Batboard

I have a spectra remote mount, model # D43KMA7JA7BK and I had it programmed for some local fire freq's and it worked for a week. Today I added a few channels, went to do a radio check, and it froze in TX mode. So I shut it off and back on and it got stuck in the self chk loop. After playing with it for a minute, I finally got it to power up normally, go to my home channel, and thats it. It won't do anything else. I tried to reload the radio again and it says "Serial Bus failure: Busy Line Locked". Ialso tried to read it again and got the same message. Is there anything I can do to get the radio back or is it done for good? Thanks,

-Ed

"Serial Bus failure: Busy Line Locked". Serial bus failure due to the BUSS being BUSY, RSS can not access the serial BUSS in the Spectra.
This can be as simple as a stuck key in the head, or way more serious. Did you try a different control head?

no, I don't have another control head. I am going to a radio shop friday and I think they have an extra one I can try. The radio shop doesn't have a clue as to what could be wrong either. Thanks

-Ed

Could it be the infamous leaky caps (capacitors)? I just got a Spectra II that was mfg'd in 1993 that has one leaky one already, but thankfully no damage yet. There's a number of caps in both the head and body of the radio, with the exception of the A/B/C/E9 heads. The bodies always have these electrolytic caps, which leak a boric acid mixture onto the boards and can ruin just about anything that comes in contact with this acid fluid. They've been known to create a host of problems, and whenever I get in a broken spectra, 95% of the time replacing $8 worth of caps solves the problem.

With that being said, open that bad boy up and see what you got. Here's a link to an explanation of what you should be looking for:

http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorol ... -caps.html

With that being said, I recommend everyone with a Spectra replace their caps ASAP. Even if your radio is functioning fine, replacing these "time-bomb" caps will make sure that no problems occur in the future. Many functioning radios have been reported to have improved performance post cap replacement, especially in the case of dim control heads.


Hope it helps!

OK, I found a another control head, put it on, it solved the problem...until today, i was on my way home, the radio beeped twice, went to my home channel, and none on the control head buttons work. It still scans, show was channel it stops on, I can key up my home channel, but I just can't change the vol, mode, or anything. Now when I hit my home channel button it beeps twice real fast then shows this on the display " mode _ _ _ " Could this mean that my home button is stuck? Every now and then I can dim the display once, but thats it. Thanks all for the help.

-Ed

Sounds like it's stuck like you said. If you hold the home button that's the display you get to reset the home mode. Maybe you can go into the RSS and set the home button as blank. This may solve the problem.

Like I said before though, I really encourage you to open the radio and look at the capacitors. I can't tell you how many times I've solved "phantom" problems just by replacing them. There's no doubt that they leak. It's inevitable. I've had brand new old stock Spectras that have sat on a shelf for 10 years with leaky caps. If you need help with instructions on how to open the radio or replace the caps feel free to PM me. To open the radio the only real tool you need is a T-15 Torx bit/screwdriver. Everything else is removing shields by hand with the provided plastic handles.

I had bad capacitors in a dead A7 control head. I replaced them but that didn't get the display working. Turns out one cap had leaked and eaten through one thin foil trace feeding 35V to it. I fixed that and the display itself lit right up. Then I discovered the HOME and DIM buttons were totally non-functional. I traced that to another foil that ran right next to the leaky capacitor. That trace was also eaten up and it ran NEXT TO the positive solder pad on the 35V filter cap. I had to trace the signal elsewhere on the circuit board and run a jumper wire into two feedthru holes to fix the bad spot. Those traces are only a few thousandths of an inch wide. You can't always see the damage, but the air doesn't do a good job conducting the electrons over the broken foil.

The other thing that comes to mind is dirty switch contacts on the membrane keyboard of the control head. You'll have to take it ALL apart (T10 driver), pull the board off the front, remove the silicone membrane, and clean all the carbon contacts plus the carbon pellets with some isopropyl alcohol. I usually put a piece of paper towel over the alcohol bottletop, shake, then wipe the entire circuit board and pellets. I also clean the display tube with Windex, since you'll probably get fingerprints all over it while handling it. I also clean the inside of the display's window with Windex. Then carefully reassemble.

If that doesn't fix anything, then you probably have more serious problems or the leaky capacitors have done damage.

Bob M.