Batboard

Hey all, need a good guess on a low power Spectra problem.
D43KXA7JA5BK

I got a couple radios in, [see my trunking problem in the rss forum]
and one needs un-trunked, but this particular radio needs a doctor.

What happens is once in a while, I get the error FAIL 001, and it comes/goes in RX mode for no reason.
Wondering if an intermittent would be VCO or caps or ??

Freqs are 146.300-155.800MHz so that shouldn't be it....

Next, who to help? Will?
What would it cost if it were just the common cap problem?


THANKS!

Caps.

Rule of thumb on spectras, if they're at least 10 years old and have never had the caps replaced, the caps need to be replaced.

Sounds like the caps in the head........When they do bad they will cause tre radio to do all kinds of strange things......

Woody_99 wrote:Hey all, need a good guess on a low power Spectra problem.
D43KXA7JA5BK

I got a couple radios in, [see my trunking problem in the rss forum]
and one needs un-trunked, but this particular radio needs a doctor.

What happens is once in a while, I get the error FAIL 001, and it comes/goes in RX mode for no reason.
Wondering if an intermittent would be VCO or caps or ??

Freqs are 146.300-155.800MHz so that shouldn't be it....

Next, who to help? Will?
What would it cost if it were just the common cap problem?


THANKS!

Probably the caps. That's what the problem has been in every VHF Spectra (with one exception -- I did see a bad VCO once) I've fixed to date.

I can work on these as well. PM me for details.

Keep the peace(es).

Woody_99 wrote: Next, who to help? Will?
What would it cost if it were just the common cap problem?

THANKS!

Hi Woody, another one! I can fix that one for you also.
I will PM the details.

Will

My Astro Spectra is starting to do that as well. Never did it on the bench here inside until it went into a vehicle. Go figure.

My VHF Spectra was doing that Sent it to will and he did an exceelent job fixing it! would highly recommend that as your course of action!

Mike

I also have a VHF Spectra that is in Fail 001. What kind of caps do I need to fix this problem? How long would the replacement last? If anyone have some pics of where the caps are on the board I would really appreciate it.

Matt Tjaden
KI4IPP

open the radio and look for capacitors that are leaking or have the tops burst open on them, they are usually very obvious. hopefully you are lucky and caught it before the caps ruined the board.

You need to replace ALL of the electrolytic caps, and they won't always look bad. It's not a job for novices, the soldering can be a bit tricky and you have to clean up any leakage and repair any corroded traces/parts.
I have diagrams of the locations, I'll see if I can post them tomorrow.

Replacements should probably outlive the usefulness of the radio at this point, if you do a nice job on it I'd say at least 10 years, probably much more.

Here are the diagrams, they should cover a fair amount of the models, the values are what are in the radio stock, I've been using 25volt caps to replace the 16volt ones. Also you can replace them with regular radial lead caps, it's easier soldering those in, you just have to make sure they fit physically, the ones in the head are a bit tight so I still use surface mounts there.

D is for dang.
T is for thanks.

Now that's some handy-dandy info! So are you telling me these are not surface mount components? I haven't even looked in it, just assumed. If not SMD, that'll save my bacon.
thanks!

Oh, these capacitors definitely ARE surface-mount devices.

There's an article on http://www.repeater-builder.com (yes, I know, NO ONE'S heard of that web site over here) in the Motorola area, Spectra section, that has photos with circles and arrows and paragraphs on the back (well, two out of three ain't bad) detailing all of these capacitors, complete with common part numbers and useful tips and information from those who have changed them.

Bob M.

Okay, they have some good information there, but they don't have my nifty cool drawings ;)

I tried their suggestion for removing the old caps by prying them up, I find that it's easier to just grab them with my cutters, rock them back and forth gently to loosen the body from the leads, then just pull the body off and unsolder the leads from the board.

If replacing with radial leaded caps I recommend 7mm height caps.

Hey, your photos are the coolest Jack. I do love the repeater builder site too though.... such a conundrum.....


thanks for the info guys.