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Bronzepony
Member
Username: Bronzepony
Post Number: 65
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, August 17, 2006 - 8:37 am: | 
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What is the correct way to set a dead Key? I had a tech set up a raio once for me when I got it home he had set dead key for 3 on a doesy I checked it on my doesy and it was keying 7 I set back to 3. Then I put it in me pickup and it said 5 so I reset it to 3 in the pickup running a wilson 1000 on the base I run a pdl 2. I have read alot from pat about setting Dead key for amps and about over driving a amp. I guess that power supply, antenna load and coax could effect this. I run a astron 13a set a 13.95 volts in the house and my f-350 puts out around 14.25.
Should you set all dead keys in to a dumby load and on go by what a antenna load looks like? |
Vanillagorilla
Advanced Member
Username: Vanillagorilla
Post Number: 783
Registered: 4-2005
| | Posted on Friday, August 18, 2006 - 5:55 am: |
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Strange situation. I don't think a dummy load is nessessary provided the antenna SWR is within a reasonable range. Sound like a bunch of meters are out of alignment to me.....it's possible!
You said that you put it in the pickup and got "5"...was that with your Dosy again or with yet another meter?
I think, without further info, you should check your coax for shorts or loose ends. Recheck SWR at both istallations. Sometimes reflected power shows up in strange places. For example. If your checking DK in the truck with the amp inline and depending on the coax used your radio could be seeing higher SWR in that location...more reflected power back to the radio. Where are you checking it in the truck? Between the amp and antenna or between the radio and amp?
In theory your radios output should drop to save itself if it's seeing too much reflected power....theres one variable. Could that be the 2w drop you see moving it from the shack to the truck?
Maybe bringing your meter to your tech to compare them would be a good idea and help eliminate a few of those variables.
As far as setting it for YOUR amp there are no hard rules other than don't overdrive it.
Your power supply has nothing to do with your power output on the radio as long as its not starving it with too little amperage....too much voltage and radio go boom  Your fine in that respect.
Without knowing what amp your using it's not possible to say what your deadkey should be with the amp on. You'd still have to be sure your meter is accurate FIRST either way.
For instance if you were running a 2x1446 amp I'd be setting that DK with amp on for no more than 50-75max with amp on high power. Wherever your radios DK output falls is usually within the proper range.
Depending on the radio itself and its overall output the above amp could put out as much as 200+w PEP. That combined with the above mentioned 50-75DK would give you your approximate 4:1 ratio (PEP:DK respectively)
Forget your power supply and have your meter checked against your tech's or a friends. At least YOURS is reading "HIGH"...a mistake using yours would be in the safe zone!
Best of luck!
Hank CEF559 |
Patzerozero
Senior Member
Username: Patzerozero
Post Number: 3150
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, August 19, 2006 - 12:26 pm: |
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different SWR values can show different power outputs, even when using the same wattmeter. i prefer externally variable output & a wattmeter that reads reflected power. if i go to the extreme limits of my predator's useful range(swr's over 2:1), my shown output will increase 100 watts or more, but reflect will go from less then 2% to 15% or more, negating any increases in measured power. |
