been off for almost 10 years now and  think somethings wrong with my radio.  or it very well could be im just dumb and am screwing something up here.

Antenna: 20m dipole only about 10ft off ground so its a cloud burner.  but im hearing all the regular yahoos on 7.2lsb

Radio: is a Yaesu ft897d

Tuner: at-897+ sidecar tuner

Soundcard: Signalink USB

Software: FLRig/FLdigi

I have flrig and fldigi all set up and I can control the radio (via the tuner) via the PC just fine, and also on 14.07usb hear lots of digital activity from the radio and seeing QSOs on the waterfall.  Even heard one guy from Italy a bit ago.

the tuner can tune 40m and shorter, I see power on the internal radio meter (and the external LDG meter) during this activity.  BUT  when I attempt to TX via digital there is no power on either of those meters, though I can tell that the radio is keying up and is going into TX mode.  Its almost like its not getting any input for the modulation.

fldigi is setup to use portaudio.  its capture device is "Microphone (USB Audio CODEC )" and the playback device is "Speakers (USB Audio CODEC)".  Those are in fact the signalink.

best I can tell something is broke?  Ive inspected all the cabling everything seems fine

when I try phone, I do see power meter activity, but never get any response from anyone.

if anyone is bored and up for a phone call please IM me.  Id like to try to make the net this week.

My guess is the menu settings are not set for FT-8.

This guy has the same radio and may have some input for you.

https://www.hamradio.hanklambert.com/my-gear/radios/yaesu-ft-897d

its set for bpsk31 and Im reading all the QSOs as they happen.  so the audio path from the radio/signalink to the PC & fldigi is OK for that direction.

I did notice that setting my PC's default audio device to the signalink, and then playing ANY audio on the PC would key up the radio and actually transmit power.  so that is working. from youtube/firefox to the signalink/radio.

just cant get the fldigi to transmit its audio to the damn radio/signalink wtf.

I'm going to make some assumptions here. I haven't had my 897 for a decade so...

Your signal link has a cable plugged into the DATA jack of the 897.

What mode is selected for Transmit? If it's USB/LSB it won't work.

The mode needs to be set to use the DATA jack. That's probably going to be PSK31-U or User-U.

I hate to say to read the manual, but look in the manual for data set, I think it'll be menu item 38.


ETA:
Attached File

I'm not familiar with FLdigi. I mean I know of it, but for FT-8 I use WSJT usually. I did use the JTDX but it seems it doesn't like the Signalink USB I use with my 857D for FT-8.

I have FLdigi installed on a laptop, but haven't done much with it.

You might try WSJT, a free download. Just a thought.

Was going to post this, confirm the radio is in the correct mode. It's what everything you posted points to.

If you want to work with me, get it touch and I will help.  Email good in QRZ.com or you can PM me here if you like and we can exchange phone numbers. Most likely we will need a screen share session. so it would be good to load my proffered screen share program which is Anydesk. You will also need a network time synch utility.

I am one of the ARRL Missouri tech specialist's.

FLdigi has some twists and turns. and it would be easier to get WSJT-x working for FT8 even if you dont want to work FT8, it is the easiest program to get running, and then we would know that all hardware, ports etc are working properly. and then we can tackle FLdigi to make PSK31 work.

WSJT-x


Anydesk

Net time synch utility


73  James  KØUA

If you still need help, IM me and we can connect.

I have an 897d w/ SignaLink that I've used for FLDigi, JS8, Winlink, and phone.

I keep it setup as a backup unit, but it's been awhile since I've used it. So, I'll want to run it through the paces and refresh my memory.

I think my problem here is rig control as also  something is just wonky with my flrig it always resets my VFO to use a split (which i hate) and it also changes vfos from a and b sometimes on me.  it is able to set freq and mode just fine though, so it is working somewhat. then there is the question of fldigi not giving the audio to the radio when the radio transmits.  which again is really odd as then I set the PC to us the signalink as the default playback device, then ANY audio from the PC (youtube, etc) will key the radio and transmit power activity goes up.

I was actually able to make a few digital contacts last night but now the radio again refuses to key up with audio modulation.

does wsjt work with bpsk and olivia? I thought it was only for those high FEC modes but I se multiple people telling me to use it so I guess I'll see what happens.  

Also hung up a new antenna last night a ZS6BKW-G5RV but w/o the regular matching 70ft coax.  using a 15ft coax since I do have that ldg auto tuner for the yaesu.  but its shutting the rig down sometimes it even factory reset it once.  and causing the newfangled surge breaker (new house) to trip.  but other things was causing it to trip earlier as well so i dont think its just the radio my builder said sometimes those breakers are bad like that.

anyhow i expected that new antenna to be much better I hung it way higher and its longer anyways but I may get out that manual balanced tuner and just not use any matching coax at all.

lets see what wsjt does thanks all for the tips

FT8 and FT4 are normally split operations.  You transmit from a clear area and receive on the other station's transmit frequency.  If you transmit dead on the other station's frequency you won't make many friends, it is really frowned upon.



Make sure your sound card has plenty of audio volume to the speakers.  At least 50%.  That's where your transmit audio comes from.  If it is muted or low volume then you won't have any transmit audio.

FWIW I have always had problems getting FLRig to play nicely with any of my radios and typically default to using Hamlib.

When your on FLRIG is everything good when you hit test?

What happens when you hit test on FLDIGI?  What happens when you hit the tune button?

Also you may want to consider hooking up a dummy load so you can rule out high SWR issues until you get the rig running right.

ok so for now ive just given up on flrig and rigcat and using hamlib.

also with that zs6kw antenna up there ive just cut off the coax connector and not using any matching coax at all  and fed it directly to a balanced (manual) tuner.  So essentially just have a balanced doublet antenns, though its not the full 102ft however.  so now the CAT just does the radio now, no cat tuner since that automatic tuner is gone.  and using hamlib also and things now seem much more stable.  though I really do wish i could use flrig here as well.  anyhow my PTT issues are all gone it all seems really stable now.

what a pain.

anyhow, for the weekly digital net, you guys are using wsjt for that?  I didnt see how olivia could be used there, so im a bit confused?  I thought to use olivia that HRD or fldigi were the only options.

WSJT-x does NOT support Olivia or any of the other keyboard chat modes.

ah.  so for the weekly nets, everyone is using either hrd or fldigi then?

Yep. We use Olivia 500-16, any software that supports that will work, fldigi and HRD being the most common.

I think we've had a few check ins with someone using Android which I believe uses a different app.

Have you placed the jumpers (or purchased the little board) inside the signalinl properly?