No power output from 6700 or PGXL

Justin Smith

The 6700 Antenna 1 output connects to Surefire (SFR) BF-100 Bandpass Filter Set and then to an MFJ-1026 Noise Cancelling Signal Enhancer and then to a Flex Radio PGXL. I have followed the set up directions in the amplifier manual and have successfully connected to devices. When I press the transmit button on my Heil PF-40 microphone, The amplifier goes in to transmit mode but flashes "APC" in red letters. To help troubleshoot this, I attached a MFJ-826B watt/swr meter to the output of the 6700 and found that when I press the transmit button, the SmartSDR indicated that the radio was in the transmit mode and the 6700 light turned red but there was no power output from the radio. I also tried connecting the 6700 to an Elecraft KPA1500 and to an Ameritron AL-572; neither of these set ups produced any power. The 6700 is otherwise normal; for example, I am receiving numerous voice conversations on 40m and 20m. If it would help you Troubleshoot my issues, I would be glad to send a short video clip showing the SmartSDR and PGXL application displays. I suspect that I have made one or more errors in the settings for the SmartSDR software.
As always, thank you for your help.
Justin Smith

Mike-VA3MW

Justin 

We need to simplify the trouble shooting and remove all the 'other stuff'.   

With only the wattmeter connected to a dummy load, do you get any RF  out when you push the Tune button?  By default, the tune power should be about 10 watts, but this is user adjustable in the TX Band Setting Menu.

Mike

Justin Smith

Thank you for your suggestions Mike. With only the wattmeter in between the 6700 and the PGXL, I measured 10 W to 89 W with SWR 1.2 depending on the setting that I used for the tuning function.  I then placed a wattmeter in between the amplifier output and the antenna and found 0.0 W. The PGXL software remains in “standby” state as does the display on the PGXL despite my efforts to transmit. When I depress the PTT button on the Heil PR-40 microphone stand, the PGXL display changes to indicate that it is receiving the PTT signal but there remains no output from the PGXL.  Both A and B channels show this behavior. I think the most likely cause for this problem is an error that I have made in SmartSDR or the PGXL utility software. If it would help, I could send you a short video clip demonstrating the issue. I appreciate any suggestions that you offer.

Joe - KC2TN

What do you get when put the PG-XL in operate mode manually?

Dan-N7HQ

Justin,  the PGXL uses a software interlock that prevents a FlexRadio exciter from transmitting when the amplifier is not ready to accept RF. 

It sounds to me like you have either not paired the PGXL with your 6700 or configured the PGXL properly.  Those configuration settings are accessible on the FlexRadio tab of the PGXL configuration dialog.

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