My magnum 257HP is the same. They sent an addendum with mine stating to turn RF power all the way up then use the mic gain to control the power output. Kinda flaky if you ask me. Maybe try it that way and see what you get. Might work. Good luck with a fix.
My S9 is great but although the Variable power is good on AM/FM it doesn't work on SSB. 45W PEP at whatever setting. Is this normal for these? If so is there a mod I wonder?
Pete
Nah; the TG circuit is for the AM Modulation circuit - which is a different circuit path than the SSB transmit audio . . .You try to see if it works without the top gun on? I know that is for AM but might have effect on ssb?
My magnum 257HP is the same. They sent an addendum with mine stating to turn RF power all the way up then use the mic gain to control the power output. Kinda flaky if you ask me. Maybe try it that way and see what you get. Might work. Good luck with a fix.
Way back in the days before plastic radios that was indeed the way you adjusted power on SSB. You would tune and load your tube finals for maximum output then switch to SSB then back off on the mic gain to achieve the desired power output. It does the same thing. You should never be running a radio such that the ALC is kicking in all the time.
Have to disagree with you there. The ALC is not just a limiter but enables you to talk up the average peaks to give some gain without flat topping. Hence lots of Ham radios have an ALC meter to keep in the green or whatever. But you are right about the plastic radios. I have a lovely TS520S with real metal case! Yes you can turn the mic gain down but without any ALC it sounds bit wishy washy.
Not that the optima has any issue. Just time for some change. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll have enough left over from my taxes that I just did a couple weeks ago to get me a new toy lol!! Icom 7100 looks nice!!
Interesting stuff! Think I can now see it from both angles. I remember on some of the older ham radios there were some mods that involved putting a 9V battery and a 5K pot in series and connecting it to the rear accessory socket. Some sockets had access to the ALC circuit which was intended for use with early linear amps. I sometimes think the only reason they don't put some features on radios is that they run out of space on the front panels?