[time-nuts] Deaf Thunderbolt

[Nigel Vander Houwen]

Hey All,

I’ve got a thunderbolt that apparently decided to go deaf since the last time I checked in on it. I’ve double checked voltages feeding into the unit, as well as making sure 5v is going to the antenna, as well as on the pre-amp chip inside the unit.

Everything else about the unit seems to be working fine, just reports 0 signal level for satellites. I’ve confirmed the antenna is working fine with another receiver, so that isn’t likely the issue.

The pre-amp chip seems to be available at digikey, which is easy enough to replace. The GPS RF chip is an unobtainium Infineon chip, that may be possible to source through unofficial/second hand sources, but that’s TBD.

There are two filters internally, I tried removing and bypassing the first, which didn’t make a difference, I left the second SAW filter in place, I figure that’s a pretty low likelihood of failure.

Anyone have further suggestions on things to check or seen similar failures?

Thanks,
Nigel