Low transmit Volume using the Signalink and TM-V71

I had a problem with low transmit volume when using the Signalink USB sound card connected to the Kenwood TM-V71 radio.   Played with all sorts of settings and then found the problem buried in a Signalink FAQ.

When using the Signalink for 1200 baud packet make sure you DO NOT have the radio set for 9600 baud.   It works, but the transmit audio is very low.   I could hear the transmission on a radio wight the volume turned most of the way up but when the 9600 baud settings were taken off, the transmit volume went what I considered normal.

The Direwolf software TNC shows the audio level of each packet heard.   With 9600 baud enabled on the V71 the level was 2 - 3.    When 9600 baud was disabled on the radio, the audio level went back to 25-30  so it is not just subjective.

Remember,  this is for 1200 baud packet.   Your milage might very if doing something different.

Power Usage Kenwood ™-V71

I was trying to figure out how long my V71 would run on battery now that hurricane season is coming up.   The battery not that large and the longest I have run to date has been about 4 hours.  In trying to figure out how long it should run, I need to know the power draw is.    It is not quite as simple as it sounds since it has different draws depending on what you are doing.  So this is the table I created:

Monitoring - No Fan         .54A   6.9w
Receiving traffic               .54A   6.9w
Transmit High Power        7.0A  90.0w
Transmit Medium Power   3.7A  50.0w
Transmit Low Power         2.7A  34.0w
Monitoring w/Fan on         .61A   7.7w

VHF Performance improvements

Well, the first sign of improvement on the new VHF setup came tonight.  I can now hear and exchange Digital signals on 146.500 with both Tom and Dave.   I have had success in the past doing digital simplex with Dave, but before tonight, I have not been able to send or hear Tom.   Success came tonight.  Could send and receive pretty well.

With Dave I could hear his signal as low as 10 watts.  He is 10.1 miles according to QRZ.  This is not bad in my opinion.

Voice with Tom is still a challenge. He is 9.9 miles according to QRZ.  I could hear him.  Not strong, but very clear.  He could not hear me.  Funny thing is I was putting out 50 watts and he was sending 5.   So the antenna at least is pretty sensitive.  Will have to check everything again to make sure I am not missing something on the transmit.

 It not do well with Richard who is across town from me (13.9 miles).  I could barely hear him above the static floor and he could not hear me at all.   Will have to continue to look into this.

Overall, some good improvement.

Using a signalink

I got my Christmas present early.   I have been using custom cables and direct connections between my Macintosh and my Kenwood V71 VHF transceiver.    It has been working pretty well with no complaints.  Only issue I have had is several people have asked me to help with their Signalink and I really have not had access to one.  So for Christmas, I decided to buy one.

So how did I set it up?

As far as connections I used the DIN-6 Connector on the back.
Wired it per the instructions but used the 9600 baud option

Setting up FLDIGI I set the following:
   Use "USB Audio CODEC" under Audio Devices menu
   Rig Control - Hardware PTT
         check "PTT tone on right Audio Channel"

Turned off SYSOP mode on the Radio.
          Interesting I had to have this on with the custom cables.  I will have to re-look at this using
          the cable method.

And it worked.

This is about the same I have been doing when I have been working with others trying to get theirs set up.

The real question is does it work better or not.  I have not been having any problems with the other setup so this will be hard to tell, but we will see over time.

Kenwood TM-V71 Setup with FLDIGI

   

How I get my Kenwood TM-V71 VHF/UHF radio to work with FLDIGI

One time settings on radio:
Need both Serial and Packet Cables 
         Pink Audio Cable to PC MIC input 
         Green Audio Cable to PC Headphone input 
               ****  Pull Pink cable out until you see static on waterfall display  
                     or get mono-F to stereo-M adapter     *****    
   PR1 Setting in Kenwood setup program to 7+ 
   9600 Baud 
   Channel A or B does not seem to matter

Make sure Radio is put into EchoLink Sysop mode -  PowerOn+PF2 
    
FLDIGI Settings:
Audio->Devices =C-Media USB Audio Device (Capture and Playback) 
   Audio->Right Channel = Uncheck All 
   Rig->RigCAT = uncheck use RigCAT 
   Rig->Hardware PTT =  Use separate serial port  PTT  
                                     = Device = /dev/cu.usbserial  
                                     = Use RTS  
                                     = Use DTR