Posted: 12/23/2013 11:45:48 AM EDT
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Anyone using a ft-857 on digital that could share some setup tips with me?
I've been using my ts-430 up to this point, but I'm trying to work on a issue that I've been having on certain band and want to substitute the ft-857 in its place. I have it working I think but the setting seem a little off, so I'm wondering if I have something setup incorrectly. My setup: Ft-857 into a LDG AT-600pro into a homebrew dipole (this may be my largest issue but I do not have an analyzer yet) Easy digi from the data port into cheap usb sound card. VOX Triggered DIG GAIN 3 DIG MODE PSK31-U DIG VOX 30 RF POWER SET 10 Win7 desktop Speaker sound level 19 The biggest concern is the Dig gain. Is it normal to have to lower the gain this much to keep out of the ALC? Or do I need something to attenuate the audio from the soundcard? BTW on 17m atm if anyone can give me a signal report. |
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Anyone using a ft-857 on digital that could share some setup tips with me? I've been using my ts-430 up to this point, but I'm trying to work on a issue that I've been having on certain band and want to substitute the ft-857 in its place. I have it working I think but the setting seem a little off, so I'm wondering if I have something setup incorrectly. My setup: Ft-857 into a LDG AT-600pro into a homebrew dipole (this may be my largest issue but I do not have an analyzer yet) Easy digi from the data port into cheap usb sound card. VOX Triggered DIG GAIN 3 DIG MODE PSK31-U DIG VOX 30 RF POWER SET 10 Win7 desktop Speaker sound level 19 The biggest concern is the Dig gain. Is it normal to have to lower the gain this much to keep out of the ALC? Or do I need something to attenuate the audio from the soundcard? BTW on 17m atm if anyone can give me a signal report. I had the similar FT-897 at one time. I was never able to successfully do digital. The various digital menus were very confusing. As I found out later, you don't need to fool with that at all. Leave it set up like you do for SSB. Use a Donner Digital Interface and follow their instructions. RF POWER SET 10 NO. Set RF power at 100 watts. Reduce the audio drive from your computer to obtain 20-25 watts of output. If you use the Donner interface there is an audio pot inside. Turn it all the way counterclockwise (off). Then set the audio drive from your computer to 50%. Start a CQ macro via your digital program. Slowly turn up the audio pot inside the Donner until you have about 20-25 watts of output with no ALC showing. If ALC blinks even a little, turn down the audio drive. Now put the cover back on the Donner interface and don't fool with it any more. Control power output via the audio slider in your computer. At the 50% setting you have room to increase and decrease power. Also, don't run more than 25 watts. You will just distort, your signal will spread out and you will piss off everyone else on the band as you overpower who they are trying to listen to. You don't need a lot of power for this. You can talk around the world on 20 watts. |
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Make sure to put it in packet mode or it wont accept audio from the acc port Quoted:
Make sure to put it in packet mode or it wont accept audio from the acc port Its in DIG mode and seems to accept the audio from the port. Quoted:
NO. Set RF power at 100 watts. Reduce the audio drive from your computer to obtain 20-25 watts of output. If you use the Donner interface there is an audio pot inside. Turn it all the way counterclockwise (off). Then set the audio drive from your computer to 50%. Start a CQ macro via your digital program. Slowly turn up the audio pot inside the Donner until you have about 20-25 watts of output with no ALC showing. If ALC blinks even a little, turn down the audio drive. Now put the cover back on the Donner interface and don't fool with it any more. Control power output via the audio slider in your computer. At the 50% setting you have room to increase and decrease power. Also, don't run more than 25 watts. You will just distort, your signal will spread out and you will piss off everyone else on the band as you overpower who they are trying to listen to. You don't need a lot of power for this. You can talk around the world on 20 watts. Yep, I think the only time I've used more than 15w was getting Israel on 40m. So I added a pot on the audio line before the easy-digi. And changed settings to: RF POWER SET 100 DIG GAIN 5-30 (varies from 2w to 20w) DIG VOX 100 (The higher value trips the vox at lower audio-power levels) Backed the volume on the desktop down to 10. This varies audio-power levels, as well as changing the Dig gain or the pot. So now I can vary power from ~2w to 20w without hitting the alc. Thanks for the suggestions Jupiter and GCW!! |
| I use a SignaLink USB interface with my FT857D. It's plug and play interface and took me less than 10 minutes to set up FLDIGI and DIGIPAN to talk to the radio . I just switch the radio to USB (SSB mode), set output power to 20-30 watts and adjust ALC level with the TX knob on SignaLink. |
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Quoted: I use a SignaLink USB interface with my FT857D. It's plug and play interface and took me less than 10 minutes to set up FLDIGI and DIGIPAN to talk to the radio . I just switch the radio to USB (SSB mode), set output power to 20-30 watts and adjust ALC level with the TX knob on SignaLink. Would you mind posting the settings in your radio? I've been trying too, and I did what Jupiter suggested, but the ALC won't let me pass 10 watts before it goes out of wack :(
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I have not changed any settings to run digital. Let me know what parameters you are interested in.
