Yaesu Ft5k TWIN Serial settings with OMpower

[OH6RX]

Hi,

i would like to check Yaesu ft5k Twin + OMpower connection settings, to be on right track on parameters.

Radio settings
In Station side, Mode10, COM0 38400 8N1, Control Side Mode10, Twin COM0 38400 8N1

Serial settings
Station COM1: Mode 7, Cat to COM2 38400 8N1, COM2 Logical parallel with COM0 , 38400 8N1 (COM2 connected to FT5k, COM1 connected to OMPower)
Control COM1: Mode 7, Cat to COM2 38400 8N1, COM2 Logical parallel with COM0 , 38400 8N1 (COM2 connected to FT5k, COM1 connected with logPC)


Feature in system seen, in OMpower serial communicatio , start seeing freq 0.003kHz... and Inhibit TX amplification activates.
We tried locally at station on mode 6... Radio worked well with OMpower thru remoterig Station end.

All help welcome. thanks
J-P

[OH6RX]

Hi All,

i may have found root cause... will report later.

[OH6RX]

False detection...

Mode6 doesnt help. Also Mode 11 doestn help.

Local operation CAT Radio COM2 to COM1 to OMPower works OK, but after connecting remotely... Inhibit starts blinking...CAT reads randomly CAT Freq 0.003MHz.

[OH6RX]

Hi
is there instructions for YAESU TWIN, how MODE11 for COM1 at station end should be defined?

ps.  TR4W logging software aint work either well on remote end on COM1

[OH6RX]

Hi
due to mid-summer busy schedules and sunny days, for time being we just were able to do Serial-comm listening and recording of  COM1 communication with TR4W at control location.

Remote-mode (station radio ON), At least TR4W stops immediately to time-out root-cause, due to COM1 too long delay/response time for Freq request.
In Local-mode (TR4w Serial com goes via RRC to Control end Yaesu ft5k) , So TR4W works OK fine


We assume that same is happening on station end with COM1 and OMPower amplifier .. that OMpower aint get answers fast enough to requests of (Hex IF)/VFO-A, (Hex OI)/VFO-B freqs .
Certainly this is due to time-out delay basics of external equipments, but now it looks like its same with at least TR4W and OMPower amps.


Expectation, to be confirmed by station Serial com, OMPower Inhibit and CAT Freq reading
Due to late response of CAT answers of Freq this will show up in OMPower as misreading of Freq 0.003MHz which will cause in Amp Inhibit activation, and this takes off BIAS Voltage from AMP tube. This specific Amp has now tube issue... behavior matches with failed bias grid. Im assuming that continuous inhibit activation during power out, may not do good for tube.


We want to find solution to mis-readings, before replacing new tube.

We will do COM1 serial com analysis on next rainy day at station... to be sure that measurements or serial com listening issue are same as on control end with TR4W log software.


thanks for reading.

[OH6RX]

Video, to visualize how OMPower PA acts, when it aint get Freq reply fast enough

[OH6RX]

Station RRC

Name   Value
Company   Microbit
Product   1258
PID   4
Version   7
HW   8
Software   2.95
Bootloader   1.10
Compiler   4.6.2
Build   May 4 2019 08:32:26
ROM/RAM   488400/44304
ETH-RAM   3000 (max 3kB)
USB-RAM   16376 (max 16kB)
Battery-RAM   4
ResetSrc   0 [3]
Last WD Reset   9
Uptime   0 Days, 21 Hours, 34 Mins, 2 Secs
    
Serial number   8027
MAC address   00:1e:fd:01:95:fb
IP address   192.168.1.225
Netmask   255.255.255.0
Gateway   192.168.1.1
DNS   192.168.1.1
Wi-Fi network   module not present
Webserver   1

Control RRC

Name   Value
Company   Microbit
Product   1258
PID   4
Version   7
HW   8
Software   2.95
Bootloader   1.10
Compiler   4.6.2
Build   May 4 2019 08:32:26
ROM/RAM   488400/44304
ETH-RAM   3000 (max 3kB)
USB-RAM   16376 (max 16kB)
Battery-RAM   4
ResetSrc   0 [3]
Last WD Reset   9
Uptime   0 Days, 21 Hours, 31 Mins, 43 Secs
    
Serial number   6105
MAC address   00:1e:fd:01:8e:79
IP address   192.168.0.210
Netmask   255.255.255.0
Gateway   192.168.0.1
DNS   192.168.0.1
Wi-Fi network   module not present
Webserver   1

[W1UE]

JP
I don't have an FT1000, and I don't have an OMPower Amp, so I can't shed any specific help for your problem.

A couple of ideas that I do have on it:
1. Are all the devices you are using communicating at the correct baud rate?  I'd check out that baud rates match on all the equipment.
2. If the baud rates all match, can something to be done to make the time for the OMPower amp to receive the data longer?  If its timing out, waiting for a response with x milliseconds, can you make it y milliseconds?

Dennis W1UE

[OH6RX]

Hi Dennis,

thanks for helping and being first forum member commenting
Yes, baud rates are verified to be correct for TWIN Ftdx5000, 38400,8,1

The serial com works ok locally via RRC, when remote connection is not active - meaning at station Radio connected to COM2 and PA on COM1... not Freq loss that time.

I have dialog on going with OMPower.

thanks.

[OH6RX]

Hi All

Case solved! - OM Power, OM3RM Tibi sent upgraded Amp Controller Chip, that has improvements
for also serial comm. Now serial comm works well and allows more delays for requests.

Thanks to Tibi and Jari OH6QU who helped me to do many tests during this process.

We had also alternative SW-program solution in back pocket, SW that has been written by OH6QU, to filter
and multiplexing serial comm traffic - buffering, addressing dedicated serial comm to define port and filtering communication that is not relevant for port.

Please dont hesitate to contact him.

73