Quantar PA Failure

[wiredwrx]

My machine on the mountain all of a sudden stopped working. Remoted into the machine, and noted that the Status Panel Screen indicates there is a PA failure. When it tries to tx, the Metering Screen shows an extremely high SWR, on the order of 10.0 :1. While its possible there is an issue with the feedline, the machine is on a combiner and multicoupler, and other machines appear to be working fine. I guess it could be the jumper between the machine and the combiner, but I don't think that's it really. Here is the output of the Status Report Screen:

1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 SC ROOT 689 SYS_RESET 1
1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 WL LINK STATUS: INIT_FROM_RESET
1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 SC LINK STATUS: WL_LINK_TYPE_IS_V.24
1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 SC LINK STATUS: LINK_INIT_ACTIVE
1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 SC LINK STATUS: LINK_FAILURE_ACTIVE
1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 SC LINK STATUS: LINK_INIT_INACTIVE
1900/01/01.00:00:00 1900/01/01.00:00:00 1 SC LINK STATUS: LINK_FAILURE_INACTIVE
1900/01/01.00:01:41 1900/01/01.00:01:41 1 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 3923 HC11 EEPROM_CHKSUM_ALRM_CLRD
1900/01/01.00:01:41 1900/01/01.00:01:45 2 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4316 HC11 TX_POWER_LEVEL_ALARM
1900/01/01.00:01:41 1900/01/01.00:01:52 3 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4057 HC11 INT_WM_VSWR_ALARM
1900/01/01.00:01:41 1900/01/01.00:01:52 3 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4069 HC11 INT_WM_FWD_PWR_ALARM
1900/01/01.00:01:42 1900/01/01.00:01:52 3 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4291 HC11 NO_FORWARD_PWR
1900/01/01.00:01:45 1900/01/01.00:02:08 3 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4061 HC11 INT_WM_VSWR_ALRM_CLEARED
1900/01/01.00:01:45 1900/01/01.00:02:08 3 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4082 HC11 INT_WM_FWD_PWR_ALRM_CLRD
1900/01/01.00:01:45 1900/01/01.00:02:08 3 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4303 HC11 NO_FORWARD_PWR_CLEARED
1900/01/01.00:01:45 1900/01/01.00:01:45 1 SC SYSTEM_STATUS 4320 HC11 TX_POWER_LEVEL_ALARM_CLRD
1900/01/01.00:02:08 1900/01/01.00:02:08 3 SC ROUTE_SERIAL_DATA 563 BAD_OPCODE 285

It should be noted, that this is a R0/R1 PA that i changed the ID resister network to indicate R2.

Yes, I know its probably a straight PA failure, but if anyone has any other ideas what might be the culprit, please let me know.

 

[foxtrotdelta]

Do you have an isolator on the combiner? We've had a few that failed which then caused high SWR and eventual PA failures. Never quite figured out what caused the isolator failures though as in each instance nothing else was damaged, like we might expect with lightning (but lightning can act strangely!).

 

[Astro Spectra]

Dead circulator in the PA most likely. If it is you can bypass it with a coax jumper.

 

[CARC383]

Dead circulator in the PA most likely. If it is you can bypass it with a coax jumpThe

The metering for VSWR should be after the internal circulator, so the problem is probably downstream. Maybe the low pass filter? A quick check with a load right on the transmitter will tell if the problem is internal or external to the PA. I have an R1 UHF diddled to think its a R2 and it can't quite make rated power and it runs a little hotter than an actual R2 PA. I don't expect it to live forever.

 

[wiredwrx]

Thanks for the input everyone. I'll hope for a simple fix that doesn't mean a blown PA.