xmit profiles missing

K0FG_Fred

I have many profiles, 4 for each band. One 20 meter profile with a xmit profile of 20 watts, for use with my amp on cw. And a second 20 meter profile with a xmit profile of 20 watts, for running without my amp on cw.

Then 2 more 20 meter profiles for ssb, one with 20 watts and one with 100 watts. etc for every ham band. So I ended up with lots of profiles.

Originally I had made only 2 profiles per band, one for cw and one for ssb and they all used the default xmit profile. After being educated as to the need for creating xmit profiles other than the default I created these 2 additional xmit profiles, 20 watts and 100 watts.

Then I created all new global profiles using 20 watt and 100 watt xmit profiles. Having worked in the IT field for over 25 years I created export/backup files after every couple of new global profiles. All these changes were made using the latest version of ssdr and a fully updated Windows 10 PC. I was running under SmartControl creating the profiles on the PC, not on the radio front panel.

Then this afternoon the 20 and 100 watt xmit profiles disappeared. All the global profiles that used 20 and 100 watt xmit profiles now had a default xmit profile. I tried to load xmit profiles from backups but the 20 watt and 100 watt xmit profiles I had created, and had been using for hours were not there. I tried to import from my backups and I had to go back several backups to find the 20 and 100 watt xmit profiles. The generic profiles were there but not the 20 watt and 100 watt xmit profiles. I powered off the radio and rebooted the PC and the radio, no joy.

So I imported a backup that contained the 100 watt xmit profile and the 20 watt xmit profile. This backup was several versions old, maybe 4 or 5 versions old.

Went back to updating my global profiles using the 20 and 100 watt xmit profiles, exporting/saving after every couple band global profile changes.

Late this afternoon I loaded a 100 watt global profile and the power indicator said that it was for 20 watts. All my global profiles that had contained 100 watt xmit profiles now had 20 watt xmit profiles and the 100 watt xmit profile was no longer appearing in the listing of xmit profiles.

I went to SSDR/Profiles/Import Export Profiles and pointed to last created backup. Looking at the xmit profile section the 20 and 100 watt xmit profiles show up. So I imported, it appeared to work succesfully. Then I load a global profile and the 100 xmit watt profile is not there.

The only problems I have had with the radio is with the KAT500 tuner I just hooked up, see another of my posts about that. But the radio itself seems to be working fine.

I did a radio factory reset. I turned off the KAT500 and turned the internal tuner on. Imported all my settings from the last backup, the 100 watt xmit profile is not there even though it shows on the import screen.

I'm not going to spend another 2 hours recreating all those global profiles I have already created twice.

Does anybody have a nice HW-16 they would like to sell?

Fred, K0FG

KD0RC

Hi Fred, I would submit a help desk ticket.

I think in another post you mentioned not getting DDUtil to work. You might want to reach out to the author for help with that. I have a 6400 with the KPA500/KAT500 combo and DDUtil simplifies everything.

Erika - KØDD

This is a broader reaching issue than just Fred's issue. I created a SSB CW and Digital TX profiles, and similar global ones. Its called FT8T global profile and that stays put. I'm on FT8 a lot. The Digital transmit profile also shows on import but will not import. So if I have a global do i not need a tx? All the delay and tx selections are in tx.... My amp tx1 checks disapear randomly on different bands and my new 6m preamp lasted to one tr click the second morning sending tune power up the back end instead of t/r controling trans and receive... something odd is up...or I dont understand something...

Basically the Same deal. Erika DD

KD0RC

Hi Erika - Interesting...

I had the issue of losing the TX Band Settings tick marks when I first got the radio. I have no idea what I did, but since then they have stayed put. Somewhere in there I decided to go the per band and mode profile route, so I suspect that is what solved it.

As far as your digital transmit profile, I suspect that it won't import due to corruption. Have you tried re-creating it and exporting again? The few transmit profiles that I have seem to export and import OK.

K0FG_Fred

The book says the xmit profiles are linked to the xmit antenna. I only have one antenna, a dipole at the moment, the beam is under repair. So if I create a xmit profile it is linked to my 1 and only antenna. Does that mean that I cannot create multiple xmit profiles for use on my only antenna?

I'm trying to create a low power and a high power profile per band so I can use or not use the amp based on xmit profile, hopefully so I don't send 100 watts into the amp. But when I create a xmit profile it makes no difference if I select the low or high power xmit profile - the resulting global profile has the power level that was displayed on the screen when the profile was created. I guess the name of the profile is only used in identifying the xmit profile, not in selecting the power level for the profile.

