LD-5 Problem with operating SSB VOX

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  • June 5, 2015 at 6:15 pm #986
    RPMainer
    Participant

    My LDS-5 will not operate in VOX mode. It will not switch to receive … it stays in transmit mode. Anyone have this problem or am I missing something and posting the “Stupid Post of the Month”. Also, my headphone jack and mic jack do not seem to be very high quality and some simple movement or accidental twist of the plugs in normal use make the headphones and/or mic cut out. Solution other than replacing the jacks with high quality jacks? Finally, has anyone used a mic other than the one supplied? I have tried a Heil ProSet with the LD-5 and it sure sounds much better. I don’t work much SSB but I have had fun with the LD-5. All in all, a fun unit to use. I have enjoyed it a great deal and sometimes opt to use it due to size over my KX3s. I do a lot of portable work, including air mobile and the LD-5 has received nice reports. The receiver in very good. Thanks for any thoughts on my questions or anything related that would be helpful.

    73, Greg K2UM Round Pond, Maine

    June 6, 2015 at 9:35 am #987
    RPMainer
    Participant

    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

    June 6, 2015 at 9:49 am #988
    RPMainer
    Participant

    Forgot to add a sentence to the above.

    After using the Mountain Topper and LD-5 for a decent time now, would I purchase them again as compared to my KX3s, K1, KX1 and several other QRP radios I have used extensively? Yep .. in a heartbeat .. LNR has a couple of very nice radio products to go along with their very good field performing 1/2 wave antennas. I have no connection to LNR Precision other than being a customer who expects things to work as advertised.

    73, Greg K2UM

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