I spoke to Icom this morning about the rx jack on the Pro III. It was never
changed from the original Icom 756 or Icom Pro- in other words, they strongly
recommended protecting it with a front end unit when using it with a rx antenna
like a beverage, etc......
The reason I called this morning was to try and trouble shoot 2 problems I was
having with the rig during the ARRL contest this past weekend-
First, the Send jack relay of the Pro III hooked up to control the front end
protector from RadioDan.com was staying short circuited at times without
explanation. I spoke to Dan, W7RF, right away the morning of the contest-After
checking all test points, the front end protector was operating properly-
(awesome customer service!!)
While transmitting, it happened without explanation, and corrected itself
without explanation. In fact, when I was on the phone with Dan, it unlocked-
It would stay short circuited for a few minutes then free up- Most of the time,
everything worked as expected-These events took place hours apart. I replaced
all the RCA jack cables- did not correct the problem- It happened twice during
the first night of the contest, un locking after a few minutes. So for the
last half of the contest, so I just disconnected it and by passed the front end
protector to finish up listening with the vertical most of the time-
Second, about 2/3rds of the way through the contest, the primary character
being sent was getting clipped when I was using the Dentron 2000 tuner- so
instead of stations hear N0AH, they were hearing what sounded like a distorted
E in front of the rest of the call like e0AH........That has never happened
before- so taking the tuner out of line, no clipping-
Since the rig operates fb without everything hooked up to it, Icom tech support
suggested RF feed back getting into things and suggested I bead all the cables
going in and out of the rig between the front end protector and the tuner-
Before I spend the money, does this suggestion sound correct? It only happens
on 160M. And I don’t use an amplifier- Just 100 watts- The rx antenna is a
K9AY single loop and is the apex of the antenna is about 50 feet from the tx
antenna-
Has anyone else with a Pro III experienced these issues with the Send relay
sticking after activating by transmitting, (while controlling a front end
protector or amp), or problems with clipping using an external tuner? Does
stray RF sound like the cause?
Any suggestions welcomed- Great contest- had a blast!
73 Paul N0AH and Anna, W0ANT
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UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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