hi power spectra vco out of lock

[Richard Collier]

I can not get my uhf spectra to lock on freq. Vco out of lock, can anyone help, or what is the fix or who can fix?

[kc7gr]

I can not get my uhf spectra to lock on freq. Vco out of lock, can anyone help, or what is the fix or who can fix?

No one here, that I know of, is capable of mind-reading.

What band is your Spectra? Note that the only way to determine this with full certainty is to check the actual part number of the VCO and/or the receiver's front end module. They are both band-sensitive.

If you're fairly sure that the VCO and front end are still factory originals, and the radio has not been previously bit-banged, you can read the radio with the RSS and determine its assigned band.

With all that said: What frequency (frequencies?) are you having trouble with?

[Richard Collier]

SORRY IT IS A UHF 450TO 470 I PURCHASED IT NEW ABOUT A YEAR AGO. IT WAS WORKING FINE UNTILL I DID SOMTHING WHILE PROGRAMING IT. IT WAS MY BUST MY FAULT NOT THE RADIO. AND YES THE DUMB ASS OPERATOR ME DID IT SOME HOW. MIGHT HAD HIT SOMETHING WRONG WHILE JUST LOOKING IN THE SERVICE MENU DO NOT KNOW.

[jmr061]

If you have a saved codeplug before you did something to it dump that back in. Otherwise find another codeplug for the same radio (model the same) and dump that in. I think that would clear your issue if it software not hardware related.

Jason

[kc7gr]

SORRY IT IS A UHF 450TO 470 I PURCHASED IT NEW ABOUT A YEAR AGO. IT WAS WORKING FINE UNTILL I DID SOMTHING WHILE PROGRAMING IT. IT WAS MY BUST MY FAULT NOT THE RADIO. AND YES THE DUMB ASS OPERATOR ME DID IT SOME HOW. MIGHT HAD HIT SOMETHING WRONG WHILE JUST LOOKING IN THE SERVICE MENU DO NOT KNOW.

Ok... Ignoring that bit for a moment, my next question: Were you trying to program the radio down to the 440 amateur band?

If so, you will likely need to add a tiny drop of conductive paint to the VCO's tuning strip, right around where the factory laser made its last cut. This adds a little inductance to the strip, allowing the VCO center frequency to drop lower. I've had to do that with every Range 3 (450-482) Spectra I've gotten so far to convince the synthesizer to lock below about 445MHz.

The aforementioned conductive goo will run you about $15 a bottle (it has a high percentage of silver powder in it), and may be obtained from most electronics distributors (not Radio Shack, though... they don't have it, never have had it, and I doubt they've ever heard of it in most stores).

Happy tweaking.

[chartofmaryland]

Radio Shack does carry it in some premier stores where they think with more than the :o catching layer of their shorts, often used, when it comes to ordering parts and products that technically advanced people such as some of us need in daily life readily available at our local Radio Shack.


CoM