Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

Does the TGXL ground all ports when power is off?

For some lightning protection, I wonder if unused antenna ports are grounded. Further, when power is off are all ports grounded? Brian, W9HLQ

Answers

  • Butch
    Butch Member ✭✭✭

    Assuming it does, I seriously doubt your station would be protected from lightning by merely grounding the TG-XL's ports.

  • Brian_W9HLQ
    Brian_W9HLQ Member ✭✭

    Thanks for the reply, but I asked if the ports were grounded. I am aware all bets are off for a flash of direct lightning hit, but in a midwest summer thunderstorm static charges do build up. In this case, relay contacts will do well to bleed off those charges. I have measured with a VOM, but not knowing the internal wiring of the tuner, a showing very low ohms is not definitive. Brian, W9HLQ

  • Dan-N7HQ
    Dan-N7HQ FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager admin

    Brian,

    The SO2R version does not ground the Antenna contacts when the power is off. You are likely measuring the output of the exciter/amplifier you have connected to the tuner's input.

    I'm not sure about the 1x3 version since we don't have one to confirm it or not.

    73,

  • Brian_W9HLQ
    Brian_W9HLQ Member ✭✭

    Thanks for the reply, Dan.🙂 I failed to mention I am using a 1x3 model. I will assume since your SO2R does not ground when power is off, then my model does not also. This may be best answered by the Flex folks.

  • Dan-N7HQ
    Dan-N7HQ FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager admin

    Hi Brian,

    I am "Flex Folks". The switching is vastly different between the 1x3 and SO2R, so I would not expect them to behave the same way.

    We literally do not have a 1x3 TGXL available for me to test this and I have sent a question sent off to the 4O3A folks.

    In the meantime, you can test this empirically: **** power to your TGXL, disconnect the input, and use an ohm-meter to check across each antenna port. It should read zero or close to zero ohms if they are shorted. If 4O3A used the same switching methodology as the Antenna Genius, they should be grounded when unused or powered down.

    73,

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.