Bypassing PA in UHF Quantar?

[moto_mitch]

I've got a R2 UHF Quantar here.

Recently, I picked up a Quantro R2 PA. Stupid me, the backplane voltage isn't the same and I get a module fail when I plug it in. No big deal, I've got another external PA to use in place of the Quantaro PA.

I yanked the Quantro PA and the Quantar boots just fine with 20.xx.xx firmware. Does ASTRO CAI no problem--but! After about five seconds of TX, I get a PA fail indication (no big surprise) and the station reboots itself.

Is there an easy way to disable the PA so I can use the exciter with our external PA? I went over the options in RSS 14.xx.xx and can't see anything obvious.

Thanks

[Batwings21]

I know there is a pa test mode that will allow the exciter to key, but not sure if it affects anything else.

[moto_mitch]

Thanks for your suggestion. I found another thread about disabling the exciter (for the purpose of testing) but I'm unsure if it would allow continued operation of the repeater. Supposedly you can "Disable PA" just like you can "Disable Station" in the Service screen.

Hopefully this works. I'm headed down to the site this afternoon to give it a try. I'll report back here later.

[moto_mitch]

Well, I\'m still stumped. No menus exist in Quantar RSS 14.00.04 that would permit operation without a PA installed in the unit.

I\'ll let this topic sit for another week or so...hopefully someone will come back from the weekend and have a simple answer for me. Again, all I want to do is run my own external PA and drive it with the R2 UHF exciter. I don\'t have a working UHF Quantar PA.

Thanks

[FMROB]

Maybe I am a little confused. The Quantar PA is a internal module within the card cage. A quantro has an external MSF style PA. So what you are trying to do is turn a quantar into a quantro?

What about the power supply for the external PA. You might be able to tell the station that it is a quantro with and external PA, I don't know if a codeplug can be forcefeed.

Good Luck, Rob

[moto_mitch]

One last final update...

Without a PA, the Quantar will not operate. Period. The exciter won\'t even key up.

I stuck in a spare 900 MHz PA (left it disconnected RF-wise) just to see if that would fool the Quantar into operating, and it worked...sort of. The exciter puts out about 10mW for about 300ms. It folds back immediately as soon as the SCM sees the PA isn\'t functioning. (Or in this case, mismatched).

Even if I was able to get the exciter operating by itself, the drive is far too low for my external PA.

Does anyone have a UHF R2 Quantar PA for sale? How about a trade for a working Quantro UHF R2 TLE5980A IPA? (I\'ll toss in some cash too) I\'ll repost in the other forum as well.

* Note to FMROB: You are correct. This is not a Quantro PA. I am mistaken. It\'s an IPA. (Intermediate PA).

[FMROB]

Ok, That makes sense now. I have never seen a IPA in a quantro? On my quantro it has the exciter and then the external MSF style PA. Obviously it is near 100 watts. Is the IPA used with a 200 watt version quantro with two MSF style PA's?