Spectra help wanted.

[TomT]

HIya all,

I have recently acquired a Spectra. UHF, I have it up and running. I seem to really like this unit so far.

I do have a couple questions.

1. I would like to use the accessory plug, either on back, or, preferably the j3 on the control head end of the cable to pip in a PTT, and mic to the unit. Does anyone know of a simple way to do this?

2. The unit was a D44, thus a dash unit, but has been converted to remote. the control head appears to be a 7,,, it has the number keys on right side. however, the mod number is A5 for the head type. Thus, I cant use all the buttons, Is there a way to do this to set it up to use all keys that the A7 has to offer? I guess what I am asking here, is there a way to tell it to use the A7 control head instead of A5, thus allowing me to gain the extra features/buttons?

3. When I use the unit to scan, one certain freq. isnt very clear, and causes a "Fail 01" error. The unit still operates, and all, but just flashes that error. I found it spoke of somewhere, but couldnt find how to resolve this. If anyone can advise here as well, I would be greatful.

Thanks in advance to all those who think these things over.

Regards
Tom

[Jim202]

The best starting place for you is to spend some time reading about the Spectra. Go to

http://www.batlabs.com/spectra.html

and you should find the answers to your questions.

The fail 001 error is because the VCO is out of lock. You need to find out why this is
happening. You could have a channel programmed wrong, VCO not adjusted for the
channels your trying to use, or the leaky caps have bit your radio.

Jim

HIya all,

I have recently acquired a Spectra. UHF, I have it up and running. I seem to really like this unit so far.

I do have a couple questions.

1. I would like to use the accessory plug, either on back, or, preferably the j3 on the control head end of the cable to pip in a PTT, and mic to the unit. Does anyone know of a simple way to do this?

2. The unit was a D44, thus a dash unit, but has been converted to remote. the control head appears to be a 7,,, it has the number keys on right side. however, the mod number is A5 for the head type. Thus, I cant use all the buttons, Is there a way to do this to set it up to use all keys that the A7 has to offer? I guess what I am asking here, is there a way to tell it to use the A7 control head instead of A5, thus allowing me to gain the extra features/buttons?

3. When I use the unit to scan, one certain freq. isnt very clear, and causes a "Fail 01" error. The unit still operates, and all, but just flashes that error. I found it spoke of somewhere, but couldnt find how to resolve this. If anyone can advise here as well, I would be greatful.

Thanks in advance to all those who think these things over.

Regards
Tom

[Will]

[quote="Jim202"]
" or the leaky caps have bit your radio.

Jim
[qoute="Jim202"]]

I will put my money on the leaky caps.....

[TomT]

Thanks for the input guys.

I was up till 5 am my time reading all the details at the batlabs link you posted.

I had seen the info on that post before, but dont know one board from another, I am rather new to trying to do this type of things myself.

I opened all the covers on the radio and tried to identify the boards, but i am not sure which is which.
I also went back to the channel that was causing the fail oo1 deal. I had it as a rx only to scan and listen. the tx freq was blank. which is what it said to do for scan only freq's . I added the trans freq, and it corrected the fail problem.

I also am not sure what "caps" are prone to leak on these things. but looking all the boards over, I do not see any that appear to me to be leaking at current.

I also find conflicting info.
I find a pin out for the j2 port on the back, but when reading on through the data, it speaks like that only basic pins are active, and that you have to add it on to get that item out of the j2 port.
i looked it all over,, and i am not sure how to get j2 or j3 to have PTT, Mic Hi, Mic Lo, Ground, Monitor (pl), and Busy to be active on either j2 or j3.

Maybe if someone can justify that, or maybe give me some info to help me further understand the spectra as a whole.

Greatfully
Tom

[TomT]

UPDATE,,,

Ok, I took some chances, and tried to work with J3, which resulted in nothing happening.
so i just by chance, thought i would try J2 on the back of the unit. so I made a long cable to reach the length like the remote cable from head to drawer unit.
Here, I was able to find the PTT on #13, Mic Hi on #15, jumped #2 and #8 to allow for the emergency sensor, and I also used the #8 for my ground. I already knew Speaker HI/LOW on #'s 6&7.

I have those working to my liking now, so thats some that dont have to be worried about.

However, to my understanding, #9 should be busy. When I hook this up to my tone board, it detects always busy even when not. thus, I cant page.
I use a Mod 5 zetron for this. I tried to change the jumper for HI/LO on the busy indicator, when I do that, then it pages, but does not properly detect when it is busy. so, its either always busy on one setting, or never busy on the other.
Anyone point out what i messed up there?

