[TenTec] Really bad noise with Peg on PTT

[Carl Moreschi]

You should normally have "monitor" turned off when you transmit.  It can
cause feedback if the noise is loud enough to get back to the mic.  Also,
when you speak on SSB, the ALC light should flicker on almost every syllable
but never stay on solid as you speak.  I can always tell by the amount of
flickering on the alc light if I have my mic gain set properly.

You certainly could be getting RF into the radio.  How does it work on CW?


Carl Moreschi N4PY
Franklinton, NC
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jody Levine" <jody at lcl.ca>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2003 1:27 AM
Subject: [TenTec] Really bad noise with Peg on PTT


> I'm fairly new to ham radio and today was my first Field Day. I was
> operating for VE3MIS on 15 m (propagation stank big smelly turds, but I
had
> fun) with the Pegasus into a two-element beam constructed of wires taped
to
> Shakespeare Wonderpoles with a TV rotor propped up on about 35 feet of
> aluminum pipe. Went up in a snap!
>
> I've had the Peg for a couple of months, but I don't have a proper antenna
> at home, just some speaker wire stapled to the inside of my roof for a
kind
> of 15 m dipole. I have an LDG AT-11 tuner. I can't really get out with it
> though, though I can hear quite a bit, so I've done a lot of listening in
> the last couple of months, a few local QSOs on 40.
>
> At field day I was working with headphones with the monitor on, something
I
> hadn`t really tried at home. I was always at full power. Something weird
is
> happening.
>
> Sometimes, not always, when I'd hit the PTT (not saying anything yet), I'd
> get an earful of garbage. Like really really bad and really loud static.
Not
> a fairly pure tone like PA system feedback, but more broadband junk, and
> loud. Since it was intermittent, I thought it might be the wind in the
> microphone or something (I have the regular TenTec desk mike).
>
> I just slapped everything together here at home now, and I tried things
with
> the headphones and the monitor. I could hear someone in Algeria on 20, and
> inspired from having talked to Puerto Rico on 15, I decided to tune up and
> give it a try. Sure enough, every time I hit the PTT and I'm set above,
say,
> 30 watts, I get this mess in the monitor. Ah ha, maybe that's why nobody
can
> hear me. I get this junk the instant I hit the PTT. I don'T get the junk
at
> 20 watts and below.
>
> Any ideas? Is this something in my setup or could there be something wrong
> with my radio? I get the impression that I'm overdriving somehow, as even
> when it's OK I have to have the mic gain set to zero and talk from several
> inches away, or the ALC light comes on and I get a similar sounding mess
in
> the monitor. I'm using the N4PY software, though I didn`t install last
> week's upgrade yet.
>
> Any advice, suggestions and rampant speculation appreciated.
>
> Jody
> ve3ion
> Toronto, Canada
>
>
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