You can also try to set max RFoutput power to 100 Watts and adjust your TX audio level where you get no ALC and the radio puts out about 30 watts. As a matter of fact I think that's what I did on mine. I'm beginning to forget since it's been too long since I ran DIGI mode. I can hoop up my radio and try again. Maybe we can have a QSO on 40 meters ARFCOM frequency. Where about are you in NC? I'm near Rock Hill, SC. |
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Quoted: I have not changed any settings to run digital. Let me know what parameters you are interested in. You can also try to set max RFoutput power to 100 Watts and adjust your TX audio level where you get no ALC and the radio puts out about 30 watts. As a matter of fact I think that's what I did on mine. I'm beginning to forget since it's been too long since I ran DIGI mode. I can hoop up my radio and try again. Maybe we can have a QSO on 40 meters ARFCOM frequency. Where about are you in NC? I'm near Rock Hill, SC. thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment...  Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... |
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thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment...
Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... Quoted:
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I have not changed any settings to run digital. Let me know what parameters you are interested in. You can also try to set max RFoutput power to 100 Watts and adjust your TX audio level where you get no ALC and the radio puts out about 30 watts. As a matter of fact I think that's what I did on mine. I'm beginning to forget since it's been too long since I ran DIGI mode. I can hoop up my radio and try again. Maybe we can have a QSO on 40 meters ARFCOM frequency. Where about are you in NC? I'm near Rock Hill, SC. thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment...
Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... You need to put a "/ag" on the end of your callsign till the ULS updates. |
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Quoted: You need to put a "/ag" on the end of your callsign till the ULS updates. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have not changed any settings to run digital. Let me know what parameters you are interested in. You can also try to set max RFoutput power to 100 Watts and adjust your TX audio level where you get no ALC and the radio puts out about 30 watts. As a matter of fact I think that's what I did on mine. I'm beginning to forget since it's been too long since I ran DIGI mode. I can hoop up my radio and try again. Maybe we can have a QSO on 40 meters ARFCOM frequency. Where about are you in NC? I'm near Rock Hill, SC. thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment... Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... You need to put a "/ag" on the end of your callsign till the ULS updates. It is updated. I made a screen shot and posted that in my QRZ profile
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thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment...
Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... Quoted:
Quoted:
I have not changed any settings to run digital. Let me know what parameters you are interested in. You can also try to set max RFoutput power to 100 Watts and adjust your TX audio level where you get no ALC and the radio puts out about 30 watts. As a matter of fact I think that's what I did on mine. I'm beginning to forget since it's been too long since I ran DIGI mode. I can hoop up my radio and try again. Maybe we can have a QSO on 40 meters ARFCOM frequency. Where about are you in NC? I'm near Rock Hill, SC. thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment...
Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... Wait a second... Your SWR is that high? No wonder no one can hear you. The radio protects itself by reducing output power if SWR is too high. Be careful with that. It's possible that you can blow your finals if runing with very high SWR. What do you mean by radio shutting off? Does it power itself down or you output power goes to zero? |
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Quoted: Wait a second... Your SWR is that high? No wonder no one can hear you. The radio protects itself by reducing output power if SWR is too high. Be careful with that. It's possible that you can blow your finals if runing with very high SWR. What do you mean by radio shutting off? Does it power itself down or you output power goes to zero? Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I have not changed any settings to run digital. Let me know what parameters you are interested in. You can also try to set max RFoutput power to 100 Watts and adjust your TX audio level where you get no ALC and the radio puts out about 30 watts. As a matter of fact I think that's what I did on mine. I'm beginning to forget since it's been too long since I ran DIGI mode. I can hoop up my radio and try again. Maybe we can have a QSO on 40 meters ARFCOM frequency. Where about are you in NC? I'm near Rock Hill, SC. thanks for the reply. I did that, but for some reason, if the needle in the SWR meter goes over 10, the radio just cuts off. I'm in Wilmington, NC. I'd love to QSO, but sadly my antenna won't tune to 40 meters, oh the joys of living in an apartment... Well, this kinda sucks, my call sign has been upgraded to General, but I guess people look in the QRZ.com website, and still says I'm a technician, and they won't reply to my CQ... Wait a second... Your SWR is that high? No wonder no one can hear you. The radio protects itself by reducing output power if SWR is too high. Be careful with that. It's possible that you can blow your finals if runing with very high SWR. What do you mean by radio shutting off? Does it power itself down or you output power goes to zero? No, I'm sorry... I meant the other needle. The SWR goes down 0 once I get the loop antenna tuned. The radio just quits transmitting, and it goes back to listening mode. Hard to explain, I'm gonna try to shoot a video and post it online. Thanks for the help!
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I found the problem I think. The wire going to the antenna was a bit long, so I made a small loop at the antenna feeding point, so that was the problem. I undid it, put the wire straight to the radio, and it seems to be working now. Before, going above 5 watts was making the ALC needle jump up and down like crazy. Now I can do 10 watts, and I made a couple of contacts (WI and OK QRP station) with good reports!
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I found the problem I think. The wire going to the antenna was a bit long, so I made a small loop at the antenna feeding point, so that was the problem. I undid it, put the wire straight to the radio, and it seems to be working now. Before, going above 5 watts was making the ALC needle jump up and down like crazy. Now I can do 10 watts, and I made a couple of contacts (WI and OK QRP station) with good reports! Turn your power up to max and set your computer volume at 0. Slowly increase your volume until the power you want is reached. It won't take much. Then go down to the Copper Penny and get some spinach and artichoke dig 
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Turn your power up to max and set your computer volume at 0. Slowly increase your volume until the power you want is reached. It won't take much. Then go down to the Copper Penny and get some spinach and artichoke dig Quoted:
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I found the problem I think. The wire going to the antenna was a bit long, so I made a small loop at the antenna feeding point, so that was the problem. I undid it, put the wire straight to the radio, and it seems to be working now. Before, going above 5 watts was making the ALC needle jump up and down like crazy. Now I can do 10 watts, and I made a couple of contacts (WI and OK QRP station) with good reports! Turn your power up to max and set your computer volume at 0. Slowly increase your volume until the power you want is reached. It won't take much. Then go down to the Copper Penny and get some spinach and artichoke dig That is close to what I do, RF Power in menu set to 100, PC volume about 1/2 and I turn up the volume using my interface until the ALC meter shows a reading and then I turn it down a little. |
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That is close to what I do, RF Power in menu set to 100, PC volume about 1/2 and I turn up the volume using my interface until the ALC meter shows a reading and then I turn it down a little. Quoted:
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I found the problem I think. The wire going to the antenna was a bit long, so I made a small loop at the antenna feeding point, so that was the problem. I undid it, put the wire straight to the radio, and it seems to be working now. Before, going above 5 watts was making the ALC needle jump up and down like crazy. Now I can do 10 watts, and I made a couple of contacts (WI and OK QRP station) with good reports! Turn your power up to max and set your computer volume at 0. Slowly increase your volume until the power you want is reached. It won't take much. Then go down to the Copper Penny and get some spinach and artichoke dig That is close to what I do, RF Power in menu set to 100, PC volume about 1/2 and I turn up the volume using my interface until the ALC meter shows a reading and then I turn it down a little. What is your radios input gain set at? Are you using line out or headphone/speaker? I can only get my volume 20% before I max out 100w and my ALC doesn't show unless it is above 60% (oops  )
