Astro Spectra Switch cover replacement

[KD4CSO]

I'm getting in a Spectra High-power with a W9 control head. (Soon, I hope. The seller's still programming it... except for the control head. I told him to just leave what's there.)

About half the switches (buttons) control things I'm not going to use -- mostly light and siren controls. So I'm planning on re-programming them to something more useful.

Is there any trick to prying out the covers and replacing them? A friend said to use a dental tool, pry to push in and release the latching side "ears" and be careful while pulling the covers up and out.

Any other advice (or corrections, for that matter)? Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Arthur

 

[vinsky]

Just remove the two screws behind the W9 control head and remove the electronics inside it, then you will be able to replace and move buttons where you need them. Don't try to pry from the faceplate!

 

[jim202]

I'm getting in a Spectra High-power with a W9 control head. (Soon, I hope. The seller's still programming it... except for the control head. I told him to just leave what's there.)

About half the switches (buttons) control things I'm not going to use -- mostly light and siren controls. So I'm planning on re-programming them to something more useful.

Is there any trick to prying out the covers and replacing them? A friend said to use a dental tool, pry to push in and release the latching side "ears" and be careful while pulling the covers up and out.

Any other advice (or corrections, for that matter)? Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Arthur

The simple way is to take the control head apart. Take the 2 screws out of each side from the front. Then take the front assembly off of the back shell. Next you will need a T10 driver to remove the screws that hold the back frame off of the front face plate. Then there are like 4 more T10 screws that hold the circuit board to the face plate. Lift off the circuit board.

If all your looking to do it replace the row of buttons above the display, it will take some careful effort to lift the clear plastic that holds in all the buttons. I use a small tipped screw driver to gently lift out the clear plastic assembly. with the face of the head laying on the bench, you can now take a long nose pliers to lift out the buttons and move them around to where and what you want.

If your looking for a different label for the buttons, good luck. They are just about non existent these days. What I do is put some alcohol and a Q tip. Rub it on the letters on the button. You should be able to remove the black lettering. Then take a fine point Sharpy and put what letters you need on the button.

Forgot to mention that you can't program the buttons above the display on a W9 or W7 head for Zone up or down. That has to be done on the buttons to the right of the display. I generally use the top left button of the normal keypad as my zone up and the one just below it for the zone down.

Jim

 

[KD4CSO]

Thanks for both your answers. I don't want a hacked-up control head; I want the W9 to look good

...If your looking for a different label for the buttons, good luck. They are just about non existent these days. What I do is put some alcohol and a Q tip. Rub it on the letters on the button. You should be able to remove the black lettering. Then take a fine point Sharpy and put what letters you need on the button.

I have a Baggie full of buttons. The only one I don't yet have that I wanted was "VRS," but I may yet find one. Maybe a Sharpied one until then?

Forgot to mention that you can't program the buttons above the display on a W9 or W7 head for Zone up or down. That has to be done on the buttons to the right of the display. I generally use the top left button of the normal keypad as my zone up and the one just below it for the zone down.
Jim

One of the orphan W9 heads I bought to grab buttons had Zone Up/Down as the first two buttons above the display. Must have taken some fancy programming to do that! (Or maybe they were just parked there for a rest.)

Thanks for the good advice. I had the same thoughts.

Mind, this is for a conventional Astro Spectra; I have no use for trunked functionality.

My current plan (subject to change at any time for no reason), is to program the buttons above the display as:

MPL MON DIR Encrypt on/off* SCAN CLR

and the ones to the side as:
Line 1: ZONE Up MUTE LOCK
Line 2: ZONE Dn ALT PAGE
Line 3: H/L** MODE VRS
LIne 4: RCL SQL DEL

*I'd like to redefine this as PL or Tone Ignore/ CSQ, as it is on my MX-350s.
**I'm hoping I can re-define to H/L to mean High/Low power.

I'll have to take a good long look at the software to see what is available.

Thanks again for your help.

Arthur