Flex 5000a Questions

Chris Tucker

I got my new to me Flex 5000A hooked up to my computer, however, I dont hear any sound, and my Yaesu Mike does not key up the radio. Is the Yaesu mike 1200 wiring the same as this radio ?  I can see the signals on the band, but no sound at all

Bill -VA3WTB

Go up into the mixer and check the sliders

Bob Needleman

Chris - do you have a set of powered PC stereo speakers plugged into the rear jack of the 5000a called "Line out Powered speaker"?  It has to  be a stereo 3.5mm plug, not a mono plug, like is used on the **** extension speakers. The 5000a mike connector is wired for Yaesu 8 pin foster - do you have an MD-100A mike, or similar with the standard 8 pin wiring.?
73,
Bob K3AC

Chris Tucker

No powered speakers, at the moment

KD0RC

Chris, the 5000A does not have a built in speaker.  You will either need to plug in headphones or powered speakers.
73,
Len, KD0RC

Chris Tucker

LOL, I am so lost, where is the mixer on the screen ?

KD0RC

From the 5000A manual:

(3) Microphone Connector
The 8-pin microphone connector offers the ability to connect a microphone and to key the radio via a
PTT line. The pin-out is shown in Table 2 below1. To engage PTT, pin 6 must be grounded to pin 5
(Shield Ground) and not to pin 7, which is the microphone ground.

Table 2: Microphone Connector Pin-Out
Pin # Signal Diagram
1 Not Connected
2 +5 VDC (max 65 mA)
3 Not Connected
4 Not Connected
5 Chassis GND (Shield)
6 PTT (+)
7 Mic (–)
8 Mic (+)

The pin-out is similar to that normally found on Yaesu radios

Chris Tucker

LOL, The headphones did the trick !!!!!!!

Chris Tucker

OK, I now have the mike working as well !!!!!!!!
The previous owner had the radio set for some other mode, switched in into USB and voila !
I can see I have a LOT to learn, but I am proud of myself, I got this working pretty much by myself.

Chris Tucker

Yes, the Mike works perfectly, however, when I turn my solid state amp on or off, it freezes the software

Bill -VA3WTB

The amp is putting a lot of RF on start up and shut down. The most likely place for RF to get into that radio is the fire wire cable.

JohnK2CIB

As I recall, you can run AudioRepeater with VAC1 as the input and the PC audio card as output.

Chris Tucker

Bill, remember me ?
I had the gaming computer with no extra slots on it for a firewire card. I returned it, and found a Hewlett Packard Z420 Computer. The seller and I installed a Firewire card, and when I got home and read the manual, Guess what ?
This computer comes with not only a firewire card, but it also has firewire connections front and back !
LOL, Windows 10 found the firewire ard I put in, and now I have 2 Firewire cards installed.
I am plugged into the front firewire port, and all is fine, until I try and run my Ameritron 1300 solid state amp.
I can turn the amp on, but if I key it, even for a split second, the software freezes.
And, if I turn the amp off, even w/o keying it, it freezes.
The firewire cable has a big ferrite bead on the radio end, and thats how the manual says to do it.

Bob Needleman

Your Firewire card must have the TI (Tx Instruments) chip. Otherwise it will lead to frequent freeze up. You can tell the brand because a genuine TI chip will have a little outline of Texas on top and be marked "TI" or spelled out. 
Bob K3AC

KD0RC

Excellent!!  New radios, especially with this much new technology always take a while to figure out.  Glad you got it working.
Len

Chris Tucker

Bob, The Firewire card that came IN this computer is not identified in device manager as a Texas Instruments Card. However, the Card I Installed in this computer is a texas instruments card, and even says so in the device manager.
BOTH Firewire cards are installed, maybe I should try the Texas Instruments one. Right now, I am using the one that comes in this computer 

Bill -VA3WTB

 Glad you got a computer suited for your radio. What you can do to narrow this down is run without the amp foe a while and see if it still freezes. If the freezing stops then it is not caused by the card. You may still need more ferrites on the cables. but anything can be an antenna, like headphones wire, speaker wires, mic cables, you can eliminate one thing at a time till you find it.
the Texas Instrument is the best one to use.

Chris Tucker

OK, good news !!!!!
I picked up some Mix 31 small donut ferites, put one on the firewire cable, and one on the amplifier switching cable, and guess what ?
No more freezing up, on 75 meters at least.
But, everyone says my Transmit sounds like I have an echo
Any ideas what may be causing this ?

Bill -VA3WTB

The echo is usually RF in the audio. So your work is not done yet Chris. Very possible it is coming in through the mic cable or mic. Here is some good advice. If you plan on staying with that radio, look for a Granite Fire Wire cable, Flex used to sell them. That will stop any RF problems in the fire Wire cable at least. If you don't already have one. I don't expect you do since you have had RF problems.

JohnK2CIB

Put cores on everything going in and out of the computer and Flex.  And, the cores are X4 times as effective for every turn you can get through the core.  Also make sure that the mike you have selected is the right one and not a built-in one, for example.  Check your grounding system.  All devices should return to one central spot, not daisy-chained, and the length of your ground wire to ground should not be resonant at the frequency on which you are operating (had that problem on 15m once).  An artificial ground tuner can help if you are not close to real ground (like on the second floor).
John - K2CIB

Chris Tucker

Those Granite Cables are still sold, how many pins should they have for the Flex ?
I also saw some really cool looking Firewire cables on Ebay from Canada, that have ferrrite that are wound, on both ends! 

Chris Tucker

I have HEIL Mike Cables that are much too long, for my needs. So, I found the stock hand mike from my Yaesu FT 1200, It works, however, I need to actually talk to someone on the air to see if it has solved my RF Problem.
I also drove to Tampa today, and bought the last 2 Mix 31 Ferrite donuts he had. 

Bill -VA3WTB

what mic are you going to stay with? use that mic and put a ferrite donut  at the end as many terns as you can where it plugs in. If I can hear you I can meet you on air any time this aft on 40 meters?

Chris Tucker

THAT is the problem Bill. These Mix 31 ferrite donuts are the small ones, so I can only get one turn through them, w/o unsoldering the cable. Good News though !!!!!
I just talked to 3 different people on 75, and even with the amp on, No Reverb with the stock hand mike !!!!!!
This tells me that the long **** mike cables on my Boom Mike setup are the problem.
Now, what I need are either different shorter mike cables and/or Large Ferrite Donuts, so I can get some wraps on them.

Bill -VA3WTB

Is your good mic an XLR? 

Chris Tucker

Yes

Chris Tucker

Let me qualify that. I am using the HEIL Mike cable with the hand switch.
The actualy mike cable is XLR on the Mike end, and phono plug near the radio

Bill -VA3WTB

Ok, XLR cables generally do not have an RF problem. But it may need a ferrite on it. but here is what I'm thinking. You know you had or have RF in on the Fire Wire cable, and you put some Firrite on it and now it does not freez up your software. I suspect you still have some on it. Add more if you have any.. and again look for the Granit cables.

Chris Tucker

Question, how many Pins do I need on a Firewire cable for the Flex 5000a ?

Bill -VA3WTB

I looked at mine,,for the Flex 3000, it has 6 to 6 i think if I counted right

Bill -VA3WTB

Is your computer card a 4 pin or 6 pin