Connect a Q5 Transverter

Bill_NO4ON

I am a new Flex owner, 8600 with a Maestro. I also bought Q5 - 144 and a Q5 - 432 transverters. I intend to use the new setup for Satellite work. I have had a lot of trouble, being new to Flex and Q5, I have tried to work a ticket, but that has so far been futile, they just seem to not respond with what I ask for.

I have decided to go back to the basics and try to develop a baseline so I can inch forward. I connected my Diamond V2000B VHF / UHF antenna directly to the ANT port of the Q5-144. I connected the IF port on the Q5-144 to the XVTR B port on the radio. I connected the PTT port on the Q5-144 to the TX1 port on the radio. This is how the diagram in the manual shows it should be hooked up. Added the XVTR entries in the menu, they were blessed by Corey of Q5 as correct. Modified the Band tab in menu with a check on 2m, what I called the Q5-144, TX1, and entered a memory location, 146.76, with what I believe is the information for connecting to the local 146.76 repeater.

I bring up the Maestro, load the memory 146.76, set the antenna for XVTB XVTB and see the pan adapter light up and hear the CW Identifier and some traffic on the repeater.

I key the mic, the Q5-144 led transmit light turns red and the power array on the Q5-144 light up, but nothing comes out. I cannot raise the repeater for a radio check.

What am I doing wrong. I put all of this in a ticket, and Michael Walker just marked the ticket as solved.

Can anyone shed some light as to what I should do next?

Thank you in advance for your help in this matter.

73

Bill - NO4ON

Geoff AB6BT

Does the repeater require CTCSS? Do you have the correct offset?

Bill_NO4ON

It does. 100. I believe that if I did not have that correct I would not be able to hear traffic on the repeater.

Bill_NO4ON

This is the saved memory.

Bill_NO4ON

Here are the specs for the repeater.

Geoff AB6BT

I don't believe that Flex implements tone squelch so you would hear the repeater regardless of the CTCSS tone you have selected. You could verify that by selecting a different CTCSS frequency and see if you still hear the repeater.

In your initial post you stated "but nothing comes out". Do you have a wattmeter on the output of the Q5?

Perhaps a screenshot of the slice flag with your settings would be helpful.

Mike-VA3MW

Bill and I talked today and the key part of his problem was the Mic input was set to the wrong device. Other than that, he was correctly set up and configured.

BTW the Bar Graph on the Q5's is an actual RF wattmeter. If it is working then you are transmitting.

Geoff AB6BT

Glad you sorted it out.

I understand that the Q5 bar graph is a wattmeter but as a sanity check I suggested an external meter.

What if the output connector connection was broken? Presumably, the bar graph wattmeter would still work.

Just sayin…

And wouldn't the repeater squlech still open regargless of the mic selection? I don't know where in the circuit the CTCSS tone in injected but i'm thinking it is independent if the mic selection.

So, if I hit the Mox button with CTCSS enabled with an incorrect mic selection wouldn't that bring up the repeater? I've never tried that. Can you clarify that?

Mike-VA3MW

Anything is possible but just low probability. :)

Geoff AB6BT

I agree, but there have many times when I dismissed something with a low probability of failing, spent hours troubleshooting with no success only to find the problem was with what I initially dismissed.