Batboard

Hey guys

One of my repeater customers brought me one of their PR400's complaining of really poor receive sensitivity

Hooked it to the monitor and its takes about 20 uV to break squelch

Thoughts? Any common things to check?

Thank you

check the filters or the IF crystal... very common problems for these filters to go.. also check the antenna connector.. bad solder joints

CircleBat

The antenna connector is a cheap piece of threaded steel, and has a tendency to come loose from people man handling the antenna and using them as handles.
That is a main point for high loss, second is abuse, check IF and VCO stability for freq. error.
Rcv. filter tuning is usually not an issue, unless it has been toyed with from factory settings/tuning.

Check that tiny RF connection on the board, where the extenal adaptor screws onto, it might be broken, or dmaged enough to short to ground.

Any ideas why I can't read the radio with Global Tuner?

Goes to about 50% and completely freezes the computer, but I can read the radio fine in CPS (using a aftermarket USB cable)

Pump3 wrote: (using a aftermarket USB cable)

ding ding ding

If I was in your shoes, I wouldn't program that pr400 with that cable... better to use a rib and cable instead.. ding ding ding ding

I see so many posts about aftermarket RIBs and cables, but in every instance of my uses over the years,I have not had a singe failure using aftermarket cables or RIB-A-Likes.
I think the failures arise from improper computer settings, or using the wrong speed/OS with older RSS.
I have not experienced a single failure with CPS in my current setups, aside from the Vista/Win-7 OS that still plagues folks.
And yes, Win-7 IS a Vista off-shoot,just notas picky, but I have been forced to run CPS in compatibility mode in order togain any functionality.

As for older RSS packages, anything stable should work fine, even most of the later iterations of Maxtrac RSS runs fine without the dreaded errors.
Using a dedicated boat anchor to program the older radios, and you are still having ocassional troubles, change the clock speed if possible.
I have a lot of old Circle-M RIBS, as well as the Polaris, and even Kawa sold adaptors, and even two that I have no idea about, and not a single one has ever indicated a problem, or caused a failure in the read/write cycle. I only run wall powered D.C to my programming adaptors though, and rarely need battery power, and if I am in the field, my inverters are more than capable of supplying my demands (2.5KW).
I do prefer pure sine inverters, as these are far more stable and cleaner, but added filtering on the load side smooths out a lot of the noise that is inherent with the modified sinewave design(which should have been retired years ago).

I do not understand how many assume afermarket RIBs are the blame, when the original Mot. design is so simple?
Voltage converters are NOT rocket science, nor are RS-232 designs, and both are easily modified and adaptable to radio programming use.
Proper connections, clean contacts, proper supply levels, little or minimized external interference, and common sense probably cures most troubles I am thinking.
Proper preflight checks and good maintenence minimizes crashes in the air. Perform the same pre-programming checks before you begin programming.

I have several CP200s, and PR400s, and even these radios are never affected in any negative way, ad I have run these on my adaptors since new, tuning and routine updates included.

I paid my golden screwdriver fees, maybe yours is due? (pun)

One easily overlooked problem here could be the radio has a squelch level set too high.

I would run through the squelch adjustments and see where the rcvr breaks, and at what level.
From narrow, to mid to wideband, you need to adjust all the settings for proper function.

ding ding ding

Thank you for the helpful post

I have never had a single failure or hiccup ever, I just dont have (or made yet) a RIB cable for the PR400, so I was curious because i've never once had an issue before