Radius GR1225 burnt PA question

[RadioChief55]

I have a Radius GR1225 VHF repeater with a Radius R1225 inside with a burnt out PA. I can smell that its cooked. It receives fine, but transmits nothing on my meter, O watts, no frequencies pops up, nothing. But if I'm within 50 feet or so I will hear it. I know its very old. Question is, is it fixable? Is it worth fixing it if so? Thanks

 

[DeoVindice]

Junk it.

 

[ramal121]

Sometimes you can clean up around the final and reflow the solder to revive it (if that is the problem) but will probably crash again somewhere down the road again. If it really stinks does not bode well.

 

[ElroyJetson]

Those were old when I started working at the last radio shop I worked at, almost 20 years ago. It's ancient. Junk it and get something much newer and more supportable.

 

[RadioChief55]

We got a used MTR2000 to replace it already, but I was wondering if it was something that could be fixed with maybe a donor Radius radio. Didn't know if parts were interchangeable because I have a few old VHF Radius GM3000. Its for an amusement park security staff. They have 2 other repeater's all the same vintage.

 

[jeepsandradios]

Yes its fixable by a competant tech and if your going to use it as a backup or spare would be fine. Is it old yes, but they still work. There is some info online about using a GM300 PA. I've fixed both VHF and UHF models this way and one of our SAR repeaters is still online with a GM300 PA. Do some searching and you will find info. Its out there. Or ship it to me and I'll fix it for a spare SAR repeater

 

[ElroyJetson]

If you have the parts available, and the know how, sure, fix it. They're good old radios and obviously can last quite a long time. Back when even the lower tier radios were made with quality...which means real lead in the solder!

Any product made with lead free solder may be assumed to be a throwaway eventually.

 

[AM909]

Like most things now, the deciding factor is the cost of labor. If you're willing and able to fix it yourself, the parts are probably available new or from donor radio corpses. If you need to pay someone to do it, it's probably not worth it – you can probably get a whole working radio for less.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Time and money. The 1225 software needs a 32 bit version of Windows to function (so does the MTR2000 but those two products are just about the same age in reality).

Someone with a copy of what may be my favorite service manual (if you chuckle at easter eggs) I've ever gone through, a service monitor and the the ability to read/write the radio may be able to do it. The thing that will get you is that's probably close to a 2-3 hour repair and with shop rates now exceeding $140/hr it's difficult to justify repairing something of that vintage.