Messages

1

General discussion forum / UPDATE - Squeal/noise when activating PTT at Radio Site - Resolved

« on: 2021-04-07, 16:57:48 »

Good morning everyone. Further to my earlier post, I received some very helpful feedback from Mitch K7DX, Will WC2L, Gerry W1VE and Mike SM2O on this issue.

I travelled up to the remote site and confirmed the settings of the red straps in the Radio RRC, I then removed all the connections from the RRC to the Radio, re-seated all connectors and added a couple of additional ferrites on some of the cables.

In doing the above work, I seem to have resolved the issue. No sure specifically what it was but it appears that it was something related to the connections either to the RRC or the Radio and not related to any of the RRC or K3s settings.

Thanks again to all for your assistance.

Have a great day and be safe.

73

Serge
VA3SB

2

General discussion forum / Re: Squeal/noise when activating PTT at Radio Site

« on: 2021-04-04, 16:25:43 »

Good morning Mike. Thank you for your response.
I have already checked my red strap on my Control Unit RRC and plan to check my Radio  Unit RRC when I next visit the remote site.
I am curious about the comment you made regarding connecting the Mic directly to the Control RRC and not to the K3/0 Mini. I am presently using the Elecraft cable assembly to connect the K3/) Mini to the RRC Control unit. How would I connect the Mic directly to the RRC in this case?

Thank you in advance.

Regards

Serge
VA3SB

3

General discussion forum / Squeal/noise when activating PTT at Radio Site

« on: 2021-04-03, 22:58:19 »

Hello to the group.

I have been experiencing an issue for quite some time while trying to operate SSB.
I operate a pair of RemoteRig boxes with a K3s/KPA500/KAT500 at my remote station site. I operate a K3/0 on the control side (city). Not a high powered station but it does play well and I have fun. SInce we are not into the third phase of the pandemic I thought of operating more SSB contests from the stations as I am primarily a cw/rtty operator.

The issue I have been wrestling with is that whenever I activate the remote K3s from my control K3/0 for SSB, I experience a "squeal/noise" whether I have audio or not. I have attached a sound file for your info recorded yesterday. I have another receiver at the site and use it along with RemoteHam software to record the output of my K3s station. This recording is of me only hitting my foot switch PTT three times without transmitting any audio. This was recorded at the 10W output level of the K3s.

I have checked and rechecked my settings and jumpers in the RRC control side box, I will be checking the red straps in the Radio Side RRC as well as the power supply (Thank you Mitch, K7DX) when I next get a chance to visit the remote station. I have also made sure that the settings are consistent with what the K3s manual indicates for Mic gain as well as compression but have not been able to find a solution. I am using a Heil  Pro 7 headset and the problem is still there if I connect it directly to the K3/0 without connection to the shack computer. As the recording indicates, the problem is there irrespective of whether there is audio or not. I get the problem whether I use the amplifier (500 Watts) or barefoot even at the 5 – 25 watt levels. The intensity does not appear to change at all with power level.

 The squeal/background noise is so bad that I cannot operate as folks tell me that it is very bad and interferes with my voice. I have checked the various lists and carried out 100's of google searches without success. 

I would be glad to share any settings/config files/other info that you think could be helpful in troubleshooting this issue.

I would greatly appreciate any help/guidance/advice that the group could provide.

Thank you in advance and have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Serge
VA3SB

4

General discussion / Re:($ REDUCED) For Sale: AS-1289 - SO - Remote Controlled 5 Way Antenna Switch

« on: 2020-05-18, 17:32:09 »

Hello everyone.

I have a AS-1289 -SO 5 position antenna switch for sale. It has SO-239 connectors.
It is in excellent operating and physical condition and surplus to my needs.

Asking $200 US + Shipping.

Please let me know if you are interested in seeing photos of the unit.

73

Serge
VA3SB

5

General discussion / For Sale: AS-1289 - SO Remote Controlled 5 Way Antenna Switch

« on: 2020-05-13, 18:01:18 »

Hello everyone.

I have a AS-1289 -SO 5 position antenna switch for sale. It has SO-239 connectors.
It is in excellent operating and physical condition and surplus to my needs.

Asking $220 US + Shipping.

Please let me know if you are interested in seeing photos of the unit.

73

Serge
VA3SB

 

6

General discussion forum / Re: N1MM+ / MMTTY FSK TX Issue - SOLVED

« on: 2017-11-01, 21:41:18 »

For the info of the group.

I was able to finally get FSK TX to operate properly by removing any reference of COMExtra in the Hardware tab of N1MM+ Configurer. I had the same port set for CW operation and thought that N1MM+ would ignore it if I chose to use RTTY as the mode. Apparently not.

Glad I got it working.

73

Serge
VA3SB

7

General discussion forum / N1MM+ / MMTTY FSK TX Issue

« on: 2017-10-31, 21:24:56 »

Good day to the group.

I am attempting to get my remote setup to work on RTTY (FSK).
I am using a K3s / K3s/0 mini setup. I have the latest version of software installed in both the RRC Control and Radio units.

My setup works just fine on SSB and CW with N1MM+. I am able to receive RTTY no problem.