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| Yeah, I have the mic gain all the way to 100%, audio out in the computer 100%, audio for DigiPan set at 50%, then I play with the Signalink USB TX control. In this radio I have to max it up, but with the 857d, I have to put it almost to minimum. I guess I gotta keep experimenting, but boy oh boy I was getting frustrated with this. |
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Yeah, I have the mic gain all the way to 100%, audio out in the computer 100%, audio for DigiPan set at 50%, then I play with the Signalink USB TX control. In this radio I have to max it up, but with the 857d, I have to put it almost to minimum. I guess I gotta keep experimenting, but boy oh boy I was getting frustrated with this. That is your problem. Your levels are too high. Set your power at 100% Set mic gain at 50% Set computer volume to 0% tune your antenna to lowest SWR and focus on your PWR meter. Click your software's "tune" button so that a continuous tone is played Slowly slide your volume up from 0% while watching your PWR When you get to 20-30% stop adjusting your audio Check that you have no ALC |
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Quoted: That is your problem. Your levels are too high. Set your power at 100% Set mic gain at 50% Set computer volume to 0% tune your antenna to lowest SWR and focus on your PWR meter. Click your software's "tune" button so that a continuous tone is played Slowly slide your volume up from 0% while watching your PWR When you get to 20-30% stop adjusting your audio Check that you have no ALC Quoted: Quoted: Yeah, I have the mic gain all the way to 100%, audio out in the computer 100%, audio for DigiPan set at 50%, then I play with the Signalink USB TX control. In this radio I have to max it up, but with the 857d, I have to put it almost to minimum. I guess I gotta keep experimenting, but boy oh boy I was getting frustrated with this. That is your problem. Your levels are too high. Set your power at 100% Set mic gain at 50% Set computer volume to 0% tune your antenna to lowest SWR and focus on your PWR meter. Click your software's "tune" button so that a continuous tone is played Slowly slide your volume up from 0% while watching your PWR When you get to 20-30% stop adjusting your audio Check that you have no ALC Ah ok, should I change the volume in the computer speakers or the one for the USB Codec for the signalink?
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Ah ok, should I change the volume in the computer speakers or the one for the USB Codec for the signalink? Quoted:
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Yeah, I have the mic gain all the way to 100%, audio out in the computer 100%, audio for DigiPan set at 50%, then I play with the Signalink USB TX control. In this radio I have to max it up, but with the 857d, I have to put it almost to minimum. I guess I gotta keep experimenting, but boy oh boy I was getting frustrated with this. That is your problem. Your levels are too high. Set your power at 100% Set mic gain at 50% Set computer volume to 0% tune your antenna to lowest SWR and focus on your PWR meter. Click your software's "tune" button so that a continuous tone is played Slowly slide your volume up from 0% while watching your PWR When you get to 20-30% stop adjusting your audio Check that you have no ALC Ah ok, should I change the volume in the computer speakers or the one for the USB Codec for the signalink? I dont have a signal link but I would think that setting the computer setting for it at 50% and adjusting the knob would work. Just start with everything low and slowly start raising stuff |
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What is your radios input gain set at? Are you using line out or headphone/speaker? I can only get my volume 20% before I max out 100w and my ALC doesn't show unless it is above 60% (oops )Quoted:
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I found the problem I think. The wire going to the antenna was a bit long, so I made a small loop at the antenna feeding point, so that was the problem. I undid it, put the wire straight to the radio, and it seems to be working now. Before, going above 5 watts was making the ALC needle jump up and down like crazy. Now I can do 10 watts, and I made a couple of contacts (WI and OK QRP station) with good reports! Turn your power up to max and set your computer volume at 0. Slowly increase your volume until the power you want is reached. It won't take much. Then go down to the Copper Penny and get some spinach and artichoke dig Dig Gain at 20 using speaker out into a G3LIV interface That is close to what I do, RF Power in menu set to 100, PC volume about 1/2 and I turn up the volume using my interface until the ALC meter shows a reading and then I turn it down a little. What is your radios input gain set at? Are you using line out or headphone/speaker? I can only get my volume 20% before I max out 100w and my ALC doesn't show unless it is above 60% (oops ) |
I brought the TS-440S back from the dead! Looks like the DSP card I installed as a mod quit working for some reason  I'm happy is working again though!  p/s: I made a couple of good contacts in PSK-31 today, got good signal reports. One was from Florida, and the other one I can't remember. The only problem (hick up if you will), is that for the reason DigiPan (or the radio, I don't know yet), times out the TX as I'm typing. I'm thinking in going the HDR-DM780 route, will that fix the problem? Thanks again! |