JT1000 controller board issue?

[radiocomms95]

Hello all,
I have a JT1000 that all of a sudden won't TX or RX PL/DPL, but will work just fine when TX/RX'ing in CSQ. PL was working sporadically for a while before it went out. I assume this is the controller board acting up, as the transmitter and receiver work fine. Any thoughts?

I know the board is expensive, and am hoping if that is the problem, I can find a used one floating around.

Thanks,
RadCom

[d119]

Well if you've lost all your signaling (PL/DPL), it's definitely a controller issue as that is where the hardware for the signaling resides. Do you have another JEDI radio of the same band that you can swap the RF board into to verify that it's absolutely not the problem?

If cost is an issue with controller board replacement, you could always swap in an MT/MTS 2000 controller of the same band as your JT1000 and convert the radio over to something non-FPP...

Remember the HT1550 is FPP capable, so it may be cheaper to just get one of those if you require FPP and it's less expensive than a new controller.

I've no idea what the cost of that controller is, and if it's available on the used market.

[wavetar]

Take the radio apart & closely check out the board interconnect socket pins (where the flex plugs in to connect the boards together). There was a run of at least a year or two which had very poor, almost non-existant solder on the socket pins. This can cause many different issues, which can be cleared up by properly resoldering the pins. Worth a look, and a resoldering even if it looks ok, at least.

Todd

[radiocomms95]

Thank you for the advice. After re-soldering the pins, I can say (sadly) that the controller board is toast. Now to try and find a new board, or a new radio.

[Karfield]

Sounds like an ASFIC issue. Just change out the U701 and your problem should go away. Now if you have an ancient board you might have some problems as the older boards don't like heat too much. They end up with clock issues (the 2.1 suddenly turns into 2.4) and you end up with a nice handy parts board. As for the connector the 1998 wasn't a good year for the J704,J301's for some odd reason pin 10 on both boards tends to be a bit weak and break or have major issues. Best fix for that is to just replace it, the part is cheap and you'll be happier in the long run.