The following adjustments are to increase the average talk power on SSB for the above radios. If your radio is still under warranty, check with your supplier to ensure warranty will not be invalidated
For both these adjustments you will need a very small cross-point screwdriver and a steady hand! Do not proceed if you are not confident!
Alinco DX70TH: Turn up the microphone gain as detailed in the manual. This should be set to maximum. The adjustments described here is concerned with the ALC control. ALC action is indicated by the TX light which should glow brighter when speaking into the microphone.
Remove the top cover and locate the high power/50w switch (this switch location is detailed in the manual, it is the only switch visible under the top cover). To the left of the switch there should be a small pot which is for the ALC. Just above the pot printed on the circuit board is 100w. Set the radio to 28Mhz and while speaking into the mike turn the pot counter clockwise until the TX light just fails to glow brighter. Back off slightly to restore the increase in brigthness of the TX light while speaking into the microphone. Replace the top cover.
This adjustment increases talk power considerably and for local contacts on SSB the compressor should be switched off.
Icom 706Mk2/Mk2G: The Icom 706 series are notorious for low talk power on SSB. A simple tweek of the ALC can solve the problem. This procedure was published in Radcom July 1999 but is updated here to include the IC706Mk2G. As far as I can ascertain, the later model 706MK2G seems not to suffer from the problem of low talk power and this mod may not be necessary. Remove the top cover. At the front edge of the main circuit board (to the left of the crystal filter slots, with the front of the radio facing you) should be a small pot. In the 706Mk2 this is R511 and in the 706Mk2G it is R579 (the number is not actually printed on the board!). The pot may be obscured by printed ribbon. This pot needs to be turned clockwise while speaking into the microphone, with power set to high and microphone gain at 6 (compressor should be switched off). Adjust for maximum talk power.
The article in Radcom claims that this adjustment will bring the 706Mk2 up to 100w pep without the need for the compressor. For the 706MK2G (early models), adjusting R579 can give a dramatic increase in talk power although you will find that you will still need to have the microphone gain turned up to 10 and the compressor switched on. On my own set I have noticed that some bands give more talk power than others. On 160, 80 and 2 meters I get nearly full power by speaking into the mike (gain at max and compression on). However on other bands the increased talk power is not so dramatic particulalry on 10, 20 meters).
Another way to boost the talk power on the 706 series is to use a preamplified microphone. If you do decide on a preamplified microphone reset R511/R579 back to it's original postion or distortion may result.
|
