Spectra issues

radio_rob_nj · Post by **radio_rob_nj** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:08 pm

I have a spectra remote dash mount A9 (??small rectangular head, not the more square one) and whenever I power it up, it goes into emergency mode. I deleted the emergency feature, and now the display says on power-up "no emgcy". You can't use the radio until you key the mic once, -OR- if the programming cable is connected (then it powers up with no problem). A friend of mine may have used spectra lab on it, but now the lab software says this model is not supportd by this software release. I don't know what else to do. any help appreciated, even if I have to put a couple of more pins in the connector to simulate a programming cable.

Thanks

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:18 pm

Check the VIP port programming and if you are using a mid/lower power with using the 15 pin plug on the back there may be an issue there as well.

Jason

w2ymm · Post by **w2ymm** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 7:22 pm

On the 15 pin accessory plug, is there a jumper between pin 2 an pin 8 ?
If not that may be your problem.

radio_rob_nj · Post by **radio_rob_nj** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 7:15 am

OK, thanks. I tried the VIP programming, but I'm used to the radius series radios, so I will take a look again, but I don't have any jumpers in the 15 pin connector except for speaker high, speaker lo and ignition sense. I think the jumper will fix my problem. Thanks a lot (I thought it was a jumper issue but couldn't figure out where the jumper was supposed to go).

jmr061 · Post by **jmr061** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:03 am

I have concern if that is the issue because on a remote mount setup you should not be using the 15 pin plug on the back of the radio at all. The only time you might use it is for programming the radio.

Jason

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 8:35 am

If you are using the 15-pin accessory jack, and you're getting speaker audio out and feeding ignition control in, you MUST jumper pin 2 to pin 8. Otherwise the radio WILL go into emergency transmit mode, and the only ways out are keying the microphone or pulling the main power lead.

Because of this, don't remove the accessory plug from the radio unless you've pulled the main power cable first. There's a big warning message about this in the basic service manual. Of course, not every Spectra owner has one, so it was a dumb place to put that kind of warning.

ALL 15-pin accessory plugs you ever want to plug into that radio need to have pin 2 jumpered to pin 8.

Bob M.

radio_rob_nj · Post by **radio_rob_nj** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:08 pm

OK, I jumpered pins 2 and 8 on the remote. I was only using the 15 pin connector on the drawer for programming (my speaker and ignition sense were coming from the 15 pin connector on the remote). I always pill the main power lead before conecting or disconnecting the programming cable.

Before, if I have the speaker and ignition sense (only, not 2/8 jumpered) on the remote head and the programming cable on the drawer, everything worked fine (I later found out this was because the programing cable has pins 2/8 jumpered). Thats why it worked fine while programming. Anyway, thanks for all of your help.

Rob

philter · Post by **philter** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:51 pm

kcbooboo wrote:Otherwise the radio WILL go into emergency transmit mode, and the only ways out are keying the microphone or pulling the main power lead.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what does "emergency transmit mode" entail?

Thanks.

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 3:41 am

The radio can be programmed to send out an emergency MDC code when that emergency line is opened up. This would typically be done in a vehicle using a hidden switch or floor pushbutton. Once activated, the radio will silently, and without any visible indication, begin transmitting on a programmed, or the last used, channel. It will continue to do so until actively reset. No front panel lights will show this is happening. It won't even turn the radio "on" to do this.

If the radio has main power applied and the emergency jumper is removed, it may begin transmitting and you won't know it's even doing it unless you look at the input DC current and see it going from 1/2 amp to 6 or more amps. It doesn't care if there's an antenna attached or not.

Typical uses are police vehicles, where the officer can hit the switch when he/she is in big trouble and doesn't want to let the perpetrator know that help has been called. Think of it as a silent alarm. Even if the radio is turned off, it can still be activated in this way.

Bob M.

philter · Post by **philter** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:49 pm

The reason why I asked is because my shop re-installed a dash mount VHF Spectra into a 2006 CV, and the 15 pin accessory connector definately had the 12v + ignition sense and the external speaker. The car is a detectives car and sometimes gets used only up to 3 days per week. The detective would come back to the car after the weekend and find it dead. They dropped it off and we found that the radio was drawing 1/4 amp. I did notice that the display would flash "no emgcy" periodically, but we didn't notice any jump in amp draw. How often would the radio transmit this emergency signal?

I should mention that my shop usually only installs lights, and leave the radios to the certified shops, but for this particular customer we installed the radios anyway.

Thanks.

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:58 pm

It could transmit a couple of times per minute.

1/4 amp draw is definitely not normal. The radio thinks it's turned on, even though the display may not be lit up. It'll usually do that if the ignition power isn't present but the main power is, and the radio isn't jumpered properly for ignition control. I see that happen on my own bench when I plug in the main power cable and don't have the accessory cable plugged in. I don't have emergency transmit activated. Somehow the radio still thinks it should be turned on, even though it's not transmitting.

Add a wire from pin 2 to pin 8 on the 15-pin accessory plug. Then measure the current. The main power should be 0.000 amps with the radio turned off. Ignition current could be a milliamp or so.

Also, if it's a GM vehicle and it happens to have some kind of automatic ride height control in it, I've seen those systems go bad and drain a battery in a few days. They are always active, and a leak in the air system will cause the vehicle to slowly sink, so the compressor turns on to pump it back up again. It should be fixed, or rewired so the system is only active when the ignition switch is on.

Bob M.

philter · Post by **philter** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 2:54 pm

Bob,

It is a Ford CVPI, and we isolated the current draw to the main power of the radio. The radio also does appear to power up correctly when ignition is applied to the sense wire. I believe the accessory connector to be custom made, not factory... so I'll have to check it out.

Thanks for the help.

radio_rob_nj · Post by **radio_rob_nj** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:19 am

Philter-

From my experience with my spectra that I described below, it definately sounds like you don't have pins 2/8 shorted. Initially when the radio was sending the emergency MDC, I thought it was a programming issue and simply deleted the emergency feature. The only thing that changed was the rado would no longer transmit the emergency MDC, but the drawer of the radio stayed on like it was trying to transmit (drawer only, not the head, so there is no indication that this is happening besides measureing current draw, and the radio was not transmitting anything, it was only on) . With the vehicle and radio on, however, the display would flash "NO EMGCY" because although there was no emergency feature turned on in the radio, the radio still saw the open circuit and attempted to activate the emergency feature.

I hope that I have not confused you more.

Rob

PS. pins 2/8 WERE present in the 15 pin connector on my radio, but pin 2 was bent over...oops......