X-108 Info More Thoughts and Questions ? (5 Viewers)

[Chuck]

my Radio info as displayed at turn on --

Ver: X108G
V1.00.4
May 7 2017
10:12:44
----------------------- what exactly is the info above telling me ?
Ser. # X112--

Ok, some observations -- on keying mike in usb/lsb there is a jump in power for a very short time and then settles back as if the keying caused a audio spike or something... no cat control via any app, HRD , WSJT-X or FLRIG . Tried all settings for connections etc. Volume control real sensitive, up to the 9 o-clock position and after just distortion....

Now my confusion-- Looking on this site for firmware updates by ver number and the dates have me a bit bewildered, based on the info on my radio above, can any one point me to the latest and if need firmware.
At this point other than the above mentioned observations I really like this radio. For me there is one other wish for an upgrade or work around and that is to have some means to set the power fold-back not drop below 2.5 to 3 watts so the radio still has enough rf to auto start my tuner.

 

[Bryancaddy]

I think you have the latest. I am in the same boat as you.

 

[DD5LP]

my Radio info as displayed at turn on --

Ver: X108G
V1.00.4
May 7 2017
10:12:44
----------------------- what exactly is the info above telling me ?
Ser. # X112--

Ok, some observations -- on keying mike in usb/lsb there is a jump in power for a very short time and then settles back as if the keying caused a audio spike or something... no cat control via any app, HRD , WSJT-X or FLRIG . Tried all settings for connections etc. Volume control real sensitive, up to the 9 o-clock position and after just distortion....

Now my confusion-- Looking on this site for firmware updates by ver number and the dates have me a bit bewildered, based on the info on my radio above, can any one point me to the latest and if need firmware.
At this point other than the above mentioned observations I really like this radio. For me there is one other wish for an upgrade or work around and that is to have some means to set the power fold-back not drop below 2.5 to 3 watts so the radio still has enough rf to auto start my tuner.

I believe the SWR graph function came in the latest release of the firmware - if you have that capability, you have the latest version.

By the way, could the surge in power be the click from the PTT switch closing? There may be a way to add a delay but if you ever want to run the rig on digital modes such as FT-8 this will give you a problem.

73 Ed.

 

[Chuck]

Thanks for the input / info. The surge is when the mike ptt is used, and it feels - looks - sounds like the surge - jump corresponds with the switch click . Doing FT8 digital all the time, but when keyed via rs232 line the rf rises about 1.2 watt with somewhere around a second holding at that level then on to output set on radio... this i can deal with, but now my real interest is getting it to work with my turner as describe here and else where. When using with manual tuner i can adjust for min swr an all works, so i'am online. Bought a new mfj -929 auto tuner just before I ordered the X108g and was using an older tube final rig, The 100 watt rig and final tuning was more that a enough for the 929 to sense (2 watts needed to start auto tuning) and do its thing to tune the antenna on all bands. Now the problems is the power foldback of the X108G happens so fast with the mfj -929 connected that the tuner never sees 2 watts. Was looking at a few possiblities but iam not an engineer, ( 1 ) someway withing the hardware of the 108 to change the minimum wattage folded back to say 2.5 >3 watts. (2 ) less likely change the tuner required wattage for auto activation. ( 3 ) maybe more likely add a small 50 watt broadband amp between the radio and tuner, hopefully the amp input circuitry will not cause the radio to foldback so quick and or have a nuff rf to kick the tuner into action, this why i said i am no engineer (looks that at full rf foldback there is about 1.5 watts still being generated ?).... thoughts and info on this issue from anyone welcome...
chuck

 

[DD5LP]

Hi Chuck, OK on the surge perhaps being from the PTT click.

You say you are already running FT-8 (as I am) through the X108G, it would interest me - are you switching to TX through the pin in the acc socket or via a CAT command over the USB cable?

As for using the X108G with a tuner, the fact that the X108G doesn't have a socket to control an ATU means I think (unless you can get a tuner with a micro controller in it that talks CAT commands), you are always going to have to manually turn the carrier on, on the X108G and then hit the auto-tune button on the MFJ ATU.

More complex rigs have a "tune mode" which the X108G doesn't. You need the X108G to put out a carrier (SSB is no good).

