FAIL 002 and 'ILLEGAL' errors on Astro Spectra

oh2lak · Post by **oh2lak** » Sat Jan 01, 2005 2:57 pm

Hello

I have couple of 403-433MHz mid-power Astro Spectra's, a W7 and a W9

I'm having hard time programming them, I'm getting either/and 'FAIL 002' and 'ILLEGAL' on the display after programming.

Both radios have the following;
Flaschode 599108-145E00-0
R11.20.00.00
N08.03.02

I'm programming channels up to 435.000MHz on it, and the CPS complains about programming out-of-band, but finishes programming without errors.

The W9 radio complains 'ILLEGAL' on the display, but lets me transmit on out-of-band channels. The W7 complains about 'FAIL 002' and 'ILLEGAL' and does not let me transmit on similar channels.

Another thing, how do I 'downgrade' a W9 radio to use a W7 head? Just feed it a W7 codeplug?

Help, anyone?

Erik

Post by Pj » Sat Jan 01, 2005 4:21 pm

I have seen the ILLEGAL errors after some programming, and it delt with the encyption setup. I would start there.

oh2lak · Post by **oh2lak** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 3:43 pm

Seems to be so that there was some items programmed into the radio's they could not cope with;

I had one pushbutton assigned as 'SEC' but that particular radio did not have secure hardware fitted in yet. I thought of programming the button ready for adding the hardware in later.

Removing the 'SEC' assignment for the button and rogramming after this, the ILLEGAL stayed on the screen for couple of boots, but the FAIL002 disappeared, allowing me to use the radio. Currently the radio does not complain about anything.

Has someone tweaked the VCO's of the radio? The CPS allows me to program frequencies up to 441MHz in to it, how about 447MHz? The CPS complains about the frequencies that high, I haven't tried yet to program them in, does it even allow me to do so.

..
Erik

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:53 am

Same thing here.

I keep having to load the original CP back into the radio to do a trial and error process.

Why doesn't the CPS tell me what is wrong? It tells me everything else when there is a problem...

All I'm doing is trying to remove/delete everything but a few conventional channels. The unit had a Smartzone system in it that I don't need/want.

Post by **xmo** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 12:54 pm

My "home-made" Astro Spectra gave me that "ILLEGAL" error after I programmed it the first time. Geez - I thought Pat Harrington was onto me.

It turns out you can get that message if you delete a mode the radio was on before programming or a mode it looks for on power up - like if you ask it to use mode 12 as its home mode and there is no mode 12.

Touching the mode rocker clears that error. The you just need to straighten out whatever is wrong in your programming - there is no harm done to the radio.

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:33 pm

I've narrowed it down to the Emergency Revert screen (so far), but haven't had the time to figure out what has Emergency enabled on it...

I'll figure it out tonight and report back.

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:14 am

Well, I've tried all sorts of things, but still have the "ILLEGAL" pop up on the display when it powers up.

Ii has to do with Dynamic and Announcement Talkgroups. Can someone please help me get rid of this error?

I can send the codeplug out if need be.

It lets me delete the trunking data, but I guess it still thinks that there is suppose to be an ATG or DYN??? I think that I've deleted all of the stuff that's giving me the errors, but I must be missing something.

Thanks.

Post by **wavetar** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:58 am

RESCUE161 wrote: All I'm doing is trying to remove/delete everything but a few conventional channels. The unit had a Smartzone system in it that I don't need/want.

So leave the SmartZone system in there...it's not doing the radio any harm & you can't access it unless you put it into the zone/channel assignment.

Todd

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:04 am

That's the problem. As soon as I remove the "channels" from the Zone/Channel Assignment screen and write to the radio, I get ILLEGAL. I've narrowed everything that I know...

motorola_otaku · Post by **motorola_otaku** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:45 am

oh2lak wrote:Has someone tweaked the VCO's of the radio? The CPS allows me to program frequencies up to 441MHz in to it, how about 447MHz? The CPS complains about the frequencies that high, I haven't tried yet to program them in, does it even allow me to do so.

..
Erik

You need a way to REMOVE portions of the etched trace discussed in the Spectra VCO mods. The trace itself is quite physically tough and will not cut with any consumer-grade knife I have access to. In addition to that, the stock prefilter drops off like a cliff above 445, so even if you could get the VCO to lock you'd need to retune or replace the prefilter. From a cursory glance, retuning doesn't look like a viable option.. maybe someone can prove me wrong?

My 403-433 radio read with RSS, so I don't know about the CPS issue.. but on VHF it (ver. 04.01.04) will allow a 146-174 radio to program down to 144 with only a warning flag.

Rescue161: Have you tried creating a default trunk system and personality and deleting the stuff that came with the radio? I didn't get the "ILLEGAL" error, but that cleared up some other issues it had.

RESCUE161 · Post by **RESCUE161** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:49 am

Yes, I did (create a default trunking system), but as soon as I delete the channels on the Zone/Assignment page, I get the error.

I have been deleting one thing at a time and then writing to the radio with success until I got to the bottom (Zone/Assgnment page).

I'm getting frustrated.

*Edit*
Went back out and tried it again. Same ILLEGAL error. Decided to "read" the radio and mysteriously, after the Self Test, there was no error.

I guess I should have just read it after I programmed it the first time. I have never had this happen before. There was a ton of Emergency and Revert systems tied all into each other on this thing. Glad I didn't have to program that system into it and I'm glad it's gone now...lol

Thanks for all the help!