Fred, K0FG

KD0RC

Per antenna means antenna port. Try this exercise to see how it all works:

Transmit ANT1, Transmit profile - the one use for your amp, RF Power 22 W.

Now select transmit ANT2. RF Power and transmit profile will go back to where they were last time you used ANT2. Now set Transmit profile to the amp. Watch RF Power return to 22 W.

When you have your amp profile selected, any changes to RF Power will be retained. So if you have the amp TX profile selected, then you forget and set the power up to 100W, the next time you select the amp TX profile, you will get 100W.

If this all still does not make sense, let me know and I would be happy to get on Skype with you and take you through it step by step. I think that once you see it in action, it will make complete sense.

K0FG_Fred

Hi Len. Think I am beginning to understand a little about how profiles works. My current global profiles are:

10 CW A A stands for amp with output power 20 watts

10 CW B B stands for barefoot with out power 100 watts.

Then I have the same things for 10 SSB A and 10 SSB B global profiles

And then the same 4, or maybe 2 for 30 meters, global profiles for all the other bands.

I created the profiles on the front panel of the radio, this time. And they all work fine on the front panel of the radio, unless I start losing xmit profiles again, but today they are working great.

I like to work SmartControl where I can control things with the radio front panel but have the large screen displaying the slice. Will it make a difference to run SmartControl as opposed to using only the radio front panel when I start recalling global profiles? Or what about when I get a lot smarter and try to run a slice on the radio and one on the PC? Or maybe 2 slices on the PC? Since the profiles are slice dependent can I recall and use a global profile in slice B that was created while running slice A? Since it is all working fine now I'm afraid to try anything new.

I hope you get paid a lot for trying to explain to guys like me how this all works!!!

Fred, K0FG

KD0RC

Hi Fred, I would go about it a little differently. I would set up Global profiles for band/mode combinations, each saved with the non-amp (i.e. 100 w) TX profile. Then I would set up a CW amp profile and an SSB amp profile.

Global:
6 CW
6 SSB
10 CW
10 SSB
etc...

Transmit:
Barefoot
KPA500 CW
KPA500 SSB
KPA500 30 M
KPA500 6 M

Change bands/modes with the global profile. Select the TX profile for the mode/amp when you use it. This will reduce your number of global profiles by a factor of two and is perhaps easier to switch from barefoot to amp as you only have a few TX profiles to choose from. You will need one for 30 M if you want to run 200 W there and additional ones for bands that take different amounts of drive (at my station, 27 W is the magic number for SSB for most bands, 22 W for CW at my station, but 6 takes more drive).

All of this gets ridiculously easy if you can figure out how to run DDUtil.

SmartControl is REALLY cool - it is the best of both worlds (physical controls and computer control simultaneously).

If you have a global profile with one slice open, then that profile will always open with that slice. If you have a global profile with two slices open, then whenever that profile is loaded, you get both slices. I have just one slice open in most of my profiles, as opening the second slice inherits the characteristics of the first slice - an additional profile is not really needed. On the other hand, if you normally want a slice on SSB and one on CW, you can set up that way and not have two global profiles per band since both modes are accounted for in one profile. This could, of course, be extended to DIGU, FM, etc.

I have a profile called "10 and 6" that opens a slice on 10 in one panadapter and a slice on 6 in another panadapter. I don't really operate in this profile, I just use it to quickly see if there is activity on the two bands. If there is, I select the profile of the band/mode that I want to work. Since I am just looking for band activity, I don't even need any slices open, just the panadapters.

No payment needed, but I appreciate the thought! As questions come up that I have not considered in my own operation, I often play around with my setup to ascertain or verify the answer. I have learned a LOT about my radio, tuner and amp doing this.

ka9ees

I think your SD card is failing. I had a problem similar to this a few months back. SD card failed due to a couple power outages. The 6400M doesn't like being turned off and right back on again.

K0FG_Fred

I am trying to run ddutil but the connection is rejected. The instructions say that all virtual serial ports must be created before running ddutil. But it does not say what virtual serial ports to create?

Fred, K0FG

K0FG_Fred

Hi Len.. Trying to setup my profiles as you suggested. But my default profile for each band/mode is for 20 watts, so I don't accidentally hit the amp with 100 watts of drive with the default global profile. I'm running SmartControl and doing all of this on the PC screen.

