On Cw the qsk icon is always on regardless of delay and the receiver does not completely mute.

N9VC

I have a 6500 and have noticed that the receiver does not completely mute.
This was noticed as a defect DE 1481 which seems to have reared its ugly
head. Regardless of delay the qsk stays lit and the receiver will not completely
mute when using a footswitch. The same happens when I hit the mox button.
SSB is all right, just CW.

Tim - W4TME

The QSK indicator is an indication that the radio is meeting the requirements for being able to to do QSK.

N9VC

OK, but should the radio not completely mute when you hit the MOX button or
the foot switch? It will mute on SSB all right. It matters not where the delay is
0 or 2000, you can hear background noise (attenuated) and see a S meter
reading (also attenuated). On SSB, it mutes completely and the S meter goes
to zero. Is the radio designed this way ? I had read where Gerald had said
it was a defect DE 1481, which is why I posed the question. But if it designed
that way and operation is normal, then I can accept that. Thanks.

73, Jim N9VC

Tim - W4TME

Depends on how your radio is setup.  Are you in full duplex mode?  are you using separate RX and TX antennas?  Also, defect #1481 is related to an unhandled exception (application crash) thrown when the meter status was parsed with an out of range value.

N9VC

Hi Tim,

I am not in full duplex nor using separate receive antennas.

I was referring back to the problem from 3 years ago, which
was why I mentioned it.

It was titled

HELP cant get receiver to mute on CW with Foot Switch "OR" break-in keying
by K7ERQ

I just want to be sure something is not wrong. It happens on
the two latest updates. I did not down grade further.

I appreciate your attention on this. Thanks

73, Jim N9VC

N9VC

Hi Tim,

I did closer testing and here are the results.
All four of the listed versions will show a
slight S meter reading when either the MOX button
or the foot switch is depressed.
Only the v1.10.8 has the background noise present
when the footswitch is depressed. The other 3
attentuates the noise to the point that, if it is
there, I do not hear it. Even at elevated settings
of the volume controls.
All tests are in the CW mode.
The four versions are
                        MOX    F/SWITCH
beta v1.10.8     noise    noise
         v1.9.13    noise    quiet
         v1.8.4      noise    quiet
         v1.7.30    noise    quiet

Hope this helps identify closer. I cannot believe
I am the only one who is hearing it. But maybe I
am the only one on CW :-)

73, Jim N9VC

Tim - W4TME

Thanks for doing the detailed testing, Jim.  I have written this up as defect #4328 in the bug tracker.

N9VC

Thanks, Tim. I appreciate all you do for us.

73, Jim N9VC

Kevin

I don't have my foot switch hooked up to try it out. The audio below is from a 6500 using Audacity.

First few seconds: current received noise
Next few seconds: noise in CW mode with MOX on
Next few moments: current received noise
Next few seconds: Breakin, 2 second delay, quick dit keyed
Last few seconds: current received noise

https://goo.gl/oL7JWa

Is the noise during MOX the issue being reported? I always use breakin so never noticed the noise with MOX before. I don't necessarily find it a problem but it does seem odd that it is there.

Also, I agree, the QSK indicator being on when the radio is obviously not set up for QSK seems wrong to me. QSK should only be displayed if breakin is on and delay is 0. Right? Add any delay or manually control TX/RX switching and  you are no longer running QSK. I saw somewhere that all QSK means is that the rig is "ready" for QSK. Silly. That's like having the power on indicator green even when the rig is off just because it is ready to turn on.

Kev

Tom K3TF

FYI, I am a CW only operator and run QSK full break-in all the time. Just got a new Flex 6500, downloaded the latest FW, and have not noticed any low level RX while sending. I just tried cranking volume to max and tried no delay and a long delay and no receiver sound while transmitting. I only use headphones, no speakers, I wonder if the condition only occurs when using speakers? 

Tim - W4TME

Remember, there is an AGC action at play on the received audio.