I also have not been able to figure out the Monitor function. How to add MOnitor to the jack so that my console can activate it without going to the control head.

Thus, this still leaves me with the part of telling the spectra, i am using an A7 instead of an A5 control head.

So, anyone have a direction for me on the last three issues,,

1. busy indicator
2. Monitor function added to j2 port
3. A5 to A7 control head change.

Regards
Tom

[Will]

However, to my understanding, #9 should be busy. When I hook this up to my tone board, it detects always busy even when not. thus, I cant page.
Tom

Pin #9 is BUSY for the DATA BUSS... Not radio busy.
Pin #9 is used when programming the Spectra.
There is an option for a HUB input (Monitor) to the rear connector. Requires Command board changes/jumper.

FAIL 001 is most likely caps that have allready leaked causing dammage to other componets and the circuit board traces. This causes the Synth section to not operate correctly, and the VCO not to lock. The Synth section is on the bottom board.

[TomT]

Thanks for all the info guys.

i have took off the covers, and once again, i still can not locate any leaky caps, or anywhere that the circuit board looks damaged, corroded, or different in anyway.

Will, thanks for the info on Pin #9. at least i know it wasnt me just doing something wrong to get the busy to work.

I do have my speaker, and mic working through the j2 port, but i am experiencing poor tx audio quality. Anyone have a recommendation as to what i may have done, or need to do to clear that audio up?

Thanks
Tom

[Will]

Tom,

Do you still have the poor transmit quality with the mic disconnected from 'J2' ?

Many times, I work LOTS of Spectras, you can not see the dammage from the leaking caps.

[TomT]

Hey Will,,,

Thanks for taking time to think this over and reply.

if i take all but emergency jumper off of J2, and my mic hi , audio ground, back off to the mic port, using a cable off of a mic, then my tones and audio are crystal clear. so its something I may have wrong on the j2 port itself.

on my custom cable, I have pin 2 jumped to pin 8 to allow for the emerg jumper,

I have my speaker + on pin 6
I had a busy sensor on Pin 9, but as i learned above, that is busy for programming / data, not radio busy. still not learned to do that yet, or the monitor pl feature.
then i have audio/ptt ground on 8,
pin 13 i have PTT
and
pin 15 i have mic hi

The audo/ptt ground on pin 8 maybe the problem? pin 8 stated Digital ground. I was not sure on this one as I couldnt find any other pin descript that stated ground. it does operate. just having tone issues due to the fact that its not clear enough. when i go to analog ground and ptt/mic hi through the mic jack, its much clearer and corrects the problem. however, i do need to access it through the j2 if at all possible.

any thoughts,,, let me know

also, I think i have noticed when i see the fail 01 issue is when it receives one of the narrow band freq's. which i would think would cause the out of sync issue maybe. I didnt realize these were narrows, but i am learning more and more about some of this.

Regards
Tom

[kcbooboo]

There are TWO separate and distinct speaker leads. You only mentioned connecting one to pin 6. Where's the other one going? It should NOT go to any kind of ground, eithe digital, analog, or power.

Bob M.

[TomT]

There are TWO separate and distinct speaker leads. You only mentioned connecting one to pin 6. Where's the other one going? It should NOT go to any kind of ground, eithe digital, analog, or power.

Bob M.

Hey Bob,

thanks for takin time to think it over and reply.
I only have the speaker + hooked to pin 6, the speaker - would go to pin 7 if it were straight to the speaker i am sure. but it is actually patched to a MOTOROLA T1605CM TONE REMOTE CONSOLE, such as this one at,,,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=024

so basically its the speaker + pin to the audio receive terminal on that remote. has good sound on rec except for a few narrow band freqs i have got in there to scan. they have weak audio sound, but from what i am reading, that is a common thing when listening to narrow on a wide radio.

Regards
Tom

[dirtrat]

Many times you will not see the damage from the leaky caps until you have removed them unless you have a trained eye and have removed lots of them and know what and where to look. Also to be fair a FAIL 001 does not automatically mean you have leaky caps. I've replaced many 16.8 Mhz Crystals that have caused this error.

Thanks for all the info guys.

i have took off the covers, and once again, i still can not locate any leaky caps, or anywhere that the circuit board looks damaged, corroded, or different in anyway.

Will, thanks for the info on Pin #9. at least i know it wasnt me just doing something wrong to get the busy to work.

I do have my speaker, and mic working through the j2 port, but i am experiencing poor tx audio quality. Anyone have a recommendation as to what i may have done, or need to do to clear that audio up?

Thanks
Tom