Difference between revisions of "Quantar"

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# Remove the board from the case and take off the covers.   
 
# Remove the board from the case and take off the covers.   
 
# 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!   
 
# 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!   
# Looking at the VCO I find it's easier to remove the copper shield than  
+
 
 +
 
 +
# Looking at the VCO I find it's easier to remove the copper shield than try to desolder the entire VCO module.
 +
[[File:Exciter VCO picture prior to removal.jpg|thumbnail|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.
 +
 
 +
[[File:Board Preheater.jpg|thumbnail|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, 
 +
# with the shield on they move up about 2.5 MHz
 +
# from hot to cold Fr changes about 1.5 to 2 MHz.  Hotter makes Fr go down, cool makes it go up.
 +
# removing capacitance makes Fr go up.
 +
# removing inductance makes Fr go up.
 +
# the sweet spot for the VCO steering voltage os 2.5-7.5 v
 +
# each VCO is designed to cover half the range of the quantar. 
 +
# * 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.
 +
 
  
  

Revision as of 12:12, 1 November 2015

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

Code Plug format

Manuals

  • Service manual.pdf

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

Exciter

Power AMP

Receiver

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.


Power AMP

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