Motorola Spectra-suddenly no RX?

[KD7FLY]

Good Morning everyone,
Recently, I programmed a conventional Spectra with a new frequency set. Even though I knew it wouldnt work correctly, I programmed some frequencies that were down in the 140Mhz (and below). The radio wrote up without an issue, and everything was fine. Once I powered on the radio, I had no RX abilities what-so-ever. The radio itself transmitted okay, but nothing else. The MDC wait tone and key presses worked out okay, so I know its not an audio thing. When I turned the squelch all the way down, the white noise did not change as I transmitted on a simplex frequency with another radio. Everything was programmed correctly, too.
I took the new frequencies out, and replaced them with the standard ones I had in before. Still...no RX.

Could I have messed something up with the tuning? Could my last programming session with the new frequencies be the issue?

The radio's band split is 146-174...and I used the version that is something like 6.05 or whatever.

Thanks for your help in advance, and happy Thanksgiving!

[FireCpt809]

Did you save the original codeplug? If so put that back in.

[KD7FLY]

Did you save the original codeplug? If so put that back in.

I've done that, and I've actually erased all modes and tried that too. Is it safe to ask someone for a "toy codeplug" that'll work on it?

[Bill_G]

This thing is not posting any fail codes?

[KD7FLY]

This thing is not posting any fail codes?

No, nothing at all. It used to spit out a hardware failure code when I didnt have the cable connected or it became disconnected from the power source, but other than that nothing abnormal or something that would cause this problem...as far as I know.

[linkinpark9812]

Could I have messed something up with the tuning? Could my last programming session with the new frequencies be the issue?

Did you actually mess with the tuning values in the SERVICE (F2) section of the RSS?

Also, even some of the best of us, can forget to connect the antenna.... lol but since you transmitted with another radio right next to it, it seems like it should still pick up.

When you turn the squelch to 0, you should hear white noise on that frequency regardless if anyone is transmitting (0 = open squelch). If you hear nothing, could it be something with the speaker? I know you said you heard other noises tho. Does the busy light even come on at all?

[Bill_G]

Rats. Well, if you've put a good codeplug in (and it didn't complain), and it's not throwing error or fail codes, it makes button tones and squelch nose, then it's time to bench it and work the problem. You can check a couple things. You can verify the injection cable from the vco brd to the rf front end brd is plugged in. You can verify the cable from the front end is plugged into the rf brd. You can verify the ant cable from the rfpa to the front end is plugged in. After that you are going to have to do troubleshooting.

[KD7FLY]

Did you actually mess with the tuning values in the SERVICE (F2) section of the RSS?

When you turn the squelch to 0, you should hear white noise on that frequency regardless if anyone is transmitting (0 = open squelch). If you hear nothing, could it be something with the speaker? I know you said you heard other noises tho. Does the busy light even come on at all?

Sadly,
The tuning values have been messed with. Are there default numbers to go by? The busy light comes on with the white noise that comes out with open squelch-it doesn't fluctuate at all when transmitting on another radio though.

Rats. Well, if you've put a good codeplug in (and it didn't complain), and it's not throwing error or fail codes, it makes button tones and squelch nose, then it's time to bench it and work the problem.

Benching is what I'm trying to avoid...I'm not experienced in that field at all(sad, I know.)

[linkinpark9812]

Sadly,
The tuning values have been messed with. Are there default numbers to go by? The busy light comes on with the white noise that comes out with open squelch-it doesn't fluctuate at all when transmitting on another radio though.

Now did you change the values when you went to force the frequencies in? Or did the values come messed up to begin with? I just assumed that you may have changed them, since you said it worked before and not now (after putting in thew new codeplug and changing the values).

Values are different for every radio. Some minor and some major, it just depends, every radio is a little different and individually tuned (at least they are supposed to be).

Unless you can remember what you changed the values from or have some idea of the values, then it seems a service monitor and other tuning equipment may be needed.

if you did change the values (F2 SERVICE MENU), what ones did you change?

[Will]

Sounds like the leaky capacitor got the receiver.

[wavetar]

How exactly did you get the out-of-band frequencies into the unit? I don't believe I've ever seen tuning values mess up a radio to the point where it couldn't receive an on-channel signal from a portable right next to it...especially if the TX is good as that indicates a good synth lock which is shared by the TX & RX. Now, if you forced in a codeplug from a different bandsplit, that's an entirely different scenario all together.