Tom K3TF

View from another CW operator. I like the QSK indicator the way it is. It lets me know that I am using the PIN diode and reed relay combo and will not be generating loud relay clicking while the XYL is sleeping. Just my view.

Kevin

What does QSK mean? Maybe my definition is not correct. It has to do with how fast the radio switches over, not how much noise the radio makes when switching. I'll admit, I could be wrong about this and I might not understand QSK except in all other rigs I've ever owned (and I know Flex is redefining many concepts), QSK means full-breakin. Setting a 2 second delay or using MOX is not QSK.

I'm not disagreeing there could be some indication made available for how much noise the radio generates but I'm not sure that utilizing the QSK indicator is the right thing.

Tim... I don't know what you mean. If you are referring to my audio file what would AGC have to do with the noise present while MOX is on? When MOX is on, shouldn't the receiver be silenced? I'm not running FDX.

N9VC

Hi Tom,

I run CW a lot also and hear it in the headphones. When it is actually sending,
the background noise does stop. If I only hold the foot switch down in the beta
version or hit the MOX button but do not send, the noise is present and the s
meter shows S1-S2. The noise is low level, but there, as I indicated earlier.
The noise is not present when I do the same thing on SSB. Probably the
reason being is that it's actually in transmit and not waiting for for me to hit the
key to emit RF.

73, Jim N9VC

Tom K3TF

Hi Jim,

You are right! Normally I never use the MOX button or a footswitch. As long as the fix  does not increase the recovery time of the receiver between dots when running QSK zero delay I am happy. Tnx for the info. 161, Tom K3TF.........

N9VC

Hi again Tom,

And I agree, the QSK ability should stay as is for ops doing QSK.

73 and Merry Christmas
Jim N9VC

N9VC

Hi Tim,

Further observations from me. Closer attention
indicates, although there is background noise,
when the footswitch or MOX button is pressed,
no stations can be heard. So my thoughts are
based on what you say. It is being done that
way to prevent AGC action from preventing QSK.
So guess what, no problem now that I understand
it better. I was just afraid at the onset that
receiver damage could result using the 6500
as a panadaptor thru an IF output on another
transceiver. Not sure I could find another
transceiver to measure up to my Flex 6500
anyway. Thanks and Merry Christmas.

73, Jim N9VC

Roy Stiegler

I am running a 6500. 

I recently upgraded to SSDR ver 1.10.16.91.  I see the same thing N9VC mentioned.  Hit MOX or PTT pedal and the RF signals go away but the noise is still there.  The speaker is not completely muted.   Occurs  only in CW mode.

If I send msg with CWX, sidetone comes on as normal, signal is transmitted, and noise stays away until the end of msg.  Then the noise returns until I release the mox or PTT pedal.

I downgraded back to SSDR ver 1.9.13.89 (which is what I had been running) and this flaw goes away.  Then back to SSDR ver 1.10.16.91 and it comes back.  I cycled the procedure several times and it occurs everytime.

This does not seem normal and is very annoying to me.  For me, I can just go back to the old ver 1.9.13.89 that I had been running, but something is not correct about his.

Otherwise, transceiver works normally and performs well.

Roy W5TCX

Joe N3HEE

I have a 6600M.  I am hearing a relay no matter what combo of antennas are selected.  The QSK icon is always on no matter what the CW delay settings are?  Why? The BREAKIN button seems to disable transmit ?  I would think BREAKIN button would enable or disable QSK ?  Something doesnt seem quite right here compared to other radios I've owned.


The manual says this about QSK....  

• PIN diode silent CW QSK operation on ANT1 and ANT2 require that both receive and transmit be on the same antenna or that a dedicated receive-only antenna be used on RX A, RX B, XVTA or XVTB. If ANT1 and ANT2 are used separately as receive and transmit antennas, the transmitter reverts to mechanical relay TR switching. Each Slice has a QSK annunciator that indicates when PIN diode TR switching is engaged.

Can someone please tell me what Flex's design philosohy is in regards to  CW on this radio?

I'm a bit confused !

Joe

N3HEE