I created a 20 cw global profile with 20 watts of drive xmit profile. Save it and it runs fine every time. No matter where or what I am when I load the 20 cw profile it loads with 20 watts of drive and gives the correct frequency display. And it sets the tx band settings window so the TX1 is on for all bands.

Then I setup a xmit profile with 100 watts. How do you save a xmit profile, there is no save option on the xmit profile tab of the profile mgr. But somehow, I dunno, I got a 100 watt xmit profile saved.

I load the 20 cw profile with 20 watt xmit profile. How do I change the xmit profile to the 100 watt profile and then load the 20 cw gobal profile so it comes up with 100 watts?

I highlighted the 20 cw global profile then click on the transmit profile tab and double click, or highlight and choose load, the 100 watt xmit profile. That changes the xmit profile name in the meters to 100 watt profile name and it shows 100 watts as the xmit profile name in the profile manager box and it also changes the rf power output to 100 watts. But it does not load the changed global profile. I'm still showing a freq/mode of whatever band/mode I was on when I highlighted the 20 cw global profile. Now what? How do I load that 20 cw global profile with the 100 watt xmit profile in it so it becomes active?

Fred, K0FG

KD0RC

Hi Fred, to save a transmit profile, you just create it. Every time you change RF Power or Tune Power with that transmit profile selected, it auto-saves.

I think that you are trying to do something fairly straightforward, but in a confusing way. The global profile will only contain one transmit profile. Assume that is 20 W. Once you have selected your global (e.g. 20 CW), it will have RF Power set to 20 W. Now you want to put the amp in standby and operate at 100 W, so you would just select the 100 W transmit profile, leaving yourself on the 20 CW global. The transmit profile is circled in yellow.

The transmit profile that was active at the time that you saved a global profile will be the transmit profile that comes up when you open that global. To change transmit profiles, just select the desired transmit profile. The next time that you select the same global profile, the transmit profile will go back to the one that you saved.

I think that you are still trying to have global profiles by band, mode and power. That is a LOT of profiles to manage and sort through to get what you want.

I would only have one global profile per band and mode. Then I would have two transmit profiles per mode, one for high power (i.e. no amp) and one for low power for the amp.

If you normally operate with the amp, or just want it to normally come up under low power to protect the amp, save the global profiles with one of the low power transmit profiles (see my previous post).

Did that make sense for what you are trying to do?

K0FG_Fred

Len I tried several times to do it your way. But I just cannot seem to make it work.

My way means many more global profiles to choose from, a much longer list. But when I choose a profile I know it will come up on freq/mode/power/tx band settings all correct. No need to change anything, just go.

At my point in the learning curve I think I will go with it. When I become more educated maybe I can learn to do it differently, more efficiently.

I very much appreciate your time and effort. I'm just sorry you had such a sorry student. But I'm pretty sure I will have more questions as I continue down this path.

73, Fred, K0FG

KD0RC

Sounds good Fred. We all have our own way of thinking about these radios - there is no "right" way for many aspects of their operation. I just hope you are enjoying the radio as much as I am enjoying mine!

K0FG_Fred

I have been using my Elecraft equipment for 6-7 years, and it is good stuff, way more capability than I will ever be able to thoroughly exercise. I just wanted to try something new, a learning experience, to be blunt - a new toy.

This is it. Yes I am enjoying it. So far I've learned to turn it on, and after 3-4 tries I can usually make a contact with it, unless of course I'm trying to use the KAT500.

So now I've got this whipped, it's on to something new, like FRstack, ddutil, frlogger, running 2 slices, and a couple more small things.

Have not even considered trying to run it remotely, hi hi.

73, Fred, K0FG

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Fred—I have precious little technical ability and wanted to reassure you that I find running multiple slices and operating remotely via SmartLink (with a standard-issue cable TV company router) quite easy.

KD0RC

What I did to acclimatize myself to remote operation, was to set up my cell phone as a WiFi hotspot. Then I connected my computer to the hotspot and launched SmartSDR. Since I had already set up SmartLink per the manual, I got right in. Now I could play around and get a feel for how it works while I am physically right next to the radio, but logically operating remotely.

When I first went remote for real, it was a fishing trip up in Wyoming. The practice I did at home paid off - I had no issues using it in the wild (at least while I still had cell service...). Now the guys in the local club ask me if I am local or remote whenever I check in to the weekly 2 meter net!