XTS3000 Poor 160MHz RX

Rayjk110 · Post by **Rayjk110** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 4:22 pm

Hello all. As the title states, I have a VHF XTS3000 with poor rx on the 160MHz band. I can hear the signal weakly, but it usually sounds like it's being covered with an AC Ripple kinda sound. No, this does not just happen in my house, but everywhere I take it. The frequency it seems to be 'rejecting' is 160.770 Now, i can RX marginally on the 162.xx wx bands, but the ripple still exists. all ham freq's in the radio preform just fine, and as i get to the 154.xx ranga of freq's, the ripple seems to gently increase as does the frequency.

Model #: H09KDC9PW5AN
Serial #: 620AWY****
(If it makes a difference.)

Any idea to what the problem is? It's been driving me nuts.

Thanks, Ray.

Post by Pj » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:16 pm

Are you using the wideband antenna, or one of the other antenna's?

Rayjk110 · Post by **Rayjk110** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:59 am

Well, I have both. When I'm just using local county HAM Repeaters, I use the WideBand antenna. (I believe it's got the orange on the bottom) Or when I take it into public, I usually use the shorter standard antenna. (Blue Bottom) It tends to occour with both of the antennas.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 8:35 am

check your tuning and alignment values for the 160+ Mhz tuning frequencies.

Something probably isn't tuned correctly at those frequencies, but is at the lower ones.

Rayjk110 · Post by **Rayjk110** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:48 pm

Alright, thanks. I would if I had the CPS, though. I had a friend tell me that mebey it had something to do with the DSP? I'm not sure.

Thanks for the help.
Ray

RocketNJ · Post by **RocketNJ** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:18 pm

Is the antenna you are using for 160 MHz reception a center fed antenna (have the female pin in the bottom center of the antenna)? I've seen people use antennas from old analog Sabers on the XTS series radios and they won't work very far at all.

Just a thought.

Rayjk110 · Post by **Rayjk110** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:30 pm

Nope, the antenna fits very well with the radio, just like you would see on an HT1000 with the center pin sticking out on the radio and the inlet on the antenna, so it screws in just fine. I don't think this is an antenna problem, but more of a radio problem.

Thanks.
Ray.

apco25 · Post by **apco25** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 3:49 pm

As I said, Radio needs to be aligned and tuned on a service monitor. The alignment data for the specific test frequencies isn't set properly. Those values for the various test freqs across the range of the radio set the tuning for the programmed frequencies.

RocketNJ · Post by **RocketNJ** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 5:08 pm

I agree that the radio needs to be properly aligned then. Was hoping it would be a quick fix if it was the wrong antenna.

Find a shop in your area familiar with the XTS3000 receiver front end alignment procedure and get it done.

If it is a legit radio you may be better off sending it in to Mother Moto to get it aligned.

Rayjk110 · Post by **Rayjk110** » Tue Oct 04, 2005 1:00 pm

Yeah, I think it may be taking a trip to the depot soon. It is a legit radio as far as I know; it has all tags. One thing I was told though was on the top sticker it says FlashPort, and then there was nothing elese on that tag, and someone had told me that there was supposed to be a number below it? I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean. Also, it was an ex-US Army issued radio, if that makes a difference.

Thanks,
Ray.

Post by Pj » Tue Oct 04, 2005 3:30 pm

Any local Motorola shop should be able to do a complete alignment for you...for far less than shipping it off to the Depot....unless you think you are having other problems with it.

dittrimd · Post by **dittrimd** » Wed Oct 05, 2005 9:03 am

One other thing to check migh be the signal spacing or band width of your personnalities. My UHF XTS3000 had poor receive sensitivity and when the receiver did open up the audio was poor. For some reason when I programmed the radio all the signal spacing was set to 12.5 kc (narrow band) instead of 25 kc (wide band) which is what all my transmitters were operating on. This caused the receiver to have poor receive sensitivity. I was all set to send it out for a full alignment when a friend threw it on a service monitor and found the problem. I reprogrammed the radio and now it works great.

I have never worked with VHF so I not even sure if the same problem could exist as far as channel spacing. Hope this helps and good luck.

Mark