Hi,

Trying to control the TX output with the PWR slider. My transceiver is a FTDX101D. Coding and decoding FT8 is working and also the transceiver freq. control

Observation:
Set TX power at 40 Watt using the transceiver power control knop. Then sliding the PWR control down will reduce output power but this increases automatically within a second or so to the maximum power that is set by the transceiver (in this case 40 Watt). So the power output is always the maximum that is set by the transceiver regardles the PWR slider position.

Is there anything to set in the software to correct this or do I need to go into the transceiver menu?

73, Nico PA3ADU

On 16/02/2021 21:06, Nico Ebbendorf wrote:

Hi,

Trying to control the TX output with the PWR slider. My transceiver is a FTDX101D. Coding and decoding FT8 is working and also the transceiver freq. control

Observation:
Set TX power at 40 Watt using the transceiver power control knop. Then sliding the PWR control down will reduce output power but this increases automatically within a second or so to the maximum power that is set by the transceiver (in this case 40 Watt). So the power output is always the maximum that is set by the transceiver regardles the PWR slider position.

Is there anything to set in the software to correct this or do I need to go into the transceiver menu?

73, Nico PA3ADU

Hi Nico,

non-linear behaviour of the WSJT-X Pwr slider is usually a sign that you have too much audio level into your rig. It also is a sign that you may be transmitting a poor quality signal. Find the data mode input gain in your rig's menu and reduce it until the unwanted behaviour stops. See this post for a recipe for setting Tx audio levels correctly:

https://wsjtx.groups.io/g/main/message/13890

73
Bill
G4WJS.

Thank you Bill for the link how to set up the audio.
I am aware of adjusting the audio mixer in Windows. This worked fine with my FT1000 and FTdx1200 where I set the mixer to a zero ALC reading at the TRX meter.

But, this does not work for the FTDX101. I believe that this TRX has a kind of ALC in the audio circuit (I had also problems in setting up the mike gain and processor at first). The audio in the transmitter  SDR of the FTDX101 works different as you would expect.

Anyway, when I set the audio mixer slider in Windows to -35 dB (!) the PWR slider in WSJT works properly. At max, I can get the maximum power as set in the TRX o/p setting and slide it down to zero o/p.
Any setting > -35dB of the audio slider causing a behaviour that what ever you set with the PWR slider, the output power increases automatically to the maximum setting (except for when you slide it complete down to the bottom).

So maybe this has something to do with the FTDZ101 (settings?)

73, Nic PA3ADU

On 17/02/2021 19:18, Nico Ebbendorf wrote:

Thank you Bill for the link how to set up the audio.
I am aware of adjusting the audio mixer in Windows. This worked fine with my FT1000 and FTdx1200 where I set the mixer to a zero ALC reading at the TRX meter.

But, this does not work for the FTDX101. I believe that this TRX has a kind of ALC in the audio circuit (I had also problems in setting up the mike gain and processor at first). The audio in the transmitter  SDR of the FTDX101 works different as you would expect.

Anyway, when I set the audio mixer slider in Windows to -35 dB (!) the PWR slider in WSJT works properly. At max, I can get the maximum power as set in the TRX o/p setting and slide it down to zero o/p.
Any setting > -35dB of the audio slider causing a behaviour that what ever you set with the PWR slider, the output power increases automatically to the maximum setting (except for when you slide it complete down to the bottom).

So maybe this has something to do with the FTDZ101 (settings?)

73, Nic PA3ADU

Hi Nic,

the FTdx101 has a function called AMC which is supposed to automatically limit the mic gain to avoid distortion. I would be surprised if that was active in USB-DATA mode but if it is it may be best to turn its level setting to minimum.

It sounds like you have the audio input level in the rig's menu set much too high. The setting is RPORT GAIN in the MODE PSK/DATA sub-menu. Set your USB AUDIO CODEC level for WSJT-X in the Windows sound mixer to maximum then reduce the USB AUDIO CODEC master level in the playback device properties to 0dB as described in the recipe I linked above. Once you have done that reduce the relevant RPORT GAIN menu setting on your rig to give a small amount of ALC indication from a 1500 Hz Tune tone from WSJT-X. That should have set up your levels correctly, you should then find that the WSJT-X Pwr slider behaves linearly.

73
Bill
G4WJS.

Thanks again Bill.

This is the trick!. The issue is indeed the internal soundcard setting in the FTDX101. Followed your instruction as per link below and adjusted the RPORT GAIN to just get ALC reading on the meter.
Default setting of the RPORT is 50 and my setting now is 2, just above nothing... But I can control the PWR slider and lokks linear and stable now.
I can play a little with the setting in the Windows audio mixer and have the RPORT now at position 5 and the audio mixer at -10dB. This gives me a good control over de power without ALC reading.

It looks that the audio gain inside the FTDX101 is much higher then the external soundcard in my microham USB Interface III that I use for the FT1000.

73, Nic PA3ADU

On 18/02/2021 16:56, Nico Ebbendorf wrote:

Thanks again Bill.

This is the trick!. The issue is indeed the internal soundcard setting in the FTDX101. Followed your instruction as per link below and adjusted the RPORT GAIN to just get ALC reading on the meter.
Default setting of the RPORT is 50 and my setting now is 2, just above nothing... But I can control the PWR slider and lokks linear and stable now.
I can play a little with the setting in the Windows audio mixer and have the RPORT now at position 5 and the audio mixer at -10dB. This gives me a good control over de power without ALC reading.

It looks that the audio gain inside the FTDX101 is much higher then the external soundcard in my microham USB Interface III that I use for the FT1000.

73, Nic PA3ADU

Hi Nic,

a low setting is not unusual and nothing to worry about.

73
Bill
G4WJS.