Motorla Clean Cab Spectra (Locomotive) Radio

timkilbride · Post by **timkilbride** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:45 pm

I got a clean cab spectra, hooked it up in the locomotive(72V) and all that happends is the backlights for the keys blink on and off. I brought it home and tried it with 12V and the same thing happends. Is the radio even programmed?

Thanks,
Tim K.

k2hz · Post by **k2hz** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:55 pm

If only the key backlight comes on and you don't get an error code or anything on the display I would suspect a hardware problem.

I would start by checking the control head for the infamous leaky electrolytic capacitor problem with these radios. Also check the ribbon cable and connectors between the control head and the radio.

timkilbride · Post by **timkilbride** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:04 pm

I tried reading it with the proper RSS and get a Busy Line Locked error. Looks like I will have to send it back.

Tim K.

Larry Page · Post by **Larry Page** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:06 pm

I have a clean cab Spectra that exhibited exactly the same symptoms as you describe. In my case, it turned out to be leaking electrolytics. You need to check both the command board and the front panel board. There is quite a bit of control circuitry on the front panel board of a RR Spectra.

In another case, I experienced similar (but not exactly the same) symptoms and it turned out to be that the radio had been dropped. Damaged the crystal so that the clock frequencies were off between the command board and the front panel board and they couldn't synch up to communicate with each other. In that case, replacing the crystal fixed the problem.

Regards,