Spectra - weird issue

[fchrist16]

Background:

2 Spectra UHF R3 radio's.
Both are programmed up within their frequency limits, etc.
Both have been recapped.
Both have had isopropyl alcohol "baths" (complete cleaning with a toothbrush).

Here's the problem:
The topic below explains exactly what is happening. After a few hours of scanning, or even sitting on a channel, the TX Error "Boop" and FAIL 001 displays. I have yet to confirm the RX side of things for these radios as the channel I was on is fairly quiet. I took the power off for about an hour or so now and all is back to normal for now. Is it something about the VCO heating up as asked in the other topic or perhaps something else?

/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=22852

Regards,

-Frank C.

[Will]

Not a "weird issue" at all, very common.

Let go long enough the damage caused by the leaking capacitors becomes permanent and not repairable. Alcohol "bath" does not help, in fact it may help create more damage.

[fchrist16]

It's weird for me...

Also, I used a jewelers magnifying glass (jewelers loop?) and examined the whole radio with my elmer, after taking off the old caps and giving it a bath. All looked ok to his eye for the traces!

So I highly doubt it's anything related to that...Then again, I've been known to be wrong before.

Regards,

-Frank C.

[Bill_G]

On the rf board there are three cages. The largest cage should have a trim pot next to it. Center the trim pot so the screwdriver slot is parallel the three solder tabs and the flat spot on the pot is next to them. If that doesn't help, follow the traces from the trim pot towards the cage and to the board edge. There should be a surface mount resistor. Is it clean and easy to read with shiny solder on both ends, or blackened with dull solder? How about the feed through hole between the resistor and the board edge? Is it pretty, or pretty ugly? If it's ugly, remove the board and look at the bottom side to see what wicked down the hole, and how much damage was done underneath. That stuff loves to creep everywhere, and for some reason it loves to eat that resistor and the feed through alive, and then continue it's merry destruction on the other side. Good times!

[Will]

Bill_g,

He is having a PLL fail to lock, not a receive or VCO problem.

[Bill_G]

True enough. Can't hurt to look, and simpler than lifting the larger chips to look underneath for damage. I'm obliquely checking the level of damage iffn ya know what I mean what I mean. Or if it's the conductive pen work he did on the vco modules themselves that is still dogging him.

[fchrist16]

Bill,

This is a VCO board that HAS NOT had the conductive ink pen taken to it, so I think we can rule that out. Thanks though.

Regards,

-Frank C.

[Bill_G]

Hi Frank. FAIL 001 is always from that side of the radio. You should carefully eyeball both RF boards for damage, or dull solder. It is easy to miss.

[fchrist16]

I'll look at the RF Board today per your post from yesterday and let you know!

Regards,

-Frank C.

[fchrist16]

Bill,

All solder pads look shiny and clean. Everything else looks pretty clean and pretty (shiny) as well.

Other thoughts...?

Regards,

-Frank C.

[Bill_G]

If it's a hard failure - ie: once it happens, it stays broken - it should be easy to diagnose. If it's intermittent - no set amount of time or activity to cause it - you'll have to shotgun it with fresh rf boards and possibly vco boards. You could try a heat gun and freeze spray to see if it is temp related though Spectras run cool. Hard to say without having the radios in front of me.

[tuckerm]

I had the Fail001 error on my old Astro Spectra. It was lack of power in my case when I keyed up. I had it running through some old wiring and through a master switch that couldn't handle the load. Might be something you want to check into.

[fchrist16]

If it's a hard failure - ie: once it happens, it stays broken - it should be easy to diagnose. If it's intermittent - no set amount of time or activity to cause it - you'll have to shotgun it with fresh rf boards and possibly vco boards. You could try a heat gun and freeze spray to see if it is temp related though Spectras run cool. Hard to say without having the radios in front of me.

Thanks Bill...I'll have to watch for patterns now. It's only happened once so far.

I had the Fail001 error on my old Astro Spectra. It was lack of power in my case when I keyed up. I had it running through some old wiring and through a master switch that couldn't handle the load. Might be something you want to check into.

All the wiring is brand new, and the power supply still holds good current with my other 45w Spectra's. I thought that too so I re-did the wiring just in case.

Regards,

-Frank C.