[bars] PSA for FT8/FT4 users - HOLD TX FREQ

Mon May 5 13:27:24 CDT 2025

Another good way to check your signal is to work with afriend who is several miles away.  You cancommunicate on another voice band to discuss how your signal looks on hisspectrum scope.  That way you will notoverpower his receiver and give false readings. Ideally your signal on his spectrum display should have a boxlikeconfiguration.  The sides should bevertical with little horizontal deviation. You can start testing at low power and gradually increase the slider tomaximum power to see if there is significant change on his spectrum displayfrom the low power signal.  If all isgood at his qth, you are ready to go and will deliver a clean signal atwhatever power level you use.
73 de K1VK - Paul
    On Monday, May 5, 2025 at 10:21:59 AM EDT, Jim Idelson via bars <bars at w1hh.org> wrote:  

 I'd just add that these same principles apply even when the 'sound card' function is inside the radio and the computer is controlling it over a USB connection. 
--
73 Jim K1IR
On Mon, May 5, 2025, 10:06 Jim Idelson <jim at k1ir.com> wrote:

The quality of your RF output signal has a lot to do with the quality of the audio signal driving the radio. You can create a poor quality input signal with too little or too much audio amplitude. Too little can cause a poor signal-to-noise ratio; too much can put you in a situation where the signal can become distorted. These problems, if present, will be also be present in the radio RF output signal. 
There is a range of audio levels over which the computer audio system operates wuth good SNR and low distortion. If you run below or above that range, your on-the-air signal can be degraded.
The output control in the WSJT app only controls the computer audio level.
So, the point I'm trying to make is that, while you do have some ability to adjust output power with that audio level, taking the power to extremes this way may not result in the best signal quality.
The best explanatory example I can suggest is having your radio adjusted for 100W output, but then reducing the power to 5 watts using the WSJT audio control. The tiny audio signal from the computer will not be of as good a quality as a full-range audio output. You would get better RF output quality if you set the radio RF output to 5W and drive it with a clean full-range audio output signal from the computer.
Happy digital moding!--
73 Jim K1IR
On Mon, May 5, 2025, 09:25 Adam Smith via bars <bars at w1hh.org> wrote:

Chris, All - 
One thing that wasn't clear to me as a new FT-mode operator (I'm still not a very regular user) was how I should control power output.  There are many positions taken / methods used if you search for this online.  Since you're basically using USB from the radio's perspective, the actual transmitted power is controlled both by the power setting in the radio, and the settings in your computer & software which create the audio input.  
The advice I've gotten most from operators I trust is - set the radio to the maximum intended power level.  E.g. on a desktop rig this could be 100%/100W, or say half that if you want to de-rate for digital mode duty cycle.  Then use the power output slider at the lower right side of the WSJTX interface to control the actual output level.  Make sure that Windows (or other OS, but Windows always seems to change things when you're not looking) isn't applying some other level control (there are per-interface and sometimes per-program settings in the Sound control panel or whatever it's called).  Watch the meters on the radio to assess your actual peak output and to make sure that ALC is not reaching 100%, which will cause you to splatter.  
Probably a good idea to start with low power and ramp up after you show that you have the audio and control paths working.  You can also check that audio is being sent by routing it to the speakers instead of to the radio audio interface.
If you come back to the setup after having things disconnected (or after Windows has updated), and find that you seem to have no output, check the settings on the computer side first.  Especially on Windows I find that often the COM port has changed, or gotten disconnected from the digimode program, or something ... or the audio/"mixer" settings have changed and are sending the output to the wrong place.  Related to that - make sure that you're not sending all sound from your computer to the rig audio interface when it's plugged in - including beeps/alerts, music you're playing, etc.
Again, I'm not the most regular FT* user, but you asked for some starting-point tips and those are things I've run into while dabbling with FT-x, Feldhell, js8call, etc.  Glad to hear from others too.
73,Adam / AA1N
On Sun, May 4, 2025 at 11:14 PM Tim - K1DC via bars <bars at w1hh.org> wrote:

Congrats, Chris!

Please ping me if you have questions.

Tim/K1DC

 On 5/4/2025 16:00, Christopher Lennon wrote:

Well thanks for the encouragement all.  

It turns out that getting receive to work was as simple as connecting all the cables together and turning it on.  Getting it to transmit was another matter.  Hours of YouTube videos later and the settings were right and the G90 quirk that line input gain needs to be maxed out.  

I didn't call CW, so I didn't show up on the psk reporter, but I completed a QSO with KU4OC.  

Thanks!
 Chris
 W2BPL

PS I had hold TXfreq checked!

 -- 

Courageously sent from a non-Apple device that includes a headphone jack.

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