Programming Astro Spectra Mobile

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 10:01 am

I have a Motorola Astro Spectra Mobile, digital. It has two 25pin jacks on the back of it, one goes to the control head and the other for the programming cable, correct? Will any 25pin cable to the RIB box work or does it have to be a special one? I can't seem to get it to program.

Thanks!

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 5:49 pm

http://batlabs.com/images/spechi.gif

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:11 pm

Yep, I was waiting for my post to be approved to say, I found that and pinned it out myself. I'm happy to say my radio is programmed and is good to go. Thanks everyone!

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Jul 25, 2010 12:52 pm

Hi All!

I got everything programmed, however, none of my channels will tx. All it says is "Fail 001" for a split second when txing.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sun Jul 25, 2010 1:25 pm

Could be the leaky cap syndrome. Also what is the rated split of the radio and what are your transmit freqs? Has there been any hacking involved?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Jul 25, 2010 1:36 pm

No hacking or mods have been done. Band split is 136-162 VHF. Tried txing on a couple 154s and 158s.

Bill_G · Post by **Bill_G** » Sun Jul 25, 2010 2:15 pm

Kinda picking up where kb9kst is going. Is this Spectra new to you, and did it ever work? Did you keep an archive of the original programming? Did you do it with a slow enough computer? We had another fail 001 recently here that was solved by changing to a different programming computer.

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... 88#p408724

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 1:53 pm

I'll try a slower processor. I've got an old P2 laptop that I'm currently building back up.

Would a Serial to USB adaptor have anything to do with it since i'm able to write to it?

Jim202 · Post by **Jim202** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 5:45 pm

tuckerm wrote:I'll try a slower processor. I've got an old P2 laptop that I'm currently building back up.

Would a Serial to USB adaptor have anything to do with it since i'm able to write to it?

The Spectra radios are almost bullet proof, but you can mess up a code plug with the wrong computer and interface.

You would be far better off using an old, slow computer with a true serial port. The USB to serial converters are just
a stab in the dark. Most of them don't play very well at all with the Motorola software. Plus the software never knew
what a USB port was. The computer needs to be running in a true DOS environment. You can't run the software in
the dos mode under Windows. There are too many strange things that can happen. The slower the computer, the better.
If you can find one, something under a 500 MHz clock will work for most of the older programs.

Do yourself a big favor, stop trying to beat the system and just boot into DOS directly. You will probably need a
boot floppy disk to make this happen. If you don't have DOS 6.2, you can find it on the internet and download it.

Jim

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 5:58 pm

Tried an old laptop with a 280Mhz processor and a direct console, still no luck. I can't tx, it just says Fail001 for a split second and beeps.

Radio powers on fine, rxs fine, but won't tx on any channels.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 7:11 pm

More than likely a hardware failure (leaky caps, etc). However you say it is a 136-162 VHF radio. I would pull the covers off the RF front end and the VCO and just verify those part #'s match up to 136-162 parts. I don't think you told us if this radio is new to you either or if it has been working for you in the past.

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Mon Jul 26, 2010 8:12 pm

Everything matches up, it was a used Ebay radio. Owner said it was pulled from working vehicle and benched tested to Motorola Specs.

Any idea on how much it'd cost to be fixed?

RADIOMAN2002 · Post by **RADIOMAN2002** » Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:41 am

If the radio worked before the reprogram, I'd say you messed up the codeplug. I keep an old 486 non DX around for programming Spectra's and other old DOS programmed radio's. Anything else is a crap shoot.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Tue Jul 27, 2010 6:46 am

RADIOMAN2002 brings up a good point....after hitting it with the faster computer did you just do a read/write with the slow computer or did you have a saved codeplug from before writing with the faster computer. If it was the first and it is a hosed codeplug issue, your just reading the corrupt data which isn't going to change.

Golden rule, when you get a "new" radio ALWAYS read and save a codeplug for restoration purposes. Can not stress this enough.

Jason

Splat · Post by **Splat** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:30 am

Having this happen to me now. I have a vhf a5 model that I did the caps on last week. It Rx fine but Tx only worked the first few times I tried it. Now I get the Fail 001 upon trying to Tx. FWIW, the traces were all good. I'm no newbie to soldering and I rechecked everything though I don't have a service monitor. Everything appears fine. I even wrote the original c/p back in but still get the Fail 001. The only thing I can think is the mic is pretty beat up and the switch is hokey. Could it be the mic?

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:45 am

Nope, tried a different mic too.

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:10 pm

Leaky caps have caused invisible damage on the RF board causing the FLL out of lock, and the resulting FAIL001, on transmit.

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:12 pm

Leaky caps have caused invisible damage on the RF board causing FLL out of lock, and the resulting FAIL001, on transmit.

