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TX power symbology (FT-818 specific)

 

FT-818 Jedis:

Recent owner of a FT-818ND. The book and Nifty manual state there should be four symbols for determining TX power:

[blank] - full 6W (5W internal battery)
L))) - 2.5W
L)) - 1.0W
L) - 0.5W

I'm using the internal Windcamp battery mod. My screen will only display L)), and L) regardless of the number of times I push the B button. It also seems like there are some extra button pushes in the cycle that don't change anything, i.e. it takes two button pushes to get from L)) back to L). The battery is fully charged.

FT-818 veterans, need a brief explanation of the symbology for internal versus external battery sources.

Also is 6W achievable with the internal battery? Is that why only two symbols are displaying?
If using an external Bioenno 12v, 3Ah battery, is full power an option or am I limited to 5W?

Thanks in advance,

Matt W7MDN
 

With no logo visible you will have 6w, when the voltage of the battery drops below (not sure exactly but something near) 11v the logo will blink. But still at full output.

It's not the clearest, but it works. Remember that the POW graph is a full range, so bars all the way to the right is 6w, so when in doubt look at the power out.
 

Hi Matt,
Have you tried to see what power options your radio gives when on a 13.8v external power supply? You should get all 4 options.
I have the 817 and 818, both give full power on a psu and external 12v battery, I don't use internal batteries.
Also the difference between 5 and 6w really isn't worth worrying about, to get the best out of these radios use good antennas and low loss coax.
Have fun?
Andy
 
Edited

I wasn't aware of that WRT the POW graph. I think it was going full right but will need to look next time. I do recall the L)) was blinking when I was in TX and sometimes in RX. I'm only using the radio in CW right now. Previous owner installed a Collins/Inrad CW filter.
 

Andy:

I have not, but will bring the 12v Bioenno LiFePo next time. I don't have a home power supply; no setup at the house.

Coax is a 10' length of RG-316, off the ground to the max extent possible. Acknowledge the minuscule difference between 5 and 6W, but it was a factor in waiting for a FT-818 vs the 817.

Matt
 

I use B to cycle POW and Swr to make ture things are working properly.?

Blinking power symbol is correct for full power on internal battery. On 13.8v there will be no power logo.

One other thing you can do is calibrate the battery voltage display. This is an internal menu item, but I found that mine would show a much lower voltage than the battery had available. I don't think the display has anything to do with when the transmitter will reduce power, however.?
 

Okay, learned some today. I off-loaded the Windcamp battery and went out with the Bioenno 12v/3Ah for a SOTA activation. Indeed the power symbology did change with the external battery to show the full 6W (blank display) and all the subsequent settings. Through some reading on previous posts WRT the battery drain on the 818/817, I believe this is completely negated by using the off switch on the Windcamp battery cover which preserves the battery. Correct?

As Tobias suggested, I set the 'PWRMtr' setting to SWR. On a multiband 10-15-20-40 EFHW, I only saw "S" when in RX and occasionally saw "SW" when transmitting. I assume this to mean my SWR was acceptable, but cannot confirm. The manual makes vague reference to the SWR meter but says nothing about what is displayed in this mode.

I've also ordered the 3D printed rails to replace the PortableZero rails which are robust but heavy. Next I need a DIY hand mic that is smaller/lightweight than the OEM mic which came with the radio.

If anyone would care to chime in and fill in any blanks, I'll gladly take the feedback. Really enjoying the radio.
 

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Hi Matt,

?

I believe that the 818 is almost identical to the 817 in operation with just a few enhancements. So here are my comments.

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The power indication flashing or not flashing when in the high power mode is purely dependant on the voltage being fed to the radio from whatever source. You could test this by powering it from an external variable supply starting at 12V and then gradually reducing the voltage and you’ll find that at a certain point the icon will start flashing. The rationale is that when using an external supply of around 12V the display doesn’t flash but when using the battery, which normally has a nominal voltage of about 10.2 V (NiMH) the icon will flash to warn you that you are on high power and hence will run down the battery much faster.

