Batboard

I have a Astro Spectra W3 Handheld Control Head and I need to be able to power on the radio on demand. The Ignition sense line is always hot as is the main power line. This is a low power unit. The high power units work fine . It is probibly something very simple

So are you saying that with it wired up the way it is, the radio is on all the time and the top left power button doesn't affect anything. If this is the case I would suspect a hardware problem or the codeplug has something set up wrong (which is no accessible but the programmer, something hard built into the codeplug)

Jason

are you using a homebuilt cable? if so, check your connections. i've had the same problem with a few of my spectra's when i used my own cables. it turns out that i had my ignition lead going to pin 4 instead of 5. this resulted in my radio constantly being on. once i switched them back, the radio worked fine.

check batlabs for the pinouts before you do anything though. i cant tell you if it was pin 5 exactly so i'd double check first.

Get the circut diagram for the HHCH. or, just open it up and look inside. there is a feature to make the radio stay on 24/7 if the agency or company does not want their workers turning off their radios. especially if they are on a trunked network or similar and use the radio for piggybacking a GPS locator to.

It "could" be a problem with your ignition cable, but ive seen several W3's like this.