PGXL - Managing 2 radios, different antennas

Mark_WS7M

Hi all,

I got my PGXL yesterday and like chronicled in these forums the setup was all of about 15 minutes before Flex6600 and PGXL were very happy together.

I come from SPE 2K FA amp which had several very nice features. 1) 6 antennna outs each usable by the 2 includes. 2) Build in antenna tuner.

So my setup consists of Flex6600, primary rig, IC-7610 my "field" rig but one like to use from time to time on the desk. I have the Flex and 7610 linked into the PGXL. The PGXL is seems happy with the 7610 on input B.

Being in an HOA I have restrictions. My primary antenna is an 80m loop. I have 2 verticals: 40m and 20m and I have a 6m dipole.

The purpose of this question is to see how people are managing multiple antennas on the PGXL?

My 80m loop at times needs a tuner so I have an HF Auto driving that. The 20, 40 verticals are 1:1 in the desired areas of operation and the 6m dipole is also 1:1 so no tuners needed.

I want to be able to use these 4 antennas at times on either radio. For example if I sit down to the 7610 I want to be able to select say the 20m vertical and attach it to output B of the amp. Or I might want the 80m loop.

But on my laptop I might decide to later fire up SmartSDR and I want to use the 80m loop or maybe the 20m vertical.

I'm used to having those 6 antenna outputs and having the ability to switch my 2 input radios to either one very easily. So what is the best solution when switching to the PGXL to get roughly the same functionality?

Thanks - Mark WS7M

AF3K

Hi Mark,

I have multiple antennas on a PGXL. For an antenna switch I'm very happy with the Antenna Genius 8 x 2 made by 4O3A and sold by Flex. It lets you direct any antenna to one of two radios (or to both antenna ports on the 6600 via the PGXL and/or HFAuto if you like). Software switching spoils you. The AG supports SO2R and diversity Rx on the Flex. Looks like we have much of the same equipment so you may want to take a look at my station diagram on qrz for more details. https://www.qrz.com/db/AF3K

73 & GL!
John, AF3K

Mark_WS7M

Thanks John,

Looks like a good solution but seems to be out of stock everywhere. So will keep a watch for it.

Rick N4RZ

Microham and Array Solutions also sell antenna switches with varying numbers of inputs and more than one output which will work in your situation. You would have to run them off of USB Cables on the Flex side and probably a band decoder off of the 7610 side if you wanted automatic antenna selection. I have an Array Solutions Six Pak and just use their two-sided switch to control which antenna is sent to a given radio.

Mark_WS7M

Thanks Rick, I'll check them out!

Butch

Mark I'm using two Palstar HF-AUTO ATU's, one connected to each output ports of my PG-XL. Each HF-AUTO ATU has a three port antenna switch built in, so I can manually switch up to 6 antennas to my Flex-6700.

When the Tuner Genius-XL becomes available my plan is to replace my two Palstar ATU's with two TG-XL's (the 1x3 version), which will give me the same basic setup I have now (6 select-able antennas), but hopefully with faster auto-tuning.

I'm also considering adding an Antenna Genius 2x8 switch into the mix, although I I have several antennas so I'm weighing whether it's going to be easier for me to just manually select antennas for the A and B ports, or work through the AG software (or perhaps both configurations).

Butch

KF4HR