Motorola R100 Repeater Problem

[dwh367]

We had a very strong severe thunderstorm here Friday it and knocked the repeater off of the air. A friend of mine owns it but is unable to reach the tower site, as it a long walk up a steep winding hill, and health problems prevent him from making the trip up to it.

The site owner lives at the bottom of the hill and we verified the initial problem was a power failure. However, after power was restored Saturday, the repeater still will not come up.

Today will be the first chance I have to go take a look at it due to my work schedule. I'll bring a volt meter with me to verify that it is getting the proper voltage to the particular outlet it is plugged into. I will also check to make sure that the breaker to it wasn't tripped due to a power surge when the power lines went down. (The service from the meter at the bottom of the hill up to the building itself is buried so there shouldn't be a power line problem from that location on up.)

Does anyone know what amp fuse this unit uses so I can take one up with me in case that's the culprit? There isn't any documentation for this unit as my friend bought it used (already installed) and the original owner lost the paperwork a long time ago. It is being used for GMRS (462Mhz).

Any other troubleshooting ideas that I can use without any service equipment other than a volt meter? As bad as I hate to say it, I think it probably took a direct lightning strike and is more than likely toast but I won't know for sure until I get there later this afternoon.

Thanks in advance for any advice. Even though I use Talk Around a majority of the time, a person doesn't really realize how handy a repeater comes in until it stops working.

Sincerely,
David H.

[kb0nly]

Take a key with you also to open the cabinet unless there is one up there at the site, takes a Chicago 2135 to open it.

I just dealt with a lightning fried R100, the transformer burned up and filled the case with soot. Got it working again for a little while and then the transmitter and receiver died from components failing, probably damaged by the lightning strike.

[Will]

The AC inlet fuse is in the power cord jack, the little GMC 5mm fuses.

There should be 18 to 25 volts DC on the two large filter caps, and the cases of the regulator transistors. 13 volts on the red lead going to the PA.

More info here: http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=59611

[dwh367]

The AC inlet fuse is in the power cord jack, the little GMC 5mm fuses.

There should be 18 to 25 volts DC on the two large filter caps, and the cases of the regulator transistors. 13 volts on the red lead going to the PA.

More info here: http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=59611

Thanks. I checked all the fuses and they showed okay. Also could hear the power supply humming so that part of it is still up and running. I looked at all of the boards carefully and nothing jumped out at me as being burnt from a lightning strike. However, it still didn't have any TX or RX. After conferring with the owner, I unhooked the repeater and the duplexer so that another friend of his could retrieve it from the building, with their ATV, and take it all down the hill. He's going to have it put in the shop as neither one of us has the equipment or the service manual to correctly diagnose the problem.

As a side note, this may be kind of a blessing in disguise. If it's not cost prohibitive for him to have it repaired, I'm trying to talk him into having them put a PL tone on the TX/RX as it's been running CS for years. The repeater itself very seldom gets any interference but having to keep our HTs and Mobiles in CS mode sometimes drives us nuts with everyone and their brother playing illegally (no license) on their bubble pack radios that they got on sale at Wal-Mart or wherever.

Have a great day!
David H.

[kb0nly]

If your lucky it's a PL model that was just programmed as CS, otherwise your going to have to add it, such as buying one of the small tone encode modules to wire inside.

[Will]

I can and still repair the R100's. PM for more details.

[Glen W Christen]

I have found that whenever this unit gets hit (unless it is totally destroyed) that the controller board is what is toast. I finally got smart and started using sockets.