New to me FT-857D low TX power on USB/LSB CW works just fine... Bad mic? Something else?
开云体育I always do a hard reset when I get used equipment. Then you can start from scratch and set it up the way you want.? Thanks and 73, Jim, N8JE? -------- Original message -------- From: "Michael KC1WDZ via groups.io" <measter@...> Date: 3/19/25 6:27 PM (GMT-05:00) Subject: [FT-857] New to me FT-857D low TX power on USB/LSB CW works just fine... Bad mic? Something else? Good evening everyone,?
? ? ? ?I've got a new to me FT-857D it has worked great on 2m/70cm and I just got my general ticket. I'm running a 40-10 EFHW through a ATU100 tuner.?
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With the power set to 100 I'm only seeing 30 watts at most on USB/LSB on HF. If I send CW using the microphone I see around 85w output. It seems that I'm getting little to no modulation with voice on sideband.
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Is the microphone on it's way out or gone? The only variable I have in play i have my digirig hooked up via the din cables.
?
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开云体育
Like most amateur equipment, SSB in the FT-857D is Single Sideband Supressed Carrier, unlike CW, which is actually "just" the carrier. FCC rules define amateur power in PEP [Peak Envelope Power]. (PEP is the average power of a single RF cycle at the peak of
a modulation envelope. (Ed Hare, W1RFI, Excerpted from January 1998 QST). Your meter more than likely measures the power as AVERAGE POWER not PEP (My Daiwa CN-801 measures both). IF you are modulating your signal at 100% (not necessarily a good idea, as you
may be splattering up and down the bands), theoretically, you should get a PEP of 100W, per the spec. Average power is going to be 20%-40% (roughly the duty cycle of unprocessed/processed speech) of that depending on how hard you are driving the modulation,
based on duty cycle (compression bumps up the duty cycle).
If you look through the FT-857D Service Manual, you might notice that there isn't a procedure for checking SSB power. However, if you are getting full power out on 160-10 with FM or CW, you are getting full power out of your final (50MHz has it's own final).
There are some settings you can check in the "hidden menu" but it's really not likely that there's anything wrong. A hard reset or a walk through the "hidden menu" can confirm that.
This is why you never use SSB to tune your antenna system, or why you sometimes hear hams whistling on air. They are whistling to modulate the SSB in order to get power out (No AF = no modulation = no power out on SSB). Most hams use either CW, or if you don't
have a key connected, set it to FM and key the mic (note, if there is any modulation it's going to increase the deviation (i.e. bandwidth) of the FM signal. You can also configure the rig through settings to use the microphone to key CW.
73 de Mike, KO4WX
Peace and be kind,
Michael
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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Michael KC1WDZ via groups.io <measter@...>
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2025 12:53 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: [FT-857] New to me FT-857D low TX power on USB/LSB CW works just fine... Bad mic? Something else? ?
Good evening everyone,?
? ? ? ?I've got a new to me FT-857D it has worked great on 2m/70cm and I just got my general ticket. I'm running a 40-10 EFHW through a ATU100 tuner.?
?
With the power set to 100 I'm only seeing 30 watts at most on USB/LSB on HF. If I send CW using the microphone I see around 85w output. It seems that I'm getting little to no modulation with voice on sideband.
?
Is the microphone on it's way out or gone? The only variable I have in play i have my digirig hooked up via the din cables.
?
?
|
Jim Ebner
Mike