New to the Forum: TS-870S and W2IHY EQs => driving issues

[JJ2013]

Great to be here and this tyro could use some perspective lol:

My set-up (faaaarrrrr away from true VooDoo caliber ) right now:
8Band EQ (by W2IHY)
EQ Plus (by W2IHY)
Dynamic PR-40 mic
TS-870S

in that order.

I seem not be able to drive the rig to say 100W on peaks when both the 8Band EQ and EQPlus are switched on. When I take the EQ Plus out of the equation I am able to drive the rig just fine and the ALC behaves well, but with the EQPlus in the chain, I see peaks of around 60 W. I CAN get the rig to put out about 100 W on peaks, but I don't like what the ALC shows!

Would sure appreciate any thoughts and feedback on this! Not sure how many of you use EQs by Julius, but like I said above, I am faaaarrrr from Voodoo caliber set-ups right now. Just getting my feet wet so to speak.

73 de JJ

[Voodoo Guru]

Howdy JJ,

Welcome to the Forum!!

Sounds like you got a good start on adding some Quality Audio to the airways.

Unfortunately, we have absolutely no experience with that equipment. Anyone out there know anything about his audio equipment??

Take care,

[w5kai]

hi JJ
I don't think your gonna like my reply but here goes.

I've owned a lot of 870's not one of them worked well with the pr40 or the w2ihy boxes. The pr40 in my experiences were so bassy even the best eq I could afford wouldn't calm the lows enough to sound good. The pr40 is great plugged into the front mic jack and add high boost in the radio eq, then all is fine. Now the w2ihy boxes and the 870 is another let down. The ibox I had needed to be wide open to deliver a signal to the rear of the 870 to get any drive then it was to much. If I even touched it to turn it down then it wasn't enough. I think it's called the POS syndrome. My suggestion is to run the audio chain to a mixer and deliver the audio signal to the 870 rear audio input with the c131 mod and have more gain control.

[JJ2013]

Hi all,

I appreciate the responses about the W2IHY boxes, PR40 and TS870S. Actually, I am able to drive the rig much better now, but haven't gone in the rear as of yet. Obviously, driving the rig "normally" through the ACC2 will be a different proposition, but I have also heard that it appears to be more or less a "draw of luck" in terms of the audio quality that one can get as depending on the serial number the rig may or may not yield really good results. We'll see.

Flex radios sound actually pretty good on the air......Also, I've been thinking of buying an FTDX-5000.

OK on the mixer.

73 de JJ
NI2M

[w5kai]

JJ, don't move to fast. The 870 differences in serial numbers is no different than any other rig. Not a big deal.Even the worse luck of the draw, the 870 will shine over the flex. That's just my opinion and I'm sure I'm right. Next if you thinking of a Yayhoo of that price then I see money isn't the hold back. You just need better audio input to the rig. I bet you have, but if you haven't visited John NU9N website, you need to.http://www.nu9n.com/
With the right rack a ts-870 can't be beat unless you get a vmsdx. There's an old say'n in audio. It doesn't matter which radio you use if you have crap in you have crap out!

[JJ2013]

Hi,

Most likely I will need to play with settings, look at audio isolation, but sadly, it may be that I need to go inside the rig again to see if all is A-OK. The radio has never sounded as NOISY as it does after the cap mod and I am really surprised at this as I wouldn't have thought that the cap mod really could've impacted the quality of RECEIVED audio......!

1.There appears to be an "artifact"/heterodyne on receive and when I key the mic (not speaking into the mic at all) this artifact sounds like a very strong hum. My audio on the TS870S sounds pretty good (as my voice masks the hum), but when I stop speaking the hum is there again and it is very strong.
2. The receives is NO longer as quiet as it was before and that is one of the reasons why I like the TS870S. The above referred to "artifact" or whatever it is is clearly audible and of course it is quite pronounced when no signal is heard on the radio.

73 de Juha
NI2M

[JJ2013]

Should probably have put in a 1 uF cap as from what I understand that will result in a 30 Hz roll-off point so 4.7 uF would result in something really low in my case. I used a 4.7 uF cap. Audio set-ups and mics differ so an apples-to-apples comparison isn't necessarily possible.

In a word, I believe that "hum" that I am hearing is due to the cap and I will go with a 1 uF cap next.

The "noisy" audio on receive was probably a figment of my imagination as things sound pretty good again. It must've been a source of wide-spectrum interference that reared up its ugly head.....

Hope this saga will not continue and things start stabilizing at long last.....

[Voodoo Guru]

Howdy,

Don't blame the cap to fast. Even if you would have put a 1uf cap, the 60cps Hum would still be evident due to its apparent amplitude. You need to check the audio equipment first as 60cps hum is usually caused by ground loops and the way the equipment is connected, especially with unbalanced configurations.

If you deduce that it truly is something in the rig, then look for solder bridges or other installation mishaps. The cap by itself will not cause 60cps hum if it was installed correctly.

While your back in there, be sure you installed the Positive Lead of the Electrolytic replacement cap to the correct circuit.

Take Care,

[JJ2013]

Hey VooDoo Guru!

