UHF Spectra R3 VCO Mod - No Go?!

[maxkelley_kc2spy]

Hello all! As the title suggests, I have a Range 3 Spectra, for 450-490mhz or whatever that split is... I did the VCO stripline mod by using a blob of solder and a short bit of wire to extend the stripline a little past the laser cut marks, put it all back together, and it was working like a charm for a while, all the way down to 442 for RX. I then later reprogrammed it, and now I get a FAIL 001 on RX for any channel below 446 (446.0 is the lowest channel I have programmed in that doesn't give the error, 444.975 the highest that does). So I figured, maybe the mod came undone somehow? I tried reflowing it, extending it further, a number of things, and I still get a FAIL 001!

What gives?!? I was talking on it in the morning, reprogrammed it with the laptop at noon, and FAIL 001 in the afternoon. Why would reprogramming do that?

[Will]

There could be other causes for the FAIL001. Cap leakage and or damage for one.

[Bill_G]

Your tuning data got corrupted. Go through the vco board replacement process.

[Will]

Your tuning data got corrupted. Go through the vco board replacement process.

I would NOT recommend doing that. I doubt the values got corrupted.
The Tuning Data is the Deviation Compensation, and Deviation Calibration settings. It requires the use of a calibrated FM Modulation Scope, like in a service monitor.

[Bill_G]

He can save the current values without changing anything. When I get fail 001 after touching the programming, that's what I do just to see if it will recover. After that I do the alignment for real, but it's not often I need to change anything. He's safe to try it. I'd be interested in knowing if he read-edited -wrote to the radio, or if he blew an archive in and got the failure. I've never gotten a fail 001 with the read-edit-write process, but get them often when loading an archive.

[maxkelley_kc2spy]

I read the codeplug from that radio, edited it, and re-wrote it back to the radio.

I forgot to mention in the OP that I replaced all the caps already with Panasonic HD electrolytics.

[maxkelley_kc2spy]

OK, I re-read and re-wrote the radio on a slower computer, and it seemed to fix it! The computer used before was something like a 1.8ghz laptop, which was probably the culprit that corrupted just the tuning data, and not the rest of the codeplug.

[Jim202]

OK, I re-read and re-wrote the radio on a slower computer, and it seemed to fix it! The computer used before was something like a 1.8ghz laptop, which was probably the culprit that corrupted just the tuning data, and not the rest of the codeplug.

Ya can't use that fast of a computer to program a Spectra with. How does it feel to shoot yourself in the foot? Been
there and done that myself a few times. Know how it feels.

Jim