Bill_G · Post by **Bill_G** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 6:43 pm

The radio needs some bench time with an experienced tech who has spare boards and a known good Spectra laptop.

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:21 pm

Bill_G wrote:The radio needs some bench time with an experienced tech who has spare boards and a known good Spectra laptop.

Yup! and I fix most of them without replacing the board. Some good test equipment, and surface mount rework capability.

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:43 pm

Will wrote:Leaky caps have caused invisible damage on the RF board causing FLL out of lock, and the resulting FAIL001, on transmit.

Anyway I can fix this as an end user? How much does a fix like this cost?

Bill_G · Post by **Bill_G** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 4:48 am

Since the programming hasn't been hacked, I'm willing to look at it. PM sent.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:35 am

This isnt the radio your having TX problems with is it?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:45 am

Yes it is

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:22 pm

I am confused now because you say this radio is an Astro Spectra but in the other thread your saying it is a Spectra. Two totally diff. radios that use different programming software.

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 11:27 am

It is an Astro Spectra VHF. Model # T99DX+143w__astro

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 12:35 pm

It should be T04.....what is that full model number.

What software are you using to program it?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 1:23 pm

Reading the radio gives me a model of t04jlh9pw9an

Using Astro Spectra CPS Ver R05.03.00

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 5:34 pm

Ok you can use a fast computer with that. What is the host/dsp and flashcode of the radio?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 5:41 pm

Flashcode: 100004-000000-4

And...i'm not sure where to find the Host/DSP at.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 8:37 pm

Doesn't sound hacked. My guess would be a board somewhere is bad if your getting Fail001 on TX. Did you try transmitting on the test freqs? Just curiuos, you doing this on the bench or in a vehicle or?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Aug 01, 2010 8:52 pm

I have txd on all sorts of freq. None go through. This is in my car. I'm getting a different codeplug on Tuesday, if that dosent work it'll have to get sent in.

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 3:04 pm

I just want to update everyone on what happened. I sent it back to the original Motorola Shop it came from and they TX'd fine. Put it back in my car and it failed.

The problem? It wasn't getting enough power. When I TX'd, everything looked normal except for the FAIL001 error but apparently it didn't like the power supply it was on. When I by-passed the master switch on the radio (not the remote head) it TX'd fine.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:39 pm

What master switch are you talking about?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:40 pm

I just want to update everyone on what happened. I sent it back to the original Motorola Shop it came from and they TX'd fine. Put it back in my car and it failed.

The problem? It wasn't getting enough power. When I TX'd, everything looked normal except for the FAIL001 error but apparently it didn't like the power supply it was on. When I by-passed the master switch on the radio (not the remote head) it TX'd fine.

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:41 pm

KB9KST wrote:What master switch are you talking about?

Jason

Just a rocker. I posted this in the wrong thread btw.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 4:43 pm

What power lead did you have this rocker switch on?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 5:01 pm

I have an 8 switch panel in my car. The master gives power to the other seven switches, and I had the radio on it's own switch. Like such:

MASTER POWER-----------|
RED LEAD---------------SWITCH-----------------MOTO RADIO
BLACK LEAD---------------------------------------MOTO RADIO

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 6:15 pm

So you had the 8 or 10 gauge wire from the radio drawer on a switch?

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:27 pm

I had the remote head AND the big wire from the radio on the same switch.

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:43 pm

The main radio power should never go through a switch. I bet the switch you had it on wasn't rated for anywhere near the amps the drawer pulls.

Jason

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 16, 2010 7:49 pm

I assume so.

Question: By having the radio connected directly to the battery and the remote head on the master switch to the car, in theory the radio is off and won't drain my battery, correct?

resqguy911 · Post by **resqguy911** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 5:09 am

That is exactly what that little green and orange wires are provided for. Maybe you can get your hands on a pdf of the installation manual from someone (6881070C85)

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sun Oct 17, 2010 1:45 pm

I kind of figured that's what they were for, but I was still double checking.

Will · Post by **Will** » Fri Oct 22, 2010 11:43 am

resqguy911 wrote:That is exactly what that little green and orange wires are provided for. Maybe you can get your hands on a pdf of the installation manual from someone (6881070C85)

DO NOT forget to fuse the Green and Orange leads.

Green Receiver power
Orange Ignition control

If you want your Astro Spectra to remember the last settings, the main power lead needs to stay connected all the time.

tuckerm · Post by **tuckerm** » Sat Oct 23, 2010 6:49 am

Yep, its fused, but how big of a fuse should I have used?

Will · Post by **Will** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 6:20 pm

tuckerm wrote:Yep, its fused, but how big of a fuse should I have used?

I use a one amp fuse on each wire. This is for radios without siren VRS boxes.