Reply To: LD-5 Problem with operating SSB VOX

After some more experimentation and reading the looking at the manual (which leaves a bit to be desired), I got VOX working on SSB. The VOX settings are “backwards” …. 10 is the highest sensitivity and 100 the lowest sensitivity for triggering VOX. Also, this setting is VERY touchy …. a change of just a couple of units makes a huge difference in triggering. So, some experimentation (quite a bit) is needed to find the right setting for the mic. I am using a Heil ProSet, but it was the same for the hand mic. Also, the mic jack requires a stereo plug .. a mono plug will not work correctly. I got things working pretty well now. BTW, I had several CW QSOs with the LD-5 yesterday (took me a while to finally get the use the radio for an extended period, and the reports on the CW note and timing were excellent. The filtering on this radio isn’t half bad and the receiver is very good, as I mentioned above. I hooked up my LP-100A to the radio and am getting 7.8 watts out on 20m when transmitting into a high quality 50 ohm dummy load, with a tad less on 40m, 7.9w on 17m, and 7.5w on 15m. This is with 14.1 VDC at the power supply and 14.05 VDC at the radio power jack. Hope this helps someone with some of the issues I experienced. Nice little radio and very good performance in a small package. A substitute for a KX3 it is not, but it is about half the size and easily stowed in a pack and it is fun to use portable (or fixed for that matter). BTW, I also have a Mountain Topper and it is an incredible little radio and sure couldn’t be smaller. I get about 2.8w out with 11 VDC .. I use a tiny little DC-DC buck converter to use with a LiFePo battery pack that is 14.0 VDC at full charge.

73, Greg K2UM