HT1250 VHF - Busted PA?

[trboman17]

Hi!

I recently purchased two VHF (136 - 174 MHz) HT1250s on eBay (I know, I know :roll that I suspect might both have busted PAs; what luck! Unfortunately, I don't have a power meter or the right equipment for that matter to confirm my suspicion, but a friend and I tested the pair out and were barely able to get even a half a mile apart before each radio starting having problems receiving the other even on high power (I'm using the stock VHF antenna btw). I know the RX on both radios is good (able to pick up distance ham repeaters), so I'm guessing something with the final is borked.

I called up the local /\/\ dealer to find out if they could test the radios for me and give me a quote as to how much it will cost to get both fixed, but I won't hear back from them until most likely Monday morning. Basically, I'm trying to figure out what my options are with these radios. Do I spend the money to get them fixed (hopefully not more than what I paid for them) or do I sell them for parts? Does anyone have experience in this matter? If so, approximately how much did it cost to get one repaired?

Thanks!

 

[bezking]

First, make sure that there is no letter "L" on the top of the display - which would indicate that the radio is in low-power mode. If that's not the case, read on.

I had a similar issue a while back with a UHF HT1250 - same symptoms as you, except the receiver basically had to be right next to the problem radio to hear it. I seem to recall a dealer quoting around $200 to fix it, but I could be mistaken.

If the eBay seller advertised them as working, I would just send them back.

 

[trboman17]

First, make sure that there is no letter "L" on the top of the display - which would indicate that the radio is in low-power mode. If that's not the case, read on.

I had a similar issue a while back with a UHF HT1250 - same symptoms as you, except the receiver basically had to be right next to the problem radio to hear it. I seem to recall a dealer quoting around $200 to fix it, but I could be mistaken.

If the eBay seller advertised them as working, I would just send them back.

Thanks for the reply. I tested both radios in high power mode.

I messaged both eBay sellers, but I wish I could have detected this problem earlier. Unfortunately, even with the low output power, I was still able to make it into the local repeaters, so it went virtually undetected until I tried working simplex. Oh well, I guess I'll see what happens.

Thanks!

 

[N4KVE]

A half mile between 2 HT's isn't bad. Try to test the radios through a repeater, or try to find someone with a power meter, as the 2 way shops treat all customers like they make money using these radios. Their attitude, & rightly so is that if you use these radios to dispatch repairman, or whatever to make money, then they can charge a bundle to fix these revenue generating radios. In the past I have gotten big discounts by telling the shop owner that I was using the radios for ham radio freq's only, not business freq's, so the radios were not generating money. GARY N4KVE