Why connecting a Heil foot switch to the 8600M PTT RCA input, I am unable to tune the rig?

David43

I get a messaged that says I have not selected a slice. Any help would be greatly appreciated,

David, K1MT

KD0RC

Hi David, you mention two different things Tune and PTT. Is the radio not responding to the Tune button or the PTT closure?

I assume that you are using the front panel and not SmartSDR, correct? Do you have a slice showing on the front panel?

David43

Hi Len,

When I plugged the cable from the Heil foot switch into the 8600M read panel the tune button on the front panel of the 8600M did not put the rig into tune. I don't recall if I tried tuning the radio with the tune button on SSDR. Yes, I do have a slice showing on the front panel.

David, K1MT

KD0RC

Hi David, Does the rig tune OK without the footswitch being plugged in?

David43

yes

David43

Len,

I just replunged the Heil foot switch into the 8600M to confirm my observations. Here's what happens,

1. ) The SSDR "Tune' button is greyed out and it is inoperable.
2. ) The "Tune" button on the 8600M front panel when pressed turns red but the rig will not tune. A message comes on the 8600M that says "The Transmit Slice Has Not Been Selected".
3. ) When I depress the foot switch nothing happens.

David, K1MT

Trucker

Broken foot switch?

James

WD5GWY

David43

No, the foot switch is fine and that’s not the answer why the 8600M can not be tuned.

David Decoons, wo2x

KD0RC

Hi David, if the antenna is not tuned and the footswitch is "ON" when plugged in, the PTT Inhibit can be set for that band due to high SWR. This will gray out the Tune and Mox buttons and give you an "Interlock is preventing transmission" pop-up message. Can you check the TX Band Settings screen to be sure that PTT Inhibit is not set?

Have you verified that the foot switch is not shorted, locked down or stuck somehow, or set to Normally Closed (NC) instead of Normally Open (NO)?

John KB4DU

I know it sounds dumb, but is the foot switch in the correct position?

km9r.mike

message comes on the 8600M that says "The Transmit Slice Has Not Been Selected".

You will get the same message if "TX" has been unselected in the slice window and you try to engage the internal ATU. This has nothing to do with the foot switch and has everything to do with "TX" not being selected in the slice window. That will also grey out the tune button and make it inoperative.

Simply ensure "TX" is illuminated in the slice window via mouse click or touchscreen on the front panel.That will illuminate the "TX" icon with red background and white TX letters. Your tune button will now also function and your foot switch should as well.

km9r.mike

Also I do not know for certain, I bet SSDR manual may mention this, but afaik all transmissions regardless of mode will be inhibited when this feature is deselected. So if I am away from the rig for awhile or I need to do some quick antenna work I will deselect this feature as a safety measure. Could also be helpful for other situations as well.

David43

what do you mean by afaik?

km9r.mike

as far as I know because I have not read the SSDR manual thoroughly : )

David43

Mike,

TX was selected and I don’t ever use the ATU since I have an auto tuner (PALSTAR HF AUTO) between my antennas and the PGXL.

km9r.mike

I only mentioned the ATU because it would show the same "TX slice not been selected" message for the situation you described. I also use an external tuner KAT 500 because I am limited to using an 80-10 EFHW deployed in a very untraditional manner due to HOA so the rig requires additional tuning and on 80 and 160 the tuning range of my 8600 is insufficient so I use the KAT 500 instead.

km9r.mike

One final comment on this, the warning or notification displayed "The Transmit Slice Has Not Been Selected" is kinda misleading. If no slice receiver is displayed whatsoever on a pan adapter and someone tries to transmit the same notification appears " The transmit slice has not been selected"

For the condition where a slice receiver is displayed but TX has been deselected and someone tries to transmit I think it would have been more helpful if the notification displayed read something like " TX is not selected in the slice receiver control window " or something like that.

For the condition where no slice receivers are displayed and someone tries to transmit the notification should be something like "select a slice receiver" or "display a slice receiver" because when you do that a slice receiver will appear with the TX icon engaged.

If in split mode and TX is not selected in either of the two slice receivers displayed and someone tries to transmit then the notification of "the transmit slice has not been selected" would be more accurate imho.