query on any good online course or portal for repairing 5 watt radio transceiver units please?

[bcoleman1]

Hi Hope all is well. query on any good online course or portal for repairing 5 watt radio transceiver units please?
I am researching online at present and found a good repair course on Udemy website for electronic repairing units, however
I am trying to find a course, online or part-time in Dublin on repairing radio transceiver units.
e.g. need to know how to fix the following:
1) no tx, no rx
2) tx stuck in low power
3) pa issues on pa component
4) vco or voltage issue no volts

Units are AES model 7350 and are used as fire and intruder alarm units on a radio mesh network.
appreciate any help or support please/

Thank you.

 

[ladn]

Units are AES model 7350 and are used as fire and intruder alarm units on a radio mesh network.
appreciate any help or support please/

Welcome to RR.

I can't recommend any specific courses, but have you checked if the manufacturer has service literature available? If so, this would give you some idea of the technical acumen needed to diagnose and repair their hardware. Service literature will also specify the instrumentation required to repair said equipment. Hardware, such as a service monitor, can be quite pricey and you'll want to consider your return on investment (in equipment, training and procuring parts) versus outsourcing the repair.

 

[bcoleman1]

Welcome to RR.

I can't recommend any specific courses, but have you checked if the manufacturer has service literature available? If so, this would give you some idea of the technical acumen needed to diagnose and repair their hardware. Service literature will also specify the instrumentation required to repair said equipment. Hardware, such as a service monitor, can be quite pricey and you'll want to consider your return on investment (in equipment, training and procuring parts) versus outsourcing the repair.

Thank you and appreciate the feedback. However the supplier AES has all such specific doc. re: repair work of their units under lock and key due to IP rights. This I can understand, if there were resources online that may aid in repairing similar type of problems encountered with 5 watt internal radio transmitter components be great to find them? I tried searching on youtube.com and udemy.com in the meantime, did not find an exact match, but will let you know if the one I found on youtube is of help. Thanks again. Hope all is well. rgds, Barry p.s. I have a Motorola spectrum analyzer in the office dated early 1990s, trying to find my way around it at the moment, takes bit of getting use to as there seems to be other more modern versions of the same out there, which are more user friendly.

 

[davidgcet]

a spectrum analyzer is no good for any of the listed issues. you need a calibrated full service monitor, voltmeter, and most likely the manufacturer alignment software/cables at minimum. a used service monitor that has been calibrated is likely around 3000 USD or more, waaay more if it needs any special software options. unless you will be repairing a lot of these you will be better off finding a vendor approved repair center or sending them to the vendor direct for repair if they will do that. radio repair is not something you jump on line and figure out how to do, at least not without a big budget and a good base knowledge of electronics and rf.

 

[ladn]

... the supplier AES has all such specific doc. re: repair work of their units under lock and key due to IP rights....if there were resources online that may aid in repairing similar type of problems encountered with 5 watt internal radio transmitter components be great to find them

Here in the States, that's called "right to repair" and is a contentious issue between users and manufacturers.

YouTube "experts" and "teknichuns" can be of questionable competence. Other users or user groups may be better sources.

Also, what about parts availability? I'm not familiar with this equipment, but if it's reasonably new it probably is fabricated with SMD (Surface Mount Device) technology which itself requires specialized equipment.

 

[bcoleman1]

a spectrum analyzer is no good for any of the listed issues. you need a calibrated full service monitor, voltmeter, and most likely the manufacturer alignment software/cables at minimum. a used service monitor that has been calibrated is likely around 3000 USD or more, waaay more if it needs any special software options. unless you will be repairing a lot of these you will be better off finding a vendor approved repair center or sending them to the vendor direct for repair if they will do that. radio repair is not something you jump on line and figure out how to do, at least not without a big budget and a good base knowledge of electronics and rf.

thank you for the feedback, appreciated. Apologies, I have a Motorola service monitor in the office which was calibrated and working - just need to figure out how to use it now. Found 48-50 page manual on how to use it online. Thanks again.

 

[prcguy]

a spectrum analyzer is no good for any of the listed issues. you need a calibrated full service monitor, voltmeter, and most likely the manufacturer alignment software/cables at minimum. a used service monitor that has been calibrated is likely around 3000 USD or more, waaay more if it needs any special software options. unless you will be repairing a lot of these you will be better off finding a vendor approved repair center or sending them to the vendor direct for repair if they will do that. radio repair is not something you jump on line and figure out how to do, at least not without a big budget and a good base knowledge of electronics and rf.

Spectrum analyzer with a 10:1 or 100:1 scope probe is great for tracing RF in transmitters and receivers, its a very useful tool. I've been using a TinySA for troubleshooting lately.

 

[davidgcet]

true, but your level of experience is worlds beyond his. without proper training a SA is useless to many folks for the things he described. now that he says it is a service monitor that does change things, but as anyone that has worked professionally repairing 2 way will tell you that is only part of the battle. not to sound negative, but without the actual manuals and no knowledge of how to repair radios he is better off paying to have it done. one cannot just use basic generic manuals to troubleshoot modern radios.

 

[davidgcet]

that being said, if you understand the circuit and they have physical tuning points you may can resolve some minor power issues. most tuning and alignment now though is all softpots adjusted via the software alignment tool. you may can fix things like a cold solder/broken trace and do some minor component replacement assuming you can identify and obtain the parts. maybe able to use some of the worst units as parts donors, just kinda depends on what is wrong. also some stuff has to be soldered with the proper air solder, but a lot can still be done with a very fine tip iron. it all depends on the component and your soldering skills.

anyway, i take it from your wording you don't have a lot of experience in this. if you do i apologize. my intent is just to clarify that a generic video won't tell you specifically how to repair your units. every manufacturer has their own layouts and components. so a good base knowledge is mandatory to shotgun troubleshoot.

 

[flametamer]

... you may can fix things like a cold solder/broken trace and do some minor component replacement assuming you can identify and obtain the parts....

And IF it's not in the middle of a multi-layer pcb.

Dt

 

[freddaniel]

The service manual is available on the FCC website and on other websites that republish public FCC Type Acceptance data. One site which has the UHF version is FCC ID L9N-7350UE5 and the service manual is listed as the user manual. The radio is made by a manufacturer in Taiwan called Hermes Electronics.

It may be cheaper to simply buy replacement boards from Taiwan. Great care must be taken to not identify you are bypassing AES and their service operations. See attached screen capture of Radio Test Report. Good luck.