My issue is that while I am able to get MMTTY to key the radio and transmit on a stand alone basis, when I attempt to use N1MM+ in conjunction with MMTTY I am not keying the radio at all (I have the same PTT/FSK COM Port selected in MMTTY). I do however have CAT control of the radio via N1MM+.

I am using the USB mini connector on the RRC Control unit to connect to my computer. I also get the error message (see attached screen shot) when I attempt to use N1MM+for RTTY.

Please let me know if I need to provide any additional information on my setup to help resolve my issue.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

73

Serge
VA3SB

8

General discussion forum / RRC Control Unit COM Ports

« on: 2017-08-14, 20:29:21 »

Hello to the group.

I am wrestling with COM Port related issues for a few days now. It seemed to work fine on Friday but when I reconnected on Saturday morning I could not connect to my contesting (and logging) software. I did not change any settings.

I have tried to get the Control unit to work with my logging and contesting software (DXLAB and N1MM+) without success. I have tried 4 computers. Three  running W10 and one running W7.
I just received a new Surface W10 laptop and thought that I would try to use it as there should be no conflicts with COM ports as it is brand new.

I downloaded the latest version of Microbit Setup manager and loaded it. I am able to find the control unit using the Setup manager.
When I connect the USB mini cable from the Control unit to the Surface and check Device Manager, I do NOT  see the usual RRC COM Ports such as:
RRC1258 COM0 (COMx)
RRC1258 COM1 (COMx)
RRC1258 COM2 (COMx)
RRC1258 COMExtra (COMx)

What I see is 4 COM ports but the naming convention is (see attached screenshot) not correct:

USB Serial Device X
USB Serial Device X
USB Serial Device X
USB Serial Device X

I have the latest version of Setup Manager and have the latest updates for the Surface installed.

Not quite sure what to make of this?

Assistance/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

73

Serge
VA3SB

9

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-18, 15:23:30 »

Thank you for your response Mike.
Based on your comments, I will just order a new control unit then.

Thanks to all for your comments/feedback.

73

Serge
VA3SB

10

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-16, 22:05:09 »

Hello Nizar / Mike
 
I took the RRC apart and re-soldered the USB connections to the circuit board. With the same result. I tried the unit on three computers with two different cables (just to be sure :-)) I still get the USB device not recognized message. It was an excellent suggestion though. Thank you.

Mike, as I am not sure what else to try, I will see if I can get the unit to you via a friend of mine who travels to Sweden on a regular basis (works for Ericsson here in Canada).
Would that be okay? Could you please let me have your mailing address as I am not sure where you are located in Sweden and the unit may have to be mailed to you from Stockholm. 

Thank you in advance.

73

Serge
VA3SB

11

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-16, 21:00:51 »

Thank you Nizar. That thought did cross my mind. 
The unit has been working properly and I have been using the USB port quite a bit.
I hope to get some time later on this afternoon or this evening to open up the RRC and resolder the USB connector. Will keep you updated.
Thank you very much for your response and suggestion Nizar.

73

Serge
VA3SB

12

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-12, 19:39:49 »

Hello again Mike.

I replaced both the ethernet and USB cables to be sure that neither one was causing my USB issue. Connected the RRC Control unit to use my desktop computer computer instead of my two laptops.
I am able to find the IP address of the Control unit  using Setup Manager. I am also able to bring up the settings in web browser. So it is connected to the network and working properly.
Now, when I plug in the USB cable from the front of the RRC Control Unit to the desktop computer I get the following message that pops up:

    USB device  not recognized

    The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned and Windows does not recognize it.

I am able to connect the K3/0 Mini using the RRC Control unit to the remote K3s (all located within my LAN).  As I also mentioned, the USB connector on the front of the RRC unit look fine as well. 

Thanks again for your time and effort.

73

Serge
VA3SB

13

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-12, 16:02:08 »

Thanks Mike.
Will try to see if there is a problem with my router/ethernet connection.

Serge
VA3SB

14

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-12, 14:59:45 »

Thanks Mike for your response. Please bear with me as I am trying to understand what is going on.

I am in fact able to see the IP addresses of both the RRC Control and Radio units with Setup Manager (btw both units are within my LAN). I am able to use the browse button within Setup Manger to browse to the RRC Radio IP address. I am not however able to browse to the RRC Control unit IP address.

As both  Laptops that I tried are  connected to the LAN (via Ethernet) as is the RRC Control unit Setup Manager does see both units and provides me with their respective IP address. However, even though the RRC Control unit is connected to the network (Solid Green LED above the USB connector) I am nevertheless unable to access the unit via the web.

 I do not have the USB connector connected at this point. Could this problem/behaviour also be related to the loading of the USB virtual com ports? Should I try a factory reset to see if that has any impact? 

Thanks

Serge
VA3SB

15

General discussion forum / Re: RRC Control Unit USB / Virtual COM Ports issue

« on: 2017-04-12, 14:21:52 »

Further update.

I am not able to communicate with the RRC Control unit by attempting to use its IP address in the web browser.  I am however, able to communicate with the Radio RRC unit via the web browser.


Serge
VA3SB