Just a quick comment here that the electrolytic cap was mounted and the correct polarities connected where they should. Also note that the audio that I am feeding into through the ACC2 comes from the audio out of the EQPlus in a balanced configuration. In fact, I went in again, replacing the electrolytic with a 4.7uF tantalum with no change at all with the hum still there.

Tried lifting the chassis of all equipment through the use of a 3-to-2 "cheater" plug to absolutely no avail.

Once again, there is absolutely no "hum" on the audio whatsoever when feeding the audio through the front mic jack.

I know from a knowledgeable ham friend that should I have used a 4.7uF ceramic cap its "microphonic" characteristics may also hearing all kinds of noises.......

De saga continues.......

73 de JJ

[JJ2013]

Hey y'all!

Interestingly the "hum" I hear on my transmit audio is audible even when I am keying the transmitter with the outboard equalizer(s) NOT even switched on! I am using a hand-switch to key the mic. And, once again, when I feed audio into the front of the rig there is no hum (with both EQ boxes switched OFF!). I may be overlooking (again...) something really elemental and simplistic here or then I have become really dim-witted

Cheers!

JJ

[Voodoo Guru]

OK, try these few things...

Are you keying the rig with Pins 9 & 8 of the ACC2 Jack? These pins must be shorted together in order to key the rig and use the ACC2 Audio Input. This disables the Front mic jack and enables the ACC2 Audio input.

Do you hear the Hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is disconnected from the rig?

Do you hear the Hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is connected to the rig and the other end of the cable is disconnected from the W2IHY unit?

Do you hear the hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is connected to the rig and the other end of the cable is connected to the W2IHY unit with the W2IHY AC Power Plug unplugged from the wall?

Take Care,

[JJ2013]

Hey there!

OK, try these few things...

Are you keying the rig with Pins 9 & 8 of the ACC2 Jack? These pins must be shorted together in order to key the rig and use the ACC2 Audio Input. This disables the Front mic jack and enables the ACC2 Audio input.
Answer:YES

Do you hear the Hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is disconnected from the rig?
Answer: NO


Do you hear the Hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is connected to the rig and the other end of the cable is disconnected from the W2IHY unit?
ANSWER: NO

Do you hear the hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is connected to the rig and the other end of the cable is connected to the W2IHY unit with the W2IHY AC Power Plug unplugged from the wall?
ANSWER: YES

Take Care,

73 de JJ

[JJ2013]

Hi,

Upon the suggestion of a friend of mine I tried a piece of wire to short pins 8 and 9 on the ACC2 to key the rig and sure enough, the hum is till there, clear as a bell. This would seem to indicate that the hum has to do with the cap mod.

73 de JJ

[Voodoo Guru]

JJ,

This would seem to indicate that the hum has to do with the cap mod.

Not necessarily,

Did you try to use the ACC2 Audio Input with the W2IHY equipment before you did the C131 Mod? Was there any evidence of hum then?

From the other answers you provided in the above post, the W2IHY equipment and/or the way it's connected is suspect.

Take Care,

[JJ2013]

Good morning VooDoo Guru!

I didn't even try feeding audio in through the ACC2 before doing the cap mod, but I will demount the 4.7uF cap today and then try.

73 and thanks again!

JJ

[Voodoo Guru]

When you do, trash that Tantalum (yuk spit) capacitor and put the 'lytic back in. The 'lytic is far better as a coupling cap then the evil Tantalum.

Take Care,

[JJ2013]

Hey VooDoo Guru!

I kind of thought that you would gasp at my having used a tant

Know that the hum was there with the 'lytic" mounted as well.

Cheers!

JJ

[JJ2013]

Hey Voodoo Guru!

See JJ's comments after my initials interspersed within your message below:

JJ,

This would seem to indicate that the hum has to do with the cap mod.

JJ: Demounted cap and the hum is still there same as before.

Not necessarily,

Did you try to use the ACC2 Audio Input with the W2IHY equipment before you did the C131 Mod? Was there any evidence of hum then?
JJ: See answer above.

From the other answers you provided in the above post, the W2IHY equipment and/or the way it's connected is suspect.


Take Care,

73s de JJ

[JJ2013]

.....again, when I use a piece of wire to short the ACC2 pints 8 & 9, I get the hum also......Needless to say that when I key the rig this way no outboard audio equipment of any kind is in the equation........

73 de JJ

[Voodoo Guru]

.....again, when I use a piece of wire to short the ACC2 pints 8 & 9, I get the hum also......Needless to say that when I key the rig this way no outboard audio equipment of any kind is in the equation........

This is a confusing statement compared to your answers of the previous questions asked. Please clarify this.

To recap...

1 - Are you keying the rig with Pins 9 & 8 of the ACC2 Jack?
You answered YES.

2 - Do you hear the Hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is disconnected from the rig?
You answered NO.

3 - Do you hear the Hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is connected to the rig and the other end of the cable is disconnected from the W2IHY unit?
You answered NO.

4 - Do you hear the hum when the ACC2 DIN Plug is connected to the rig and the other end of the cable is connected to the W2IHY unit with the W2IHY AC Power Plug unplugged from the wall?
You answered YES.


Is this still the case with the C131 Mod removed from the rig?

Take Care,