You won't render a diode inactive by holding a soldering iron on it for a couple seconds. Just remove it flat out, if things don't work then solder a piece of wire in there to shunt it. Diodes aren't very sensitive things, at least as far as heat goes. They can withstand numerous heat cycles (one heat cycle is prety much equal to one second), and during manufacturing go through at least a couple cycles alone. Best to just either remove it or shunt it, depending on the nature of the diode itself within the circuit.

And here I am thinking they were extremely sensitive to heat! Goes to show how much I know - I should probably learn more from that 'How It's Made' show I watch so often.

Question:
It's weird, I have 2 Cobra GMRS/FRS radios and when I use the 7R and transmit, one Cobra receives the voice clearly and the other receives a garbled/static voice (hardly discernible). I have a theory on the cause, but I was hoping to get other opinions. Any guesses?

As Blackthorne says - part of it is transmit power can overwhelm a regular FRS/GMRS radio, but there is one other issue - and sorry, I should have mentioned this earlier - the one downside to VX-7R is one thing that makes the radio compelling - it is truely submersible in water. The downside is the mic has a waterproof membrane over it that can obsure the voice. I definitely recommend a separate Mic/PTT for this unit unless you want to mod the radio to remove the membrane. Once I got an inexpensive Mic/PTT for the unit, that problem was insta-resolved. I hate using radio's built in mikes and prefer hand and headsets, so it didn't immediately occur to me to mention this anyways - and in airsoft most everyone uses a boom mike, a PPT or an earpiece/mic combination. There are some HK ones I was selling but they are commonly available on eBay on the cheap - so much so I usually buy several because I tend to lose or destroy them.

That WILL solve your mic problem.

Yep, I am planning to get a headset for the new radio. I had an Iasus Sniper Pro throat mic for my Cobra, but I had some problems with it. And I am definitely not planning to remove the waterproof membrane if I do get the 7R - that would probably defeat the whole purpose of IPX7 compliance.

My guess as to why one Cobra sucks is that it has been fielded several times (battle damage?); while the other one is still virgin. I hope the 7R is more rugged. :D