Cannot select RX Ant B for diversity receive

Mike_N1MD

I have a 6700 and Maestro. Latest SSDR. I have two loop antennas used for receive only that are configured in the radio as RX Ant A and RX Ant B. SSDR will not let me select RX Ant B as a diversity receive antenna. It will only allow me to select RX Ant A. My loops are deployed in orthogonal configuration. I cannot select B in SSDR for Win or in Maestro. This problem was identified here about a year ago but there seems to have been no fix. It is 160 meter season and propagation has been great recently but I cannot use the full advantage of diversity receive since I cannot switch from one loop to another during operation! The 6700 is a GREAT radio but it is crippled by the inability to use diversity receive to its full capability. Any idea about when this will be addressed?

Jim Gilliam

If you have an Antenna Genius, that would be a convenient work around in the SO2R mode.

Bill W2PKY

Mike- Agree 160M has been exciting the last week. Wish I could stay up until 3AM to catch sunrise in EU. What loops are you using? How much better than your transmit antenna? I upgraded to 6700 for Diversity and dual antenna capability as well.

Mike_N1MD

I have two Pixel Tech Loops -- one on the EU-XE axis and the other on the Caribbean-JA axis. RX Ant A is the EU antenna. My 160 meter antenna is an inverted L that is up about 45 feet with the horizontal limb directed towards EU. I find the loops are not necessarily better at receive than the inverted L but the combination of directivity in the headphones and the awesome noise reduction is often very helpful for good copy. I worked 5B4AMM last night and it was generally noisy with deep QSB but I was able to hear just enough with the loop in one ear and the L in the other plus the great noise reduction tools in SSDR to make the QSO. My first Cyprus contact on 160 and woke up this AM with a confirmation on LoTW!

Bill W2PKY

Thanks Mike- Worked 5B4ALJ on JT65 last night, my first on 160M also.

Tim - W4TME

Not a bug. It is all about the SCU and how it assigned to antenna ports.

For diversity to work, each antenna has to be connected to a different SCU. If the parent antenna is connected to SCU-1, then the only antenna options for the child slice are the ports that can connect to SCU-2. RX-A is always associated with the first SCU and RX-B is always associated with the other SCU. The ANT-x ports are dynamically allocated to an SCU. The only way to "force" a particular SCU to an ANT-X port is to put a coax jumper on the RX In/Out loop and enable the loop when ANT-X is selected as the RX antenna.

Using SmartSDR v1.10.8, I am able to set up a diversity configuration where slice A (parent) is using ANT-1 on SCU-1 (using the loop) and the child slice is using RX-B as the RX antenna.

Mike_N1MD

Got it! Thanks. I was almost there two nights ago when trying to work the problem but didn't quite finish the analysis correctly.
Parenthetically it does seem like the Antenna Genius would be a more elegant way to arrive at the solution.
No? Or am I missing something again?

Tim - W4TME

You should be able to create a parent slice and assign the RX antenna to RX-A and connect on one of the receive loop antennas to RX-A IN and assign the TX antenna to ANT-1 and connect it to the antenna you transmit on. Then create a diversity child slice and assign the RX antenna to RX-B and connect the second loop antenna to RX-B IN.