Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post Reply
G0CNN
Advanced Class
Posts: 36
Joined: 07 Aug 2019, 09:55

Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post by G0CNN »

This is a bit of an odd one, so please bear with me...

After a vast amount of puzzlement and testing, I have finally established the source of what I thought was a hardware problem. My Yaesu FT-991A transmit power is unstable when Omni-Rig 1.19 is running. For fractions of a second, occasionally the power will reduce and return to full power and repeat. This is heard as a ticking sound by the other station (when using FM).

Up to the point of discovering this lies with Omni-Rig, the hardware testing has been extensive, including; multiple PSUs, leisure battery, antenna, dummy load, patch leads, power leads, connections and so on, ultimately leading up to a second 991A on test. Then, having unplugged the USB lead, all was well again. This has finally lead my search to Omni-Rig which I use for Log4OM2 and WSJT-X.

I can now start up or kill Omni-Rig to see the effect. I have then tried adjusting the Omni-RIg settings for the 991A and matching the rig menu items to suit, ensuring CAT continued to work, but all was to no avail as the problem remained. I had hoped this was the solution...

I have had this problem for a long time and through various releases of Log4OM & V2. Whether Omni-Rig itself has changed over this period, say 1 year+, I am not sure.

Laptop is running Windows 10 1909 and I'm on v2.17 of Log4OM2 (although the latter seems to have nothing to do with it) and Omni-Rig 1.19. I've tried different USB ports on the laptop. Unfortunately, I don't have another laptop to test with just in case it's laptop related. It's only running Log4OM and Omni-Rig

Just looking for thoughts and ideas, as to move away from Omni-Rig will cause me problems with both Log4OM and WSJT-X.

Thanks!

Ian.
User avatar
KI5IO
Log4OM Alpha Team
Posts: 1798
Joined: 16 Aug 2015, 16:30
Location: Plano, TX

Re: Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post by KI5IO »

Ian,

Good steps in troubleshooting. I noticed you mentioned using OmniRig 1.9 ... The most current version is 1.20.

The 991 INI files have not been changed since 2018 and 2020, but (as you noted) you have been making some tweaks to get to work with your FT991A rig.

Why not (as yet another step in troubleshooting) d/l the newer version as well as the rig.ini zip folder.

OmniRig v 1.20 was last updated on 2021-09-11

OmniRig ini files was last updated on 2021-07-06

OmniRig V 1.20: http://www.dxatlas.com/OmniRig/

OmniRig Download files: http://www.dxatlas.com/Download.asp
Attachments
ft-991.JPG
ft-991.JPG (24.36 KiB) Viewed 1032 times
OmniRig-download.JPG
OmniRig-download.JPG (21 KiB) Viewed 1033 times
73 - Nolan Kienitz - KI5IO
Plano, TX
G0CNN
Advanced Class
Posts: 36
Joined: 07 Aug 2019, 09:55

Re: Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post by G0CNN »

Thanks Nolan. I will update and report back!
G0CNN
Advanced Class
Posts: 36
Joined: 07 Aug 2019, 09:55

Re: Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post by G0CNN »

Hi Nolan, I've installed the latest version of Omni-Rig and downloaded and stored the ini file set. Still no joy. I've tried various rig settings in the Omni-Rig tab on this new version and also on the 991A, but I am still seeing the same issue. As a similar disconnection test, choosing an incorrect COM port in the Omni-Rig tab for the rig disables the CAT as you would expect and also corrects the power issue. I'll do some more Internet searching to see if there's magic setting I am missing, but I will have done this at original setup some years ago and other than this issue, the rig/software/laptop combination has been fine. Works on on my FTDX5000MPL too. I don't hold up much hope. I might have to try somehow sourcing a different laptop for a test to remove that from the equation...?

Do you have a contact at Omni-Rig HQ perhaps that you/I could liaise with?

Thanks for your help.

Ian.
User avatar
KI5IO
Log4OM Alpha Team
Posts: 1798
Joined: 16 Aug 2015, 16:30
Location: Plano, TX

Re: Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post by KI5IO »

Ian,

You could reach out to the developer of OmniRig (and many other ham radio related APPs).

Alex Shovkoplyas, VE3NEA - ve3nea AT dxatlas.com

He relies on other OMs to help fine-tune the rig INI files as well.
73 - Nolan Kienitz - KI5IO
Plano, TX
G0CNN
Advanced Class
Posts: 36
Joined: 07 Aug 2019, 09:55

Re: Omni-Rig Affecting TX Power Stability

Post by G0CNN »

Ok Nolan. Will try that!
Post Reply