?

Regarding the S and SW indications, it will read S on receive indicating that you are reading signal strength and SW on transmit indicting that you are reading SWR. If you had it set to Power, then it would read P instead of SW on transmit. Obviously, the less bars shown in SWR, the better.

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73….Eric VK2VE.

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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Matt W7MDN via groups.io
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2024 1:38 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ft817] TX power symbology (FT-818 specific)

?

Okay, learned some today. I off-loaded the Windcamp battery and went out with the Bioenno 12v/3Ah for a SOTA activation. Indeed the power symbology did change with the external battery to show the full 6W (blank display) and all the subsequent settings. Through some reading on previous posts WRT the battery drain on the 818/817, I believe this is completely negated by using the off switch on the Windcamp battery cover which preserves the battery. Correct?

As Tobias suggested, I set the 'PWRMtr' setting to SWR. On a multiband 10-15-20-40 EFHW, I only saw "S" when in RX and occasionally saw "SW" when transmitting. I assume this to mean my SWR was acceptable, but cannot confirm. The manual makes vague reference to the SWR meter but says nothing about what is displayed in this mode.

I've also ordered the 3D printed rails to replace the PortableZero rails which are robust but heavy. Next I need a DIY hand mic that is smaller/lightweight than the OEM mic which came with the radio.

If anyone would care to chime in and fill in any blanks, I'll gladly take the feedback. Really enjoying the radio.


Virus-free.
 

Matt,

Just go ahead and send me those portable zero rails that you're not using.
As for a mic, how about K6ARK??
?

r/
Paul


On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 11:38?PM Matt W7MDN via <MD73=[email protected]> wrote:
Okay, learned some today. I off-loaded the Windcamp battery and went out with the Bioenno 12v/3Ah for a SOTA activation. Indeed the power symbology did change with the external battery to show the full 6W (blank display) and all the subsequent settings. Through some reading on previous posts WRT the battery drain on the 818/817, I believe this is completely negated by using the off switch on the Windcamp battery cover which preserves the battery. Correct?

As Tobias suggested, I set the 'PWRMtr' setting to SWR. On a multiband 10-15-20-40 EFHW, I only saw "S" when in RX and occasionally saw "SW" when transmitting. I assume this to mean my SWR was acceptable, but cannot confirm. The manual makes vague reference to the SWR meter but says nothing about what is displayed in this mode.

I've also ordered the 3D printed rails to replace the PortableZero rails which are robust but heavy. Next I need a DIY hand mic that is smaller/lightweight than the OEM mic which came with the radio.

If anyone would care to chime in and fill in any blanks, I'll gladly take the feedback. Really enjoying the radio.

 

And, what about this?

On Tue, Jul 9, 2024 at 11:38?PM Matt W7MDN via <MD73=[email protected]> wrote:
Okay, learned some today. I off-loaded the Windcamp battery and went out with the Bioenno 12v/3Ah for a SOTA activation. Indeed the power symbology did change with the external battery to show the full 6W (blank display) and all the subsequent settings. Through some reading on previous posts WRT the battery drain on the 818/817, I believe this is completely negated by using the off switch on the Windcamp battery cover which preserves the battery. Correct?

As Tobias suggested, I set the 'PWRMtr' setting to SWR. On a multiband 10-15-20-40 EFHW, I only saw "S" when in RX and occasionally saw "SW" when transmitting. I assume this to mean my SWR was acceptable, but cannot confirm. The manual makes vague reference to the SWR meter but says nothing about what is displayed in this mode.

I've also ordered the 3D printed rails to replace the PortableZero rails which are robust but heavy. Next I need a DIY hand mic that is smaller/lightweight than the OEM mic which came with the radio.

If anyone would care to chime in and fill in any blanks, I'll gladly take the feedback. Really enjoying the radio.

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