Batboard

I have a single-channel desktrac repeater (no external display and the base/repeat buttons are plugged). It worked great before going into storage a few years ago, but today, it's not happy.

I can read & write to both radios without issue. I can also transmit on the test freq through the Service menu. However, in the normal setup, it doesn't repeat. I also can't get it to transmit with a maxtrac palm mic plugged into the mic jack (but maybe that's by design since it's not configured for base?) I know at least the receiver works because the Busy LED (on the internal PCB) blinks when a portable is transmitting. But the desktrac's transmitter is not keying when the receiver is receiving. Any easy tips before I start tracing signals?

I had a customers Destrac fail one night after the power failed and the battery back-up (toast) also failed. Resetting the repeater with the battery removed seemed to have solved it and I haven't heard back from the customer since replacing the battery.

Had the same symptoms as yours, no TX through the front transmit button and no repeat transmit. I never did try a mic in the front mic jack but imagine it would have failed also. I also noticed the COR light was lit on the Zetron phone patch with no signal present.

Brain dead controller?

An update:

Well it works now and the fix was relatively simple. I decided to go ahead and reprogram the repeater to a different channel that it was originally programmed for. During the write process, the RSS gave a warning that the accessory configuration had changed. My choices were F2 to continue with current settings or F8 to use default, so I chose Default. It programmed successfully and the repeater now operates as it should on the new channel.

So I'm guessing that this desktrac had some sort of accessory attached in its earlier life that perhaps bypassed the internal repeater controller (that could explain why the transmit radio never keyed when the receive radio was active) but I sure don't remember something like that when I helped take this unit out of service 10 yrs ago. Oh well, it's still a happy ending.

I wonder if this could be one of those NOVRAM battery issues?

Dunno, I'll crack it open again later this week and look for that prom.