Elecraft

TX Mode issue

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Wes Stewart-2

TX Mode issue

I've had to remove my K3S from the station again for repair. I've resurrected my
old K3 to fill in. (Always have a spare)

Since the last time this happened, I've ventured into FT8 operating and I noted
that when I used my USB to Serial converter that always worked fine in the past,
FT8 was extremely slow to connect and communicate with the K3. Figuring I might
have one of the dreaded counterfeit clone adapters I dragged out the Edgeport
serial to USB adapter.

FT8 now connected like a champ. However, and I've noted this with MMTTY
connected as well, there are instances where I go to transmit and find the TX
test mode is enabled. Furthermore, the front panel switch will not turn it
off. I have to cycle power. Additionally, I don't have to be doing anything,
it's happened with me out of the shack.

If Mt. Athos comes on and I miss it because of this I'm going to be really
POed. Any ideas?

Wes N7WS
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Jim Brown-10

Re: TX Mode issue

On 9/8/2017 2:47 PM, Wes Stewart wrote:
> Any ideas?

Only a WAG, Wes. All of the Elecraft radios write their current setup to
RAM when you turn off the radio with its own power switch, and the next
time the radio is turned on, that setup is applied. If, however, you
remove DC power from the radio, those settings are NOT written, and the
last settings saved will apply.

Also, if the radio is running and power is interrupted for some reason,
the radio can go a bit nuts. This happened to me once when I was running
from the 12V line in my Toyota SUV without the motor running and power
dropped for a few seconds when I started the motor. In my case, it
locked up. Taking advice from K6XX, I removed power from the radio, let
it sit for 20 minutes, and turned it back on. As I recall, that's all I
had to do, and it fired up.

73, Jim K9YC

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Josh Fiden

Re: TX Mode issue

In reply to this post by Wes Stewart-2

I had these exact symptoms. It turned out that Tx Inhibit was enabled, but the hardware line was left floating.

73,
Josh W6XU

Sent from my mobile device

>
> ...there are instances where I go to transmit and find the TX test mode is enabled. Furthermore, the front panel switch will not turn it off. I have to cycle power. Additionally, I don't have to be doing anything, it's happened with me out of the shack.
>
>

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Wes Stewart-2

Re: TX Mode issue

In reply to this post by Wes Stewart-2

Thanks to all who offered suggestions. Rather than many individual replies, I'll
just add further comments here.

The SS-USB-100 USB-to-Serial converter (Prolific chipset) is definitely bad. As
I said it worked fine before but is flaky now.

With the Edgeport 4-port, FT8 works fine and I can connect using the K3 Utility
program and do everything it should do, although I note that reading Macros from
the radio is very sloooow, to the point that I thought it wasn't working.

I've updated the K3 firmware to the latest version (it was only one behind). I
can use the utility program to turn TX Test mode on and off (SWH18) and it works
fine until the mode gets set randomly.

Someone suggested that the KPA500 TX Inhibit is enabled. It is not. The KPA500
isn't on and the K3 is connected to a dummy load since I've been doing a lot of
IMD testing. In other words, no RFI issues. But, I am getting suspicious that
this is an Auxbus issue in the K3.

I removed the Auxbus cable and let the radio set for about three hours without a
fault. I reconnected it and removed the cover to check the I/O boards, etc. It
faulted immediately. I wiggled the boards and everything seemed OK. I replaced
the cover, reseated the cable and watched for a couple of hours. No problems.
I thought that maybe it was fixed. The XYL to be called me to a late
lunch/early dinner and when I came back to complete this message reporting
success, the TX Test light is blinking again. And again.

I should note that the same cable is used on the K3S without issue.

Wes N7WS

On 9/8/2017 2:47 PM, Wes Stewart wrote:

> I've had to remove my K3S from the station again for repair. I've resurrected
> my old K3 to fill in. (Always have a spare)
>
> Since the last time this happened, I've ventured into FT8 operating and I
> noted that when I used my USB to Serial converter that always worked fine in
> the past, FT8 was extremely slow to connect and communicate with the K3.
> Figuring I might have one of the dreaded counterfeit clone adapters I dragged
> out the Edgeport serial to USB adapter.
>
> FT8 now connected like a champ. However, and I've noted this with MMTTY
> connected as well, there are instances where I go to transmit and find the TX
> test mode is enabled. Furthermore, the front panel switch will not turn it
> off. I have to cycle power. Additionally, I don't have to be doing anything,
> it's happened with me out of the shack.
>
> If Mt. Athos comes on and I miss it because of this I'm going to be really
> POed. Any ideas?
>
> Wes N7WS

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Wes Stewart-2

Re: TX Mode issue

One last post and we're done.

