PureSignal Problems
Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2019 8:15 pm
Scott,
Ok ... so i've re-read your document on PureSignal in this subforum. You've given info on what things are doing - but unfortunately I still don't know how I can impact what is happening with my station.
I've mentioned this more than a few times before - there are some that chime in - and there are those like yourself that say "i never have any issues with Puresignal" ... so I've lived with the fact that my PS will what seems to be on its own go bananas (technical term) where you can see the TX pan is FILLED with a signal (which must be just wonderful on those within say 50Khz of me either side) ... the lights flash all over and it takes a few seconds for it to re-establish correction and I'm back in business again. This is related to how heavily the signal is processed as if i select my "BROAD" TX profile, which has no processing and is for wider conversational audi - I don't know that I've seen this happen. But I've used that profile all of maybe - 0 times. I AM a DXer ... that is what I do - that is what I have the radio (and antennas) for ... and that is what I need to work.
So - I've lived with it - it hasn't been a problem other than as described for that brief period of time. EXCEPT when the amplifier is using a tuner. My Expert 2K has a wonderful tuner that works extremely well. I have a rotatable dipole for 80M at 144' and it has 3 coil sets and thus 8 band segments to cover the band. The SWR is rock solid stable albeit at the edge of each segment it is around 1.7:1. OCCASIONALLY on the EXpert what will happen is this loss of lock happens, the signal gets WIDE and strong - and the amp will trip out on high SWR since it is now seeing reflections from frequencies OUTSIDE of where I am sitting (and my TX passband). Generally not an issue but it happens once in a while.
I've now purchased a new KPA1500 ... and it is another story. IT trips out frequently. If PS is on I can't get through more than 2 sentences w/o a trip. So now I'm forced to not use PS which is contrary to the reason I have this radio.
So - is there ANYTHING I can do re the settings: PIN, MAP, TINT that will lesson this effect - hopefully eliminate it as even if less frequent its still ugly as hell and not 'neighborly". And I fear it might damage the KPA - expensive fix if it happens.
Can I turn AUTO-CAL off and if so what should i see re the lights if PS is turned on (I see different colors)?
I really wish that someone would put some effort back in to 3.4.9 instead of what seems like totally abandoning it for Thetis. Thetis is a long way from being usable w/o concerns for reliability - and there are still things in 3.4.9 that need fixing. For example - I still have issues when I go on CW and PS seems to still be doing something because all of a sudden the ATT is set to 0 and I have seriously bad distortion in the signal. Setting it back up to say 31 sometimes works - other times it doesn't do a thing because it is back to 0 again. PS should be OFF in ANY mode other than those it is intended for - off for CW, DIGU/L. AND when off the ATT should be set at the highest value needed to ensure the max power it has seen is represented. I.e. if one typically runs 200W then maybe it is set to 20 when on CW ... if one occasionally goes to 1.5Kw then it might need to be at 31 (in both cases independent of the actual power in use, done as a precaution and only effecting the TX signal placement on the panadpater). PS OFF/ON should be mode dependent!
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Gary , K9RX
Ok ... so i've re-read your document on PureSignal in this subforum. You've given info on what things are doing - but unfortunately I still don't know how I can impact what is happening with my station.
I've mentioned this more than a few times before - there are some that chime in - and there are those like yourself that say "i never have any issues with Puresignal" ... so I've lived with the fact that my PS will what seems to be on its own go bananas (technical term) where you can see the TX pan is FILLED with a signal (which must be just wonderful on those within say 50Khz of me either side) ... the lights flash all over and it takes a few seconds for it to re-establish correction and I'm back in business again. This is related to how heavily the signal is processed as if i select my "BROAD" TX profile, which has no processing and is for wider conversational audi - I don't know that I've seen this happen. But I've used that profile all of maybe - 0 times. I AM a DXer ... that is what I do - that is what I have the radio (and antennas) for ... and that is what I need to work.
So - I've lived with it - it hasn't been a problem other than as described for that brief period of time. EXCEPT when the amplifier is using a tuner. My Expert 2K has a wonderful tuner that works extremely well. I have a rotatable dipole for 80M at 144' and it has 3 coil sets and thus 8 band segments to cover the band. The SWR is rock solid stable albeit at the edge of each segment it is around 1.7:1. OCCASIONALLY on the EXpert what will happen is this loss of lock happens, the signal gets WIDE and strong - and the amp will trip out on high SWR since it is now seeing reflections from frequencies OUTSIDE of where I am sitting (and my TX passband). Generally not an issue but it happens once in a while.
I've now purchased a new KPA1500 ... and it is another story. IT trips out frequently. If PS is on I can't get through more than 2 sentences w/o a trip. So now I'm forced to not use PS which is contrary to the reason I have this radio.
So - is there ANYTHING I can do re the settings: PIN, MAP, TINT that will lesson this effect - hopefully eliminate it as even if less frequent its still ugly as hell and not 'neighborly". And I fear it might damage the KPA - expensive fix if it happens.
Can I turn AUTO-CAL off and if so what should i see re the lights if PS is turned on (I see different colors)?
I really wish that someone would put some effort back in to 3.4.9 instead of what seems like totally abandoning it for Thetis. Thetis is a long way from being usable w/o concerns for reliability - and there are still things in 3.4.9 that need fixing. For example - I still have issues when I go on CW and PS seems to still be doing something because all of a sudden the ATT is set to 0 and I have seriously bad distortion in the signal. Setting it back up to say 31 sometimes works - other times it doesn't do a thing because it is back to 0 again. PS should be OFF in ANY mode other than those it is intended for - off for CW, DIGU/L. AND when off the ATT should be set at the highest value needed to ensure the max power it has seen is represented. I.e. if one typically runs 200W then maybe it is set to 20 when on CW ... if one occasionally goes to 1.5Kw then it might need to be at 31 (in both cases independent of the actual power in use, done as a precaution and only effecting the TX signal placement on the panadpater). PS OFF/ON should be mode dependent!
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Gary , K9RX