IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

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Grummanflyer
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IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by Grummanflyer »

Just found the forum online and am so glad to see there is some help available for my beloved service monitor's. Today my 1600S failed several self tests and I found the clock and date all jacked up as well as the unit operating time shows about a bazillion hours. I bought this unit from IFR several years ago, used, trade in I think the nice lady told me. After about 6 or 8 months after I bought it, the unit would freeze the display, I think when I was in AF GEN mode and it was impossible to clear. Sometimes, several power off and on cycles was necessary to clear the freeze. I had a COM 120B at my other job so the 1600 didn't get used much until I tried it today. From reading the different threads, it looks like the battery in the processor has failed. It also shows 0 options. Several of the posts were a little "long in the tooth" so, do I have any options or just forget it? Also, is there something I can do to keep this from happening in the 120B? I recently got the chance to try out a 2945B but it's not nearly as easy to operate as either of these units.

Thanks much for all the great info posted here.

John
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Wowbagger
Aeroflex
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by Wowbagger »

My suggestion would be:
1) Issue the following commands from RS-232
*idn?
*opt?
and record them somewhere. Also record what IF filters you have on the receiver.

Then, *when* your battery dies, you can replace the Dallas part with the equivalent plain RTC chip and wire a battery onto it, and once you have done that, THEN contact me and I'll give you what you need to put your options and such back into the unit.
This is my opinion, not Aeroflex's.

I WILL NOT give you proprietary information. I make too much money to jeopardize my job.

I AM NOT the Service department: You want official info, manuals, service info, parts, calibration, etc., contact Aeroflex directly, please.
jry
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by jry »

On the 1600 you may want to check the Power Supply outputs and adjust as needed. That could cause all kinds of issues including your lockup and selftest. look at the ripple or AC on the outputs as well.

Depending on the processor board version you may have a RTC chip or a smart battery that has failed ...the internal batteries for these components do fail over time and will cause some of the issues you are seeing.
You would have to pull the processor board and look to see what version you have and there may be another smart battery module on the flash memory board...you can check to see if they are outputting the roughly 3V . The RTC module may only have the battery voltage internal..you would have to pull the data sheet on those parts for more info.

The only option on the 1600 worth much these days is the file system option 02 and that is only of value if you had some of the utilities installed.
The RTC failures may cause other issues so I would replace and install a good machine pin socket.
ljohn6
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by ljohn6 »

I had a 1600csa and it was plagued with power supply problems, I had to send in three times for repairs in 2 years. after the third time into IFR , I asked them what could be the cause we determined that it was from my service vans inverter according to them the power supply did not like the modified sine wave after that i never used it in the field and placed a very expensive surge suppressor on my bench it did not give me any issues after that. i ended up selling it and buying a Motorola R2600chs. i now have a ifr 2947a and i love it it was a learning curve to get used to its operation but as you learn the tricks it a great monitor. i also use a Com120b at home and really like it as well.
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Wowbagger
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by Wowbagger »

I'm curious - why did you use an inverter, rather than just using the DC input on the 1600?
This is my opinion, not Aeroflex's.

I WILL NOT give you proprietary information. I make too much money to jeopardize my job.

I AM NOT the Service department: You want official info, manuals, service info, parts, calibration, etc., contact Aeroflex directly, please.
jry
Posts: 481
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 3:14 pm

Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by jry »

The commercial 1600 didn't have DC power capability only AC ( and fixed range at that for most ...no auto sense) . the TS-4317 did have DC but chances are it would not work on anything much below 14VDC that last time I tested one. Believe the TS-4317 ( the firmware and DC input are the only differences I could ever tell unless you want to count the software option bits ) was intended for much higher DC voltages that standard automotive commercial /consumer vehicle electrical systems.( it's marked on the connector )
I think you would have to have the engine running to keep the voltage high enough.

I am surprised about the comment on the inverter taking the power supply out. The main supply is a pure switcher which shouldn't really care that much about what you feed it. There is an analog standby supply and as long as the 60hz is there shouldn't care that much about the THD either.

My only guess here would be your inverter may have had some spikes/switching transients that eventually took out the input surge supressors.

Will have to look at the one I use occasionally and see how ugly it looks
ljohn6
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by ljohn6 »

My 1600 as stated did not have external 12 volt input, as far as why it cared about my inverter no clue going by what the aeroflex tech told me at the time was that was the likely culprit, after I stopped using the inverter with that monitor it never failed again of course I did not keep it very long after that. I used my Motorola R2600 with the same inverter and never had any issues and have used it with my 2947a and no issues. The way my service van is setup running 12 volts to the bench was more of a pain then to use the power strip on my bench plugged into the inverter and much cleaner I have my service monitor power supply (variable for working on Handhelds) and computer all laid out the same as if I am at my bench in the shop.
Grummanflyer
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by Grummanflyer »

Many thanks to all who replied. I'll see if I can scrounge a service manual somewhere so I know which board to look for on the 1600S. I would like to get it working again and it does usb and lsb as well as CW. It was a big help when I built my Elecraft KX-1 CW rig. I really like the color display and now that I think about it, may be power supply problems because the display was flickering up and down a bit when I turned it on. I also have another Com120B that was given to me by an old EDACS radio tech that he says has a bad power supply. He ran a pretty busy shop and didn't have time to really troubleshoot the supply but he did try for a bit and wasn't able to find the trouble. I briefly looked it over and didn't see any bulging caps and no burnt resistors or cold solder joints. I would like to know where to start on it if any of you fellows have ever repaired one before. I didn't have a chance to do any voltage measurements on it yet. Not sure if it has to be installed in the unit to test or not but right now it's not.
Grummanflyer
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What radios do you own?: Harris, Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood

Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by Grummanflyer »

Wowbagger, I will do as you suggested on the 120B. It does have a sticker on the back that says "options" with some number that would probably mean something to you. My 1600S had no such data on it.

Thanks again to all

John
Grummanflyer
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Re: IFR 1600S and Com120B questions

Post by Grummanflyer »

Update on the 1600S.

The power supply voltage was all good however, I found the RTC battery was dead as yesterdays chicken. The date code suggests it was made in August of 1994 , so I'm not surprised to find it died. The Smart Battery voltage reads good , so I'm gonna leave it alone. I did find some replacements on Ebay but most of them have an older date code than mine so, I'm not gonna waste time on that. I will order a socket and 3V battery holder tomorrow and pull the chip to do the battery mod. The vintage computer forum at http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum ... -Far/page2 has a good article (with pictures) on hacking the Dallas part so I think that's the ticket. I'll post the results when I get this board fixed.

John
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