SPE Expert 2K PA and Tuner Genius???

Jens DL7AUO

Hi all,
is there any way to setup an my 6700, Expert 2K PA with Tuner Genius in SO2R Mode. My intention is to switch off the internal PA ATU and replace by Tuner Genius as it cover far wider range. How would the setup look like?
Any ideas welcome..

73

Jens DL7AUO

Mike-VA3MW

We have never tested it, but you should be able to.

On antenna 1 of the 6700 would connect to the Expert and then to the TGXL. The Expert would be keyed by TX1 and I would start experimenting with the Tx Delay. You would have to manually put the Expert in standby and tune the TGXL first.

On antenna 2, you would connect directly to the TGXL.

@David Decoons, wo2x , did I miss anything?

David Decoons, wo2x

I believe due to how RF is routed in the SPE you cannot use the SPE 2K-fa in SO2R with the SO2R tuner Genius. When I say SO2R, I am referring to being able to transmit on either radio antenna port while receiving on the other port.

The Flex Power Genius amp has switching built in that bypasses the B side of the amp while A side has amp in circuit and then when transmitting on B side the A side is bypassed. The PG XL amp outputs A & B are connected to TG XL inputs A & B. Then TG XL outputs are connected to two antennas or the 2x8 antenna switch.

Reading the SPE manual and looking at the block diagram the way the SPE works is either input 1 or 2 can be using the amp and connected to one of the 6 antenna outputs. The other input is then connected to the SO2R connector for receive. The SO2R switching in the 2K allows one input to have the amp in circuit and work in transmit & receive to one of the six antennas. The second input is connected to the SO2R connector for receive only. The two inputs would always use SO2R connector for RX. So, you can use the 2K-fa with radio slice using Ant 2 for RX only but you cannot switch transmit between slice A and B.

The Tuner Genius is designed so either A or B side can be RX while other side is transmit & receive with tuner in circuit. It will not work.

To state it again, the 2K always has one antenna out as TX and SO2R port as RX. To work with Tuner Genius SO2R model the 2K would need to be able to have input 1 dedicated to an antenna port while input 2 dedicated to another port and then have the amp switched to be in circuit on either path while the opposite path is bypassed. Again, look at the block diagram in 2K-fa manual. The amp section cannot be switched between two different antenna ports while the opposite port is bypassed to the input not transmitting.

2 a.m. so might not be the most coherent explanation but it will not do full SO2R.

73

Dave wo2x

Rick N4RZ

Actually, Dave's answer although not perfect is about as coherent as you can get given the weird way the SPE amplifiers implement what they call "SO2R". Basically, the problem is that 2K-FA, and SPE amps in general, do not have a dedicated fixed RF path like the TGXL SO2R tuner is expecting. I own an SPE 2K-FA, TGXL SO2R Tuner, PGXL amp, Antenna Genius 2X8 Switch, and a Flex 6600M. For what you are trying to do the PGXL is a simpler and much better solution than 2K-FA.

Although I would not recommend doing this, it should be possible to create your own RS-232 switching arrangement so that the operating frequencies sent from the radio to the tuner and antenna switch follow the RF path switching that takes place inside the 2K-FA. The 2K-FA does have pins on the aux connector that will tell you which input is connected to the transmit antennas and SO2R antenna ports which could be used to facilitate the switching.

David Decoons, wo2x

hi Rick,

I’m a little more lucid tonight :-)

The issue with trying to use the SPE between the Flex radio and TG XL is the Flex equipment is capable of TX on either the “A” path or “B” path. The SPE output is only capable on TX on one path out (Ant 1-6). The SO2R out is designed for RX only on a multi band antenna. The SPE 2K-fa was designed quite a few years ago and maybe not thought all the way through as far as SO2R.

For example, the antenna output of amp is connected to A in on TG XL while SO2R on amp is connected to B in of TG XL. That would mean the B side of the tuner would be RX only (or it “could” be TX also but low power). The A side of the tuner would follow either ANT1 or 2 of radio and B side would be the other radio antenna.

In addition to creative RF cabling you would not be able to use LAN setup on the tuner and as you pointed out, you would have to use Kenwood serial protocol with a way of swapping the RS232 and RCA PTT depending which slice is active on TX. The is way too complicated.

73

Dave wo2x

Jens DL7AUO

Thanks a lot… bottom line. Better change to Flex PowerGenius… ;-)

David Decoons, wo2x

You’re welcome. The Power Genius, Tuner Genius and if more than two antennas, the Antenna Genius make a great combo for SO2R. It allows transmit on either slice on the radio/amp/tuner.

73

Dave wo2x