Quantar

Quantar/Quantro info

There is a bunch of info here about the technical aspects of the Quantar Stations

Programming

Links to programming stuff

CSS 007.13.R022.0035 for EPIC4 Smart Zone SCM

WinRSS 14.08.01 Current Windows RSS

Firmware

SIMM Images

Conventional Firmware for U1-U4 on the SIMM module 20.14.048

Media:Quantar-Flash-Simm-EPIC2-NON-IR-FW-20.14.048-Boot-020.10.001.zip

IntelliRepeater (IR) Firmware for U1-U8 on the two bank SIMM module 20.14.520

Media:IR-SIMM-20.14.520.zip

Wireline Images

Wireline 20.10.816 for AT27C010 Chips. This works with the 20.14.048 Conventional Firmware

Wireline U134 Upper 20.10.816

Wireline U135 Lower 20.10.816

Exciter Images

This is the matching Exciter Image for a AM27C512 UV EPROM

Exciter 020.09.018

Manuals

• 

Hardware info

Part numbers

Here are part numbers and what the correspond to

Station Control info

Station Control Module or SCM is the heart of the Quantar station. The SCM comes in different revisons known as EPIC.

• EPIC I
• EPIC II
• EPIC III
• EPIC IV - This is only for the Smart Zone trunking. IT will not work for conventional
• EPIC V

The only difference between the various versions of the EPICs (excluding EPIC IV) is the hardware is newer. There is no difference in functionality for conventional analog/astro/P25 operation.

Exciter

Troof Table

Header text	Header text	Header text
Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example
Example	Example	Example

Dip switch!	Band!	Binary!	Notes in the RSS!
0	VHF_R1	000000
1	VHF_R2	000001	VHF R2 SL
2	UHF_R1	000010
3	UHF_R2	000011
4	800	000100
5	VHF_R3	000101	sl
6	VHF_R4	000110
7	VHF_R1	000111
8	VHF_R2	001000	VHF R2 FL
9	VHF_R3	001001
10	VHF_R4	001010
11	900	001011
12	UHF_R3	001100
13	UHF_R4	001101
14	blank	001110
15	blank	001111
16	blank	010000
17	blank	010001
18	blank	010010
19	blank	010011	uhf r0 from book
20	blank	010100
21	blank	010101
22	blank	010110
23	blank	010111
24	blank	011000
25	blank	011001
26	blank	011010
27	blank	011011
28	blank	011100
29	blank	011101
30	blank	011110
31	blank	011111
32	blank	100000
33	blank	100001
34	blank	100010
35	blank	100011
36	blank	100100
37	blank	100101	boot
38	blank	100110
39	blank	100111
40	blank	101000
41	blank	101001
42	blank	101010
43	blank	101011
44	blank	101100
45	blank	101101
46	blank	101110
47	blank	101111	rssoly
48	blank	110000
49	blank	110001
50	blank	110010
51	blank	110011
52	blank	110100	RAP says VHF_R2 SL
53	blank	110101
54	blank	110110
55	blank	110111
56	blank	111000
57	blank	111001
58	blank	111010
59	blank	111011
60	blank	111100
61	blank	111101
62	blank	111110
63	INVALID	111111	Exciret is in reset all LED's are on and the PA fans turn on

Conversions

Work in progress on moving qunatar bands

UHF R0 to R2

This is doable

UHF R1 to R2

Converting the R1 (403-433) to R2 (438-470)

I've done a number of these that all meet spec. If your planing on a conversion it's the best to start with, due to PA isolator covering it, and it being easier to remove material from the preselector than add it.

I've never done a R3 or R4 to R2, I'd like to though.

the R0 is easy as well, but it's got a different design to the VCO's.

Exciter

1. Test it first! Trying to modify a broken exciter is like pushing a rope.
2. Remove the board from the case and take off the covers.
3. Now locate the VCOs (IC3200). These are sealed units and have no diagram. Check out the schematic! The Diagram is wrong when it shows the upper and lower VCO!

1. Looking at the VCO I find it's easier to remove the copper shield than try to desolder the entire VCO module.

Exciter VCO picture prior to removal

The VCO substrate is ceramic high K board. It's sensitive to thermal shock, so be careful about this, as it will crack. It's sicking noise. The best way to remove the VCO shield is using chip quick on the "pins" under the board and then flipping it over and using a preheater on the underside for 3-4 min at 450°f.

Board Preaheater

Prior to preheating I fashion supports out of Aluminum foil or other material and jam them between the PCB and the underside of the VCO. This will prevent the VCO board from falling off it's pins when removing the shield. Once this is done, mask off the area using hole cut in some foil. This is a heat shield for the other parts of the board.

Now turn on the preheater and wait for the board to warm up. Once it's up to 450° F take a hot air wand set to 15 l/min of flow and 650°f to the shield. After about 2-3 min it will loosen and you can pull the shield straight up. Careful you don't disturb any of the VCO parts, as they will most likely be reflowed too. If you do, don't panic, just look at the before picture and put everything back to how it was on the VCO. It's a pretty easy circuit to figure out.

Once you have the VCO exposed you can attach test wires to it. You'll need the following points

• 8.5 V power to high and low VCO (not at the same time, just tack the wire on)
• 0-12 V on the steering line
• output loops of wire on the VCO output. These are to be looped around a probe and into a spectrum anaylizer to view the output.

First a couple things about the VCO's,

1. with the shield on they move up about 2.5 MHz
2. from hot to cold Fr changes about 1.5 to 2 MHz. Hotter makes Fr go down, cool makes it go up.
3. removing capacitance makes Fr go up.
4. removing inductance makes Fr go up.
5. the sweet spot for the VCO steering voltage os 2.5-7.5 v
6. each VCO is designed to cover half the range of the quantar.
7. * The Exciter will change VCO's when it hits it's center frequency +25khz. You can verify this my looking at the steering voltage in the exciter as you change frequencies. A test config file (Codeplug) makes this easy.

Starting with the low VCO, hook it up and sweep the 0-12v supply to check it's 385-430 MHz. within 5 MHz is ok, this VCO only covers 16 MHz in operation.

Receiver

Part number	R1	R2	function
C2050	9.1 pF	8.2 pF
C2051	16pF	13pF
C2053	18 pF	16 pF
C2054	8.2 pF	6.8 pF
C2057	18 pF	16 pF
C2059	18 pF	13 pF
C2070	5.6 pF	3.3 pF
C2076	7.54 pF	5.6 pF
C2079	9.1 pF	5.6 pF
C2083	47 pF	22 pF
R2449	0 Ohm	0 Ohm	ID
R2450	0 Ohm	3300 Ohm	ID