I think we have a winner. Josh, W6XU, had asked me earlier whether I had TX
Inhibit disabled. I assumed in the KPA500, he was unaware of that function but
was thinking about the inhibit in the K3, I hadn't thought of that one.

So I had sort of a perfect storm situation. For some reason, TX Inhibit in the
K3 was set to High. How it got that way is beyond me, since I sure didn't set
it that way on purpose and the default is Off. If it is set to Hi then it
requires a pull-up resistor, which of course it didn't have. However, I had
used a standard VGA cable on the K3 but opened the unused pins at the KAT500
end, which is completely functional.

Last night I had removed every cable from the K3 except the power cable and the
Aux cable and reset the K3. This morning the TX light was blinking. Before
seeing Josh's email I decided to break off the unused pins on the K3 end of the
cable and shorted up the interconnect between the KAT500 and the KPA500. I
suspected a transient problem. I think I was right. I'm guessing that without a
pull-up resistor and TX Inhibit set Hi there was enough garbage on the wire to
cause the fault. This probably was enough but Josh's tip and turning off the
function is likely the real answer.

Wes N7WS

On 9/9/2017 5:23 PM, Wes Stewart wrote:

> Thanks to all who offered suggestions. Rather than many individual replies,
> I'll just add further comments here.
>
> The SS-USB-100 USB-to-Serial converter (Prolific chipset) is definitely bad.
> As I said it worked fine before but is flaky now.
>
> With the Edgeport 4-port, FT8 works fine and I can connect using the K3
> Utility program and do everything it should do, although I note that reading
> Macros from the radio is very sloooow, to the point that I thought it wasn't
> working.
>
> I've updated the K3 firmware to the latest version (it was only one behind).
> I can use the utility program to turn TX Test mode on and off (SWH18) and it
> works fine until the mode gets set randomly.
>
> Someone suggested that the KPA500 TX Inhibit is enabled. It is not. The
> KPA500 isn't on and the K3 is connected to a dummy load since I've been doing
> a lot of IMD testing. In other words, no RFI issues. But, I am getting
> suspicious that this is an Auxbus issue in the K3.
>
> I removed the Auxbus cable and let the radio set for about three hours without
> a fault. I reconnected it and removed the cover to check the I/O boards,
> etc. It faulted immediately. I wiggled the boards and everything seemed OK.
> I replaced the cover, reseated the cable and watched for a couple of hours.
> No problems. I thought that maybe it was fixed. The XYL to be called me to a
> late lunch/early dinner and when I came back to complete this message
> reporting success, the TX Test light is blinking again. And again.
>
> I should note that the same cable is used on the K3S without issue.
>
> Wes N7WS
>
>
>
> On 9/8/2017 2:47 PM, Wes Stewart wrote:
>> I've had to remove my K3S from the station again for repair. I've resurrected
>> my old K3 to fill in. (Always have a spare)
>>
>> Since the last time this happened, I've ventured into FT8 operating and I
>> noted that when I used my USB to Serial converter that always worked fine in
>> the past, FT8 was extremely slow to connect and communicate with the K3.
>> Figuring I might have one of the dreaded counterfeit clone adapters I dragged
>> out the Edgeport serial to USB adapter.
>>
>> FT8 now connected like a champ. However, and I've noted this with MMTTY
>> connected as well, there are instances where I go to transmit and find the TX
>> test mode is enabled. Furthermore, the front panel switch will not turn it
>> off. I have to cycle power. Additionally, I don't have to be doing anything,
>> it's happened with me out of the shack.
>>
>> If Mt. Athos comes on and I miss it because of this I'm going to be really
>> POed. Any ideas?
>>
>> Wes N7WS
>
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