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Power Settings in TX profile will not reset back to 100w

Lu Romero
Lu Romero Member ✭✭
edited July 23 in Peripherals & Station Integration

All:

I'm at my wits end with this issue.

Three weeks ago, we decided to test one of our Flex rigs at the Tampa ARC (we have two) with an amplifier to see if this would be something that could be easily managed remotely by our users.

I own a KPA/KAT500 set, so my gear was "volunteered" for this effort.

For my personal peace of mind, I wanted to set the maximum power output from this Flex6400 to 35w so as to prevent our users from stuffing 100w into the amp "accidentally". This amp/tuner combo is really good at looking after itself, but why tempt fate, right?

I created transmit profiles and global profiles called "CW WITH AMP" and "SSB WITH AMP". In these profiles, I set the output power on the standard ham bands to 35w maximum. I also disabled the WARC bands, 6 meters, GEN, 2200 and 630… Just in case… by checking PTT Inhibit on these bands.

In order to key the amp on transmit, I checked the RCA TX1 to send PTT to the amp through the KAT500. As you may know, the KAT500 will bypass the amp while tuning and also if the SWR is too high, in my case, set to 3:1 in its firmware.

I also set the TUNE power to 20w, as this power level is better for the KAT500 to find a good tune solution.

The experiment worked wonderfully! I we now had a 500w station that we could operate remotely using SSDR. The Elecraft freeware remote tools, along with a WaveNode WN2M were controlled and monitored over RDP with RustDesk while running on a local PC in the station LAN.

The experiment is now over, and I want to get my WaveNode, amp and tuner back while the club ponders buying their own (and, no, we don't want to spend the money on "Genius" stuff, which would be the right way to do this, but I digress). This will take time and before we do this, we want our 100w rig back.

This should be as easy as recalling a transmit profile that does NOT have the modifications I made for the test, right? Well, guess what! EVERY TRANSMIT PROFILE now has power set to 35w max! And, better yet, no matter how I try to reset the profile (yes, I have enabled AutoSave) and no matter what I enter in the TX Band settings, every profile on any mode resets power out at 35w, no matter how many times I change the settings. AAMOF, when I have the TX Band Settings window open, and I change power out with the slider, the RF PWR box for the band I'm adjusting changes, but the slider always returns to 35w out.

I have tried countless combinations of saving these profiles. I've deleted them and created new ones with the same name, I've reset the Defaults, I've saved the settings under each mode, I've manually saved them, I've turned AutoSave on and off… And no matter what do, and no matter what the TX Band Settings displays, the maximum power out of the radio is always 35w. When I try to increase this setting, the slider slides back to 35w in any mode and in any profile I recall.

This is frustrating as "H E Double Hockey Sticks" (You admins are such prudes!). What am I doing wrong? What is the secret to getting a 100w radio back? BTW, I am doing this remotely via SSDR and also locally via RDP into my control PC at the site… Same results either way!. Yes, I have watched the videos by Mike as well as read the manual, which really doesn't explain profiles and what affects them well (I once wrote manuals for a living, so I have some insight into this kind of thing).

I look forward to finding the answer from one of you "Flex Whisperers" as to a solution to my problem.

Luis Romero - W4LT - Tampa ARC Flex Remote Wrangler

Answers

  • KD0RC
    KD0RC Member, Super Elmer Moderator
    edited July 23

    Hi Lu, try my FlexiCraft utility. Search for it on this community. There you will find a link to my GitHub page with the software and a user's guide.

    The utility is specifically for KPA500 and KAT500 with Flex radios. It runs in the background and sets the power appropriately based on band, mode and amplifier status. It operates independently of profiles.

    If you have any issues loading or using it, just let me know and we can set up a TeamViewer or AnyDesk session to get you going.

  • Lu Romero
    Lu Romero Member ✭✭

    Len:

    Thanks for the tip! I will look into it. Im still in shock that a Global Profile is not a "snapshot" of the parameters of the radio!

    Also, Dave has not worked further on the disconnect project. He got it running, but we have other issues. Im the hardware guy, he's the software guy :)

    -lu-w4lt-

  • KD0RC
    KD0RC Member, Super Elmer Moderator

    Here is the link for the community topic:

    https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/8030377/kd0rc-flexicraft-utility

    Here is the link for the GitHub page:

    https://github.com/KD0RC/KD0RC_Flexicraft_Utility

  • Lu Romero
    Lu Romero Member ✭✭

    Just quickly scanned the manual. Len, this is great stuff! I will experiment and give you feedback.

    Now if I could only get WaveNode to work with VirtualHere (Software USB redirector - Made in Australia!), I wouldnt need the RDP session and could do it on one screen!

    Thanks so much for developing this great wedgeware.

    For now, still waiting for an answer to my issue from the Flex Whisperers. Would be nice to not have to completely reset the radio.

