Internal antenna issue??

[Darren Clemons]

I’m afraid I may have a failed internal antenna in my LS. We began having an issue on Friday afternoon. Had been working on a site for a few hours with just the 1M internal 1W radio and everything was fine, then all of the sudden, no radio outside of about 50’ from the base. Battery power on the 1M was still fine. Rebooted everything - still no luck. We shut er down for the day and waited until this morning to try again - you know - maybe “one of those” just weird things that takes care of itself - some specific interference or something.

Went out today on a totally different site, several miles from Friday’s spot and same thing - everything starts fine and is fixed at the base and as soon as we got about 50’ away - ziltch.
I again, rebooted, switched radio frequencies and did a “to base” and reset the base. Got fixed, went about 50’ and nothing.
My 1st thoughts we’re leaning towards my 1M “stick” antennae, but just to try, we got our external antenna and put it on the LS and switched it over to external and - boom! 100% everywhere we went like it should be.
That seems to be a pretty sure sign that somethings failed in the internal antenna inside the LS.

Has anyone seen or had this go out? Is there anything else anyone can think of based on my troubleshooting that it could be?

This unit is our oldest (almost five years old), so it’s not too big a deal that a part has failed. The issue is, and always has been, ANYTHING we have to do an RMA on and ship back seems to take weeks and most times months to get back to us. That process has always been so horribly slow and painful.

 

[Matt Johnson]

The switch that switches between the internal and external antenna can fail. If the external antenna works but the internal doesn't then it may have failed.

 

[Darren Clemons]

The switch that switches between the internal and external antenna can fail. If the external antenna works but the internal doesn't then it may have failed.

Ok thanks. I may try one or two more job sites just to rule out some strange interference or something but if we try the same scenario again and it immediately goes from nothing to working after putting on the external it almost has to be it.

 

[Matt Johnson]

You need to look at the RSSI. What is the RSSI value with the internal antenna selected vs the external?

 

[Darren Clemons]

After more testing today, it does appear that my LS has indeed gotten “stuck” on external antenna. We went back out and started everything as normal (I did a force update on everything in the LS before I went out). Again, at about 50’ the T1M 1W radio went completely out and I had no reception at the rover. We started screwing on the external antenna and this time noticed the signal immediately came back in at 100% - without actually going into settings and switching it to external. This basically has to mean my LS has somehow gotten stuck on external, even though Friday, when this first started happening, we never even switched it to external.

For one last test, I shut everything down with that LS and then started the same base we were using with another one of my LS’s and started walking around the site. Never lost radio anywhere on the site. Worked like a charm.

For anyone who may have seen this, is there any chance “toggling” it back/forth between internal/external may unstick the switch? I’m afraid an RMA is in my future.

 

[jack newsome]

My LS used to default back to internal after switching off and then on. But after the last updates, it remains set to whichever setting it was in prior to powering off.
Just wondering, if this is normal behavior?

 

[Adam]

After more testing today, it does appear that my LS has indeed gotten “stuck” on external antenna. We went back out and started everything as normal (I did a force update on everything in the LS before I went out). Again, at about 50’ the T1M 1W radio went completely out and I had no reception at the rover. We started screwing on the external antenna and this time noticed the signal immediately came back in at 100% - without actually going into settings and switching it to external. This basically has to mean my LS has somehow gotten stuck on external, even though Friday, when this first started happening, we never even switched it to external.

For one last test, I shut everything down with that LS and then started the same base we were using with another one of my LS’s and started walking around the site. Never lost radio anywhere on the site. Worked like a charm.

For anyone who may have seen this, is there any chance “toggling” it back/forth between internal/external may unstick the switch? I’m afraid an RMA is in my future.

I ran into this yesterday while surveying and again today with a customer. In both cases swithing from internal to external then back to internal immediatly fixed it. I don't think its a hardware issue. I think the developers should be able to fix this with software.

 

[Adam]

The switch that switches between the internal and external antenna can fail. If the external antenna works but the internal doesn't then it may have failed.

I saw this on a brand new LS today. My LS is pretty new as well.

 

[Darren Clemons]

I ran into this yesterday while surveying and again today with a customer. In both cases swithing from internal to external then back to internal immediatly fixed it. I don't think its a hardware issue. I think the developers should be able to fix this with software.

Thank for the update Adam, but I’ve already shipped mine off for an RMA.

 

[Bill Eggers]

After upgrading software a few days ago, we are having significantly diminished radio range. This is running a TR2 base with the HPT401BT radio.
We generally use the external antenna on the TLS, but even using the external antenna now only gets us 700' range over level ground.
Using the switch from internal to external does not seem to make any significant difference in the RSSI value, so perhaps it is the switch not working.
Any ideas?

 

[Duane Frymire]

After upgrading software a few days ago, we are having significantly diminished radio range. This is running a TR2 base with the HPT401BT radio.
We generally use the external antenna on the TLS, but even using the external antenna now only gets us 700' range over level ground.
Using the switch from internal to external does not seem to make any significant difference in the RSSI value, so perhaps it is the switch not working.
Any ideas?

Bill, I've found usually it's a battery problem and just coincidence that something else happened at same time. But you might check to make sure modulation still says DQPSK and didn't get changed by update. D8PSK is being used for new signals with other bases and might now be a default? With T2 you get better range with DQPSK.

 

[Bill Eggers]

Where do I find this setting for modulation?

 

[Adam]

It is under setup and general group for UHF. You can also set it from the communications box in base rover setup

 

[Shawn Billings]

He's using FHSS. The problem is likely hardware related. Did it work any better using the internal antenna on the LS?

 

[Adam]

Well I'm confused. Above he said he was using the 401.

 

[Shawn Billings]

Bill,
Please double check the radio model

 

[Bill Eggers]

Yes, the base radio is HPT901BT, but the radio on the LS is the FH915 SS.
Based upon that and what I read in the quick start guide, it does not appear that there should be a setting for Modulation.

 

[Shawn Billings]

That is correct.

You mentioned previously that you have a 401BT which is a UHF radio. UHF does have modulation settings, hence the confusion.

 

[Shawn Billings]

I would check the range while powering the 901 from an external power source. Also, you might want to buy a new antenna for the radio and see if it improves the situation.

Are you close to any FHSS users that you could try your equipment with? It's difficult to pinpoint a hardware issue without any redundant equipment to swap out to find the culprit. Could be the transmit side or the receive side...

 

[Bill Eggers]

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