Red Wave Radio

Buoyed by my recent success with my Pro2006, (instaled the OS456) and the
reports of the success of others with similar mods, I opened up my unmodded
Pro46.  No problem.  Managed to oppen the case, separate the boards, desolder
the shield without melting it.  Found the diodes marked 000 (God theyre small!).
No real trouble up to that point.  Figured that taking the little 000 diode
(for the uninitiated about the size of a small ant, and just about as easy
to work with).  Well, I found what I believed to be the correct solder pad,
and attempted to solder my diode to it.  Had a little difficulty there.
In fact I think that it _might_ have been easier to actually solder a small
ant in place that that diode!

I seem to have very slightly moved the solderpad out of its original position
tho not so far as to be off of the traces.  Finally I got the diode to stay on
the pad.  When I put the scanner back together, it still worked, but was in no
way modified. Oh I neglected to mention above that I did in fact solder the
diode to the pad. (tho i dont know how well I soldered it)

Two questions:  How do you Solder such tiny components, and
                Did Moving the solder pad (ever so slightly) my problem?

The former question brings to mind a third, if I did move the solderpad
off of the traces, is it possible to get it back?

Any help with this prediciment would be greatly appreciated.

Hi its me.. the guy who didnt know what he was doing with his PRO46, again.

Sadder yet wiser.  It seems that i soldered my 000 jumper onto the back
of annother diode... oops! (hate it when that happens)  Well it _looked_
like a solder pad to me.  A friend who had done the mod before looked at my
work and complimented me... he said that if id put the diode in the right
place, it'd have been a perfect job... wise guy. :grin:

So... he took the diode off where I soldered it, and put it where it belonged.
The solder pad wasnt a pad at all...it was two little dots of solder on the
pc board... What next!?

We reassembled the scanner, and Viola!  Uninterrupted 800mhz coverage with
30Mhz steps... Thanks Ted!

That is the wiser part... now for the sadder part.

After using the scanner for fif*** minutes the thing just stopped.
Cut out.. the lcd display blanked!  I thought that the scanner was dead, after
I thumped my chest to restart my heart, I turned the power off, and on again.
Guess what?  It blinked back to life as if nothing had happened.  It's been
doing this on and off now while in the search mode... sometimes it seems to ha
happen after i hit the arrow key, but other times it seems completely unprovoked
Anyone care to hazzard a guess as to what my ignorance has caused in the
scanner?  You guys gotta help me.... Its my wifes radio!

---Thanks Greg

Quote:>Anyone care to hazzard a guess as to what my ignorance has caused in the
>scanner?  You guys gotta help me.... Its my wifes radio!

Probably a solder flake somewhere from the mod work.  Or, did you
remember to use anti static measures?  A zapped part will act like this
until it finally dies.  Another possibility is a weak solder joint on
something that you may have desoldered/resoldered, a damaged etch, etc.
Also, it could be a loose connection of something you didn't plug back
in well.

Plano, Texas   (not your average plain-O town :-)

Quote:> Hi its me.. the guy who didnt know what he was doing with his PRO46, again.

> Sadder yet wiser.  It seems that i soldered my 000 jumper onto the back
> of annother diode... oops! (hate it when that happens)  Well it _looked_
> like a solder pad to me.  A friend who had done the mod before looked at my
> work and complimented me... he said that if id put the diode in the right
> place, it'd have been a perfect job... wise guy. :grin:

> So... he took the diode off where I soldered it, and put it where it belonged.
> The solder pad wasnt a pad at all...it was two little dots of solder on the
> pc board... What next!?

> We reassembled the scanner, and Viola!  Uninterrupted 800mhz coverage with
> 30Mhz steps... Thanks Ted!

> That is the wiser part... now for the sadder part.

> After using the scanner for fif*** minutes the thing just stopped.
> Cut out.. the lcd display blanked!  I thought that the scanner was dead, after
> I thumped my chest to restart my heart, I turned the power off, and on again.
> Guess what?  It blinked back to life as if nothing had happened.  It's been
> doing this on and off now while in the search mode... sometimes it seems to ha
> happen after i hit the arrow key, but other times it seems completely unprovoked
> Anyone care to hazzard a guess as to what my ignorance has caused in the
> scanner?  You guys gotta help me.... Its my wifes radio!

> ---Thanks Greg

Sounds like you have an intermittent problem somewhere. Hopefully not done
while using too much heat on SMT components. You mentioned solder balls on
the pcb. Take it apart and check for any more, perhaps lying across pads.

Good luck.

Andy