MTS2000 Alignment - Repair?

[sparkyssb]

I bought an MTS2000 VHF on fleabay and I after I programmed it, I noticed the receive was weak along with the transmit. The seller says it sat for awhile so I believe that this is an alignment issue. I have the RSS. Is there anything I can do to get this back into alignment or does anybody here do this?

Thanks.

Eric Lucas

[mr.syntrx]

You'll need a service monitor and associated test goodies (which I assume you don't have, if you're asking this.) I'd suggest not doing a McGuyver style alignment without those tools.

There are a few guys here who can do it who will undoubtedly pipe up.

[sparkyssb]

Thank you for the reply. Can anybody pipe up? I would rather go through someone on the board other than Mother.

[FatBoy]

Eric,
I was one of the techs you called today and spoke to. I still think your best bet is to take it to a local shop if no-one here will help you out. If I had any experience with them I would have no problem attempting to align it. Good luck, FatBoy.

[sparkyssb]

Thanks FatBoy for your service earlier. Small world. There are no local shops around here that do it. They all want to send it to the depot. I did find a place online (after searching about 20..including yours) that can do it for a great rate. They are Radio Phone Wireless. They'll do it as part of their preventative maintenance for $25.00.

Thanks for all ur folks help.

[Will]

So they will do a full alignment as part of their preventative maintenance for $25.00.

I have to wonder, takes at least a half hour to check, then alignment... another 3/4 hour....I still wonder.

I do work on them, but it will probally be more even with the BatBoard members price.. Then I care about my work......

[Bruce1807]

3/4 hour to align?
15 minutes maybe and thats even running the the trunking tests if applicable.
Convetional about 1/2 the time.
add another couple if they have securenet.

[Batwings21]

Just my .02 , but I would see if Will would service the radio, he has a great reputation with spectra's and I'm sure he is just as qualified to fix your mts. I cannot see any commercial business doing a full alignment on your radio for $25....

[AEC]

Any Jedi with poor receive and transmit tells me the radio's filters were toyed with(rx) and the H/L power settings were also 'adjusted' likewise.

I'll take odds there are no systems keys and if trunking capable. no trunked personalities reside in the codeplug.

Alignment to bring it back into spec should take under an hour, everything included.....reading, adjusting, programming and saving all codeplug parameters.

Anybody stating those can be properly aligned in 20 minutes isn't doing a good job as every parameter has to be looked at to make sure it falls within specificaton for type acceptance, so everything MUST be peeked at before the work is performed.

I wonder if the VCO crossovers were played with as well...given Ebay's reputation with some sellers.

And golden screwdrivers do not rule, they destroy.

[sparkyssb]

Thanks for all the posts regarding this radio issue. I sent in the radio to the company mentioned in my previous post on Thursday and I should be getting it back by the end of the month. I will let you all know if my problem is resolved and what they say is the issue with the radio.

This radio is trunking capable however there are no personalities set up; just like AEC states. I have bought 1 HT1000 VHF and 1 MTS2000 UHF in the past on ebay and have had great luck. Unfortunately, the third time was not a charm and I got a little burned.

[sparkyssb]

Ugh. Well, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. The company responded back to me with:

"THIS MTS2000 RADIO IS INTRINSIC SAFE, WE CANNOT REPAIR THESE RADIOS, THEY NEED TO BE SERVICED AT MOTOROLA AND THE FLAT RATE FOR THAT IS $351.00. "

So...thanks for nothing. I describe the problem to them first and identify that it is an MTS2000 radio BEFORE I sent it in and paid for shipping. They said, "no problem". Now, it's intrinsic safe. I don't know exactly what that is but it prevents me from getting my radio fixed from them.

Can anybody elaborate what's going on here and if there are any alternatives than Mother M?

Thanks, Eric

[N4KVE]

Just let Will take care of it. He made my Spectra new again. GARY N4KVE

[Bruce1807]

They should be able to do it if you sign a disclaimer.
Motorola used to train people to service IS radios but the training was very vauge.
I did it for 5 years in the UK and recertification was every six months, bit a waste as I didn't spend much time on the bench as I was mainly a systems person.
There are special procedures to follow once you open the radio, mandatory seals to replace,etc. After each repair it has to be signed off by a second tech that is also qualified.
If the case had a bad scratch it was a new case. We used to make a fortune of the oil companies, MX1000 (saber) cost them about $80 in parts just to open the radio.
To my knowledge the Motorola service depot is now the only ones qualified to service intrinsic radios.

[mr.syntrx]

They should be able to do it if you sign a disclaimer.
Motorola used to train people to service IS radios but the training was very vauge.
I did it for 5 years in the UK and recertification was every six months, bit a waste as I didn't spend much time on the bench as I was mainly a systems person.

Sure that wasn't ATEX? (The predominant standard in Europe.) The procedures differ between certifying bodies.

There are special procedures to follow once you open the radio, mandatory seals to replace,etc. After each repair it has to be signed off by a second tech that is also qualified.
If the case had a bad scratch it was a new case. We used to make a fortune of the oil companies, MX1000 (saber) cost them about $80 in parts just to open the radio.

An agency I was involved with found that out the hard way when they engraved a whole heap of XTS5000R III's

To my knowledge the Motorola service depot is now the only ones qualified to service intrinsic radios.

Yep.