Missing first element in sidetone

Tim K9WX

I’m two weeks and 500 QSOs into my Flex 6600 with a Maestro.  Most of those QSOs are CW with some FT8 and RTTY.

I have a number of questions based on my experiences to date, especially today when I operated SO2R CW for the first time.  I will raise those questions here as a series of postings, so that anyone with advice or insight can respond selectively.

The operating setup is identical for all questions.

·        SmartSDR 2.2.8

·        N1MM+ 1.0.7201.0

·        Windows 8.1

·        Headphones are plugged into the radio, not the Maestro, speakers are not used

·        Paddles are plugged into the key jack on the radio and the Iambic setting set to Enabled and to B

Q4: I prefer to operate CW with the sidetone at a very low level, barely audible.  While operating today I had the sidetone set at 7.  Depending of the AGC-T setting, I find I sometimes cannot hear the first element of a transmission via the sidetone.  The element is only missing in the sidetone but is transmitted via RF.  The common advice for setting the AGC-T is to tune to an empty part of the band and reduce the AGC-T until the band noise just begins to fade.  Today, that occurred at 60.  With AGC-T = 60 the first element is totally missing.  With AGC-T = 45 the first element is partially audible.  With AGC-T = 30 all of the first element can be heard.  But at an AGC-T of 30 there are signals in the band that can be seen on the panadapter but cannot be heard in the headphones.  Is there a work around for this?  There are lots of moving parts here and I wonder if there is some other adjustment I should be making to avoid this.  The missing first element is problematic since not being able to hear it ruins my rhythm, especially when sending by hand.  It’s as if the AGC attack time also changes as AGC-T is decreased. 

Tim K9WX

Andy - KU7T

I have noticed the same thing with my 6600M and have not figured out what causes it. I was thinking about TX delay settings somewhere... Have not spent time on it, as it is not an issue in the RF.


73
Andy
KU7T

Andy - KU7T

Hi, I wanted to pick this issue up again. This has been consistently happening with my 6600M and its really bothering me (I hear it in every transmission where N1MM+ keys the rig with messages). Its the one and only issue I am having with the radio...

The first character is usually chopped off (if I send my call, the K sounds like a U). I use N1MM+ and an external USB Winkeyer. It does not seem to matter if I use single slice or two or more...It just seems that the radio is too busy to switch the audio path... Is anybody else seeing this?  I believe the HF going out does not suffer from this, as I do not get any requests for repeats, but it is annoying to listen to the messed up monitor...

Thanks
Andy
KU7T

Russ K5OA

Hi Andy, I was on last evening with CWT and was using my Winkeyer into my Maestro in remote system hearing what you noted but no one missed the first letter of my call. I am using 250ms  tx delay and normally run AGC-T at 50 or so here so might be why. 

Tim K9WX

As I noted in my original post, the first element is only missing in my sidetone, not in the RF generated.  I confirmed this by tuning a second radio to my TX frequency.  The second radio can display a text conversion of the received CW signal on the radio's screen and shows 100% copy on the received signal. 

And, yes, I am still having the problem.  I can minimize the problem or make it go away by selecting a low setting for AGC-T along with a higher setting for the sidetone volume.  But such settings are not optimal.

It would be nice if someone from Flex could comment on this.

Tim K9WX

ctate243

We have been and are aware of this in Alpha Tim and I know the team has it in the queue to look at.  Thanks for the reminder.

Tim K9WX

Thanks, Chris, that is good news.

Tim K9WX