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XTS3000 III returned & STILL not fixed
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:13 pm
by webmedics
I'm beginning to think there's a conspiracy against me getting my XTS back on the air.
I've just picked it up from a 5 week visit to the local (and Third) shop in an attempt to troubleshoot it's issues.
After a temper tanntrum they put it on the bench for about 5 minutes and told me it's right on FREQ, but with very low output. How low? They didn't say, nor did they offer a solution. I was just so fed up I wanted it back so I could take it to the Fifth shop.
Does anyone have any ideas about the issues this obviously parts built radio has? It's on FREQ, powers up, reads and writes just fine with the CPS, but seems to have low output. Is there anything I can do from my amateur ability? I have no test equipment so I guess I need suggestions for a reputable shop that will work on a parts built radio.
Unless NICK, you're out there reading this and want to send me another one of your specials.
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:07 pm
by tvsjr
Sounds pretty simple... the final transistor is toast. I've replaced RF decks in two XTS3s... one was turning about 1watt, one <100mW. Replace the RF deck and have it aligned.
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:55 pm
by RFguy
Are these all Authorized Motorola service shops (MSS)?
If they were proper MSS's, they should have offered at least a couple of options (flat rate repair, board replacement).
The sad story of my XTS3000 III VHF
Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 11:09 pm
by webmedics
I'm sorry about repeating myself while whining. There are already a couple of threads telling the sad story of this radios' life.
The first shop was a fully logo'd Motorola Shop. They were about as useful as a Radio Shack is at Ham Radios. (does anyone remember Tandy or Tech America?) They "always wanted to see and XTS portable" ....that was my first clue. Then they charged me $34 to put the RF mic adapter on the radio for me to use my PS Mic bought on Ebay. Anyway, after a month the shop got in over thier heads and sent the radio to Illinois. It came back with a letter and a warning. I was happy I even got it back.
So I went to another shop, in another state. They called Moneyrola and shipped it back to me UPS priority, without any explanation, but free of charge.
So I went to a basic radio shop. Told them the story, added the name Nick DeLuca (or who-ever he is) and told them not to call the Mother Ship, just tell me if it's on FREQ and putting out anything near 5 watts. 5 weeks later they hadn't gotten around to it. Apparently unless you're asking them to put trunked digital Spectras in a cruiser you're just not worth thier effort.
The shop owner's wife called the tech that had my radio, chewed him a new arse, screamed to the back for another 20-something radio geek to "get up here" and asked him to check the alignment. In spite of an entire zone of mutual aid freq's labled "155.340 EMS" "155.475 LAW" and "155.280 FIRE" and even "162.550 WX" he couldn't figure out what Freq's were in the VHF radio without the software to read the codeplug..... It was at that point I realized that I had gone to the wrong shop once again.
So here I am with a really nice radio
R07.13.00
DSPN 07.03.20
599108-1C5E00-1
and nobody can hear me.
Did I mention I've even got the Voiceducer and a David Clark headset for Fire Operations (or sporting events, or pit crews or rock concerts.....)
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:19 am
by Bruce1807
RFguy wrote:Are these all Authorized Motorola service shops (MSS)?
If they were proper MSS's, they should have offered at least a couple of options (flat rate repair, board replacement).
Proper MSS 's wont touch a hacked or parts built radio unless they wan't to risk their relationship with Motherola.
Would Dell work on a parts built Laptop?
Na!
Comes back to buyer beware!
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:59 am
by jmr061
Batdude (Doug) has a listing in the for sale forum, he has a VHF RF board for the XTS for $250.
Jason
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:46 am
by alex
I went through and pulled a number of posts from this thread. A reminder:
Policy on Flame Wars, Out of hand discussion, and instigation.
This will not be tolerated here. If you are found to have started a flame war or are found to have participated in the flame war, all the parties involved will be suspended from the board for a period not to exceed 30 days. If you are caught a second time, your account can be indefinatly suspended or terminated.
This will depend heavily on your involvement in the flamewar(s).
To get yourself off suspension, you will have to do the following:
1) Write an appology to the member you may have caused any greviences to.
2) Submit a request to the administration to come off of suspension (not before the alloted time is up). The administration will make a decision at that point to allow or disallow your participation on the board to continue.
Third strike, your off the board, period.
This includes posting small comments to get people "riled" up over something, poking a slowly burning fire, whatever analogy you like.
This rule is not limited to flame wars - as stated in the question, the policy covers Flame wars, out of hand discussion, and instigation.
-----------------------------------------------------------
The next person who starts down this road... Will be suspended under this rule. This includes all involved parties
Sorry to the OP for the intruption.
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:36 am
by spectragod
Get with Batdude for the RF board, I can install it and make sure it is aligned.
SG
Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 7:30 pm
by mancow
Do they use the same final RF block as a regular Jedi (HT1000, MTS2000, etc...) ?
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:55 pm
by jmr061
I was sent this radio and found that one of the smd parts on the RF board had a solder joint that broke and the piece was about to fall off. Re-soldered it and its good to go.
Apparently the radio was dropped once and may have caused this.
Jason