Assuming the MFJ can tune with 20w carrier (it should be able to) - consider the following -
1. on the microphone hit the mode switch to change to AM
2. key the PTT on the microphone.
3. press the ATU auto-tune button on the MFJ.
4. When the ATU completes it's tuning action, release the PTT button on the microphone
5. switch back to SSB mode using the mode selection button on the microphone.
6. use the rig, which is now matched to the antenna.

While the SWR that the ATU sees on a bad antenna may be high, the SWR the X108G should see from the ATU should be "OK" for long enough for the ATU to tune without the X108G folding back the power (I hope). Try it and see.

73 Ed DD5LP.

 

[Chuck]

Hi Chuck, OK on the surge perhaps being from the PTT click.

You say you are already running FT-8 (as I am) through the X108G, it would interest me - are you switching to TX through the pin in the acc socket or via a CAT command over the USB cable?

As for using the X108G with a tuner, the fact that the X108G doesn't have a socket to control an ATU means I think (unless you can get a tuner with a micro controller in it that talks CAT commands), you are always going to have to manually turn the carrier on, on the X108G and then hit the auto-tune button on the MFJ ATU.

More complex rigs have a "tune mode" which the X108G doesn't. You need the X108G to put out a carrier (SSB is no good).

Assuming the MFJ can tune with 20w carrier (it should be able to) - consider the following -
1. on the microphone hit the mode switch to change to AM
2. key the PTT on the microphone.
3. press the ATU auto-tune button on the MFJ.
4. When the ATU completes it's tuning action, release the PTT button on the microphone
5. switch back to SSB mode using the mode selection button on the microphone.
6. use the rig, which is now matched to the antenna.

While the SWR that the ATU sees on a bad antenna may be high, the SWR the X108G should see from the ATU should be "OK" for long enough for the ATU to tune without the X108G folding back the power (I hope). Try it and see.

73 Ed DD5LP.

Ed, thanks so much for the reply, first the x108g foldback is so fast that tuner never sees more that a little over a watt and does not start its auto tunining by supplying an am carrier as the 108 foldsback before it can tune,,, the tuner does work as long as it can see 2 or more watts ssb/cw/am but the supper good proctection of the 108 is to fast for the tuner !!!! The tuner does have a mode to auto tune with just a carrier for just this type or radio (one with no connection or cat control etc.) and worked well with the 40 year old kenwood 530. Ok, will try to answer a little more, but as an update just got cat control working on th 108g.. yep, 50 years a ham 30 years IT business and still made a rookie mistake... be sure to use the usb cable that came with the radio and not one lying around as i could be a charge cable for you phone etc. and 3 did not work till i found and tried the one that came with the radio. The setup i have now will change soon since i have the cat working, anyway i have a easydigi board i got from thebay and had a dongle for audio in and out. dongle audio to audio port on rear ,,, mike and ptt (little digiboard had opto isolated ptt via rs232) mike in on the front, works quite well except the vol level is real senstive, once set stays there. since the cat ptt and all works now will re-wire so in/out ptt via cat is in the rear...

73 chuck wd5eed

as a side note the cat works with wsjt-x which has the x108g radio in its settings and HRD free and the new paid ver. using the IC 7000 radio, no joy with flrig as of yet..

 

[DD5LP]

Hi Chuck,
So you are saying that the SWR shown to the X108G is so bad as to cause an immediate roll back of the power? What are you using for an antenna - sounds like it's not resonant at all!

OK, try the following - tune the antenna using the Kenwood 530 though the MFJ ATU. This will then be showing a 50 ohm load on the input to the tuner. Now connect the X108G and see if you can follow the procedure I wrote in my last post.

I realise this is not a practical long-term solution, but it will show whether the problem is with the bad SWR causing the roll back or something else.

If using this approach, you can match the X108G to the antenna, then it might be a possibility to have the MFJ store default settings for each band which it should switch to when it sees RF at a certain frequency - or (I'm not sure if your model of MFJ has this option) it could switch to the preset band settings dependant upon the "band-voltage" coming from the X108G's accessory socket.

I would have thought using 20w of AM, even in a folded back state, there should be at least 2watts there for the MFJ to tune with.

73 Ed.

 

[PE1WVD]

I think you have the latest. I am in the same boat as you.

Mee to. Going to try dummy load and see if happens then also