Looking for technician to align/adjust motorola MT2000-VHF

[FitAndInked]

I am looking for someone with the right tools to align/adjust my MT2000 motorola VHF radio. I think the radio is a bit off frequency and sounds very scratchy especially on 2m ham band. I live in Finland but I can post the radio anywhere in Europe or the US.
Thanks.

[d119]

Have you tried a different antenna? Which antenna are you using?

[CircleBat]

its sounds scratchy because of a grounding problem.. typical on these radios.. clean up all the grounds on the radio

CircleBat

[FitAndInked]

I will try different antenna and let you know the result. I will also check the grounds. Thanks a lot for your advice.

[FitAndInked]

I checked the radio with different antennas today and I have yellow coded that covers 2m ham band but the radio still sounds scratchy and somehow metallic when receive, otherwise on transmit the audio is perfect. I also opened (this is the first time I disassemble jedi radio) it and didn't see any visible reason for bad receive in fact it looks new inside, I only cleaned the contact surfaces and put it back together. Problem not solved
I still think it can be only fixed by alignment procedure, other suggestions?

[CircleBat]

did you resolder the ground on the bottom board where it makes contact the frame? also the contact on the upper board where it connects to the frame? also solder the tabs on the front grounding frame onto the 2 tabs on the bottom board..this should solve the problem

[FitAndInked]

I tried everything you suggested but the problem still remains. Maybe there is a bad component on the circuit board or the radio needs alignment. Sadly, considering its condition, I can now only use it for spares.

[com501]

There was an FSB for shielding on these radios many years ago.

Disassemble.

Inspect the shields on the board, bond BETWEEN them with solder bridges, making sure NOT to solder any components or traces underneath in the valley between shields. Only do this in one or two places between shields, and ONLY where the gap is small enough to bridge with some solder.

Unless you have access to a hot air bonder, that is the best solution. Sometimes, due to board flexing, the actual shields get 'popped off' the board and become microphonic.

[CircleBat]

If the shielding doesn't solve it, heat the 5 pins on the PA deck.. also check the flex.. if not, replace the PA.. no longer available from Motorola

[FitAndInked]

I have an update. Last week I had time to look at the radio once again and finally found what is wrong with it. It was a fault in the speaker, I replaced it and now it sounds great on RX, but ... I discovered the radio has another fault - the PA is not giving any power out. I have the tools to replace it but I am not sure I can find it anywhere for sale.
Thanks for your help.

[com501]

Pretty sure an HT1000 PA is the same, and working HT1000s can be had for under $30. We buy them now for parts......

[FitAndInked]

I found RF boards for sale on Ebay. Is there a standard procedure you need to follow when you replace the whole RF board?

[Will]

I found RF boards for sale on Ebay. Is there a standard procedure you need to follow when you replace the whole RF board?

Yes, a full alignment........

[FitAndInked]

This is what I was afraid of - full alignment. Recently I purchased some laboratory equipment - frequency counter and deviation meter. I have good power supply, multimeter and rf power meter but I have no experience with full alignment. And without signal generator I can't test or adjust the receiver values. I did hope these new RF boards contain somewhere in a chip their own alignment values. Now I am not quite sure I want to do that.

[Will]

All the tuning, alignment, values are stored in the controller.

I do the alignments here but I see you are in Finland.

[FitAndInked]

The distance is not an issue. I will ship the radio to the US if anyone there agrees to fully align/tune it. But he needs to have Paypal account as I can't think of other ways to pay for the service.

[Will]

The distance is not an issue. I will ship the radio to the US if anyone there agrees to fully align/tune it. But he needs to have Paypal account as I can't think of other ways to pay for the service.

I can do that....

[FitAndInked]

Great! I will then order the RF board. Could you please give me your email address here or in a private message. Thanks!

[Will]

Great! I will then order the RF board. Could you please give me your email address here or in a private message. Thanks!

Yes Sir, PM on the way.

[FitAndInked]

Thanks a lot! I sent you an email.

[FitAndInked]

My radio was sent to Will to be checked and aligned and now it is working like new. All reports I get when I am using it are great. I am very pleased with the work he has done and highly recommend his services.
Thank you Will !