how do you set the radio to come on after it has been powered up remotely ?

John Molenda

I am trying remotely powered outlets but after I put power to the radio how do I turn it on or ....... do I have to turn it on to work remotly ? 

Justin W4JTD

You can use remote outlets to power the radio, or leave power to it all the time. However you will need some sort of remote relay to open or close a circuit connected to the remote power on RCA jack on the back of the radio. There are a bunch of options for this, this is the one I am using that someone else on the forum recommended: http://www.digital-loggers.com/ac.html They are about $9 on amazon prime. Hope that helps a little! 73 Justin KL2D

Larry _ NY8T

A simple way is to Short out a male rca plug and insert it into the remote jack on the back of your radio, this will turn the radio on when power is applied.

George KF2T

It bears mentioning that it is a good practice to turn the radio on and off using either the front panel button or the RCA remote jack. Using the 12 supply as a power-on/off device can lead to issues much like you’d exoect if you were to turn off your computer by yanking the AC cord. Also, frequency stability is maintained by having small amounts of power consumed by the rig at all times. Additionally, stressing your 12-Volt supply by powering the mains into a full load is not recommended for the health of the unit, and its continued safe operation. To say nothing of potential equipment damage by spiking and/or low voltages that might accompany such use. So, unless you have a really good reason not to do so, keep the rig connected to your active 12V source and use the remote control RCA with an inexpensive relay. You may find a lot of shack functions that can be remoted in a similar way. I now switch transverters, antennas, etc., with a multiple relay box connected through a web interface. Enjoy!

Steve Zumbrun

Thank you, George for your comments.  May I ask what Multiple relay box connected through a web interface are you using? Thank you and 73, Steve W0SZ

Ken - NM9P

I love that little unit, Justin. I switch the AC power to the relay with a NEO wifi powerswitch that was abou $22. There is an apple or android app to control the NEO. Very inexpensive remote switching combo. I have another NEO that I use to power my remote antenna relay to switch between my log periodic and my dipole . A third is going to be repurposed from a lamp timer to my main power supply, just in case I need to do a remote power-off cold boot of the rig. I agree with George. Cutting the AC to the power supply should be a last option failsafe, and not the standard means of rig control. Btw, I leave the remote switch in the ON position most of the time, and leave the rig running unless there is lightning in the area and I am shutting everything down. When in the shack locally, I power the rig down with its front panel button. When the boot down has finished, then I turn off the power supply. Since the remote switch is still in the ON position, when I power up the supply, the rig will also boot up. When remote, I occasionally need to power the rig off with the remote switch and restart it. I usually delay about a minute and then turn the remote switch back on and it reboots the rig. Only a couple of times in two or more years of casual remote operation have I needed to call home and have my wife do a long-press power off, or cycle the power supply off and on. Not bad at all,especially since the majority of my operations for about a year and a half has been with Alpha release software. If it were more often, I would be more motivated to add the third NEO to switch the power supply.

Ken - NM9P

For power off, I certainly agree, George. I don't like the "yank the plug" method. I am suspicious that some of the configuration and/or persistence memory problems that have been reported are due to improper shutdown procedures.

But I am not sure that powering UP with the remote jack shorted is the equivalent of powering the rig up under full load.

I suspect that when the power is added, the initial circuit checks the remote jack status, and if it is in the ON state and enabled, then it begins the rig boot up process.

I would love to have one of the FRS engineers weigh in on this. If my current procedure is potentially dangerous to the rig pr power supply, I will need to adopt a different method.

George KF2T

http://info.kmtronic.com/km-web-eight-relay-box.html

here’s the box I use.

John Molenda

Thanks guys great info ! my problem was that I can provide power remotely but the radio would just go to standby with the orange light when I wanted it to power on completely ready to boot up and use with the light Green .  I know this will work thanks again for all the info .  John kb2huk