[TenTec] Omni VI+ Keying

[Michael Tope]

I just did an interesting experiment comparing my Paragon 
585 (aka "Paragon 1") to an Omni 6+ that I just picked up
on Ebay. When I connect my Inrad Key Pulser 
( http://www.qth.com/inrad/) to the Paragon, the forward power 
reading on my Diawa CN-620B wattmeter reads in rough 
proportion to the duty cycle setting of the Key Pulser (e.g. 
if the wattmeter reads 100 watts at a Key Pulser duty cycle 
setting of 100%, it read ~50 watts when the key pulser duty 
cycle is set to 50%).  Thus, using the Key Pulser with the 
Diawa wattmeter, I can tune my amplifier at a 50% duty 
cycle and just double the wattmeter reading to get the PEP 
output level, thus minimizing the wear and tear on the amplifier.

When I try doing the proceeding with the Omni 6+, the 
meter reading at anything less than 100% duty cycle 
on the Key Pulser is about 10% of the full-scale (e.g. 
key-down) wattmeter reading. I haven't put the Omni 6+ 
on my O'scope yet, but it sure seems like it is truncating 
the pulses from the Key Pulser significantly compared to 
the Paragon. The keying speed of the pulser is 48 WPM 
with a variably duty cycle (50 msec pulse repetition rate, 
0 to 100% duty cycle). 

Anybody have any experience with this?

Thanks,

Mike, W4EF..........................................