWER is displayed. *Note: Low power means short range ground to ground!
4) If you see a (moving) rotating Clock Symbol on the display Press [SCAN] to turn it off.
5) Press [SEL SQ] until you see the message SQUELCH NORMAL.
6) Check that the radio transmits. If you see NO KEYS and or hear a series of beeps during transmit press [ CS ] once. *Note: This radio does not have Cryptographic Keys loaded.
7) Select your ZONE by pressing the SELECT Knob (in) once then rotating the SELECT knob to adjust the left most digits to the zone you wish. Example Press (in) once the SELECT knob then rotate the SELECT Knob until your display shows you are in ZONE 1.
__
[ZONE 1 01 XX]
^ ^
: :...ZONE (number 1-16) *Note DASH above indicates ZONE select
:..Alphanumaric Channel Display

Now Press (in) the SELECT Knob to get out of selecting ZONE. This should return it to channel select mode. To Dial in CC1 (aka Command and Control Channel 1)
Rotate the SELECT knob until you see CC1 in the Alphanumeric Display the channel number will be channel 1 (*NOTE You must have already selected ZONE 1)
__
[CC1 01 01]
^ ^ ^
: : :..CHANNEL 1 *Note DASH above indicates CHANNEL select
: :..ZONE 1
:..Alphanumeric Channel Display