WTB/B/S Harris Falcom software

[papakb]

Looking to acquire a copy of the Harris Falcom software to try to get a PRC-138 going again. This one sat with a dead backup battery for years before I got it and even after replacing the battery it won't fire up.

TIA,

Kurt Lesser

 

[aleigh]

If the hub battery fails on a PRC-138 the unit should work, it'll just forget everything when you remove the main battery / external power. It'll power on to factory though. If it won't power on at all, I don't think the software is going to do anything for you...

 

[Wire Fox]

Looking to acquire a copy of the Harris Falcom software to try to get a PRC-138 going again. This one sat with a dead backup battery for years before I got it and even after replacing the battery it won't fire up.

TIA,

Kurt Lesser

Sent a couple of PMs. I have you covered, at least for some version of it. I'm not sure the Falcom software I have will do what you need...

Sent from my Nokia 6.1 using Tapatalk

 

[papakb]

Got the PMs. The radio came to me with a dead backup battery that I've replaced. The radio will turn on and goes through an initialization page but then gives an error message that says "system busy, reselect mode" but then won't allow it. The other positions yield messages that say "HOP not installed", "ALE not installed" the test mode turns on after initializing but then ignores anything from the keypad and defaults to the "system busy" message. I have been told that I should be able to toggle the test mode from the Falcom program and that might let me figure out what else isn't doing what it's supposed to. Interestingly replacing the front panel didn't fix things and ALE and HOP are not options but do need to be turned on. That's why I think the issue may be corrected by a software unlock.

 

[aleigh]

The manual's opinion of "ALE NOT INSTALLED" is that it's a major fault and the entire thing needs to go in for repair. That says to me you have a problem on one of the boards or they are not communicating, which seems to bear out because from a factory fresh start you should be able to get into SSB.

It sounds like you got hooked up but I am pretty sure the FALCOM software is just a RS-232 terminal emulator. You can make up a cable and use any other software, the menus and things are provided by the radio itself, not the software, when it is in remote mode and cooperating.

 

[papakb]

The Remote mode does seem to be working, at least it doesn't give me the "system busy" error when I select it. Maybe a good sign?

 

[aleigh]

Did you hook it up to RS-232 as yet? Curious how this turns out.

 

[Moraymac]

My PRC-138 has developed the same issue unfortunately and it happened while I was using it would like to know how you got on debugging

 

[papakb]

The repair ended up being a replacement front panel with a new keypad.