Self-Destructing Spectra?

[bellersley]

I'm trying to diagnose a problem here. The radio is a B5 Spectra as is the head. It's remote mounted. Anyhow, after a few months, the head stops working. By not working, the display flickers very dimly. The radio still works, the display just goes very wonky. Just in the last few days, the display does not light up at all and the TX and BUSY lights flicker very dimly but it still works (RX). This is the second head in a year to do this.

Here's the odd thing. I can take that head and put it on another spectra and it does the same thing (dim/flickery display), but I can't get any other head to work on the problem radio, however putting a known good head directly on the radio, works!

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

[kcbooboo]

Capacitors in the control head.

Capacitors on the command board.

Capacitors anywhere else in the radio.

The electrolytic capacitors in Spectras are a well-known problem. They leak their chemicals onto the circuit boards. This can eat the thin foil traces and cause much more serious damage. If these components are around 10 years old, or more, they should be replaced, and any damage repaired before it gets worse.

There are several people on the board who do nice jobs fixing these.

Bob M.

[kc7gr]

Capacitors in the control head.

Capacitors on the command board.

Capacitors anywhere else in the radio.

The electrolytic capacitors in Spectras are a well-known problem. They leak their chemicals onto the circuit boards. This can eat the thin foil traces and cause much more serious damage. If these components are around 10 years old, or more, they should be replaced, and any damage repaired before it gets worse.

There are several people on the board who do nice jobs fixing these.

Bob M.

That there are. I'm one of 'em. Done the cap rebuild on many Spectras, both for my employer (WA State Patrol) and for other hamateurs.

PM me if you want to set something up.