    -lu-w4lt-

  • KD0RC
    KD0RC Member, Super Elmer Moderator

    Hi Lu, thanks, it was fun to write and get working!

    As far as the power not wanting to go back to 100, it sounds like you might have another utility or something running that is setting the power. Try stopping everything except for SmartSDR to see if you can isolate the culprit. If that's not it, let me know and if you like, I can do a TeamViewer or AnyDesk session with you to see if together we can figure it out.

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin

    Profiles, Global, Transmit, Mic and Mode Groups are all linked together and it even makes a difference depending on the antenna you are using.

    Yes, we agree. Clear as mud! :)

    This presentation might help a bit:

    https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRjmH3lxtB3X_EtHgsyz7xct2LgwD-b-wPDESR6yhYrAee-iGMGPK3nCag7uRML3arg2sTyRzjNN6ui/pub

    Kyle and I did this video which might help and it goes with the presentation.

    https://www.youtube.com/live/2ANl_fBxWkU?si=NzpM8Vr8qKFAYrH_
  • Lu Romero
    Lu Romero Member ✭✭

    Mike:

    I've watched that video twice now. I even took screen shots of the power point slides you presented. Somehow, something is persistent and I'm missing a minor nuance of a setting. It's a self-inflicted wound.

    If it were an airplane, I would be dead by now. Or at least maimed by ejecting.

    I should have tested it to my personal rig first before the club production rigs, like I always do, but I ASSUMED that recalling a Transmit profile would put everything in the power levels back. And you know what they say about ASSUMING, right?

    I'm going to take a ride to the station later or tomorrow around our thunderstorms and do a factory reset on both the radios and just be done with it. Since you say in the video this information resides on the server, and not the clients, this SHOULD solve it and the users will simply have to redo all of their profiles. I will move the radios to 3.9.19 while I'm at it (we are on 3.9.18 now) I'm updating my radio here after lunch.

    I am hoping this puts everything back to factory settings… I hope I'm not wrong. We will see. If the guys don't like that they have to rebuild their profiles, they can fire me as the Admin of the system.😊

    Len's remote-control app is a great solution for amp/tuner integration! You should include it in SSDR and pay Les some consulting money. I need power control, I don't want the users to forget and accidentally stuff 100w into the a… That would be an expensive whoops!

    If I ever figure out what I did wrong, I will document it here.

    -lu-w4lt-

  • KD0RC
    KD0RC Member, Super Elmer Moderator

    Hi Lu, be sure to export profiles before you do the factory reset. Once reset, you can re-import them so that your club members do not have to re-build them.

    The KPA 500 VERY quickly goes into fault mode and puts the amp into standby if you transmit 100 W into it. It is very unlikely that any harm will come to it if that happens. That being said, I am pretty careful not to do it!

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin

    I agree on the KPA500. I would also make sure that FRstack doesn't have a MAX power mode set or some other application. You do want to make sure you test with no other applications connected to the radio.

    It isn't impossible that a reset clears it.

  • Lu Romero
    Lu Romero Member ✭✭
    edited July 25

    WE HAVE FOUND THE SOLUTION TO THIS ISSUE!

    With thanks to Len KD0RC, it was found that the MAX POWER setting under the TX tab in "Radio Settings" overrides any setting in the "Profiles" TRANSMIT PROFILES TX BAND power and relay settings grid GLOBALLY for each and every TX Profile recalled!

    This means that it doesnt matter what the power settings are in the TX PROFILE grid, radio output power will be set by the power setting in the "Radio Settings" TX Max Power tab, and this goes for EVERY TX PROFILE, no matter which one it was that Max Power was set under or recalled.

    I wrongly assumed that the Max Power setting under the TX tab was connected to the TX Profile settings. It is not. Having set the MAX POWER at 35w, EVERY TX PROFILE resulted in a maximum power of 35w.

    The confusing thing is that the TX Profile grid shows the power settings that you set IN THE GRID, and SAVES AND RECALLS them, however, it doesnt matter what the grid says, the "Boss" setting in this scenario is what is displayed in the MAX POWER box under the TX tab in Radio Setup.

    In retrospect, the behavior makes sense, however, what doesnt make sense is that the TX Profile grid shows a DIFFERENT output power setting, leading you to believe that this will be the power out recalled when you load the profile. It is not, the Max Power setting takes precedence.

    It would be more logical if, when you set the Max Power setting in the TX tab, this power setting would then be automatically reflected in every TX Profile grid that is recalled. As it is, you have to REMEMBER the setting in Max Power and know that this is the most RF power the radio will output GLOBALLY, regardless of what you input or what is recalled in the TX Profile power out grid. Recalling a TX Profile WILL NOT affect the Max Power setting regardless of what the TX Profile Power out grid says.

    73

    Luis Romero - W4LT

    gotcha.JPG

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