apache-labs.com

Dennis vk4sx,
new G2 arrived this week, points of interest found, Especially to user's of the EMTRONDV ES-4 Electronic Safety antenna switching,

1. NO TX Monitor

2 . Resolved Default settings on restart, required a few RESTARTING of SW and Importing of DB.

3 . PS-2 settings Under Linearity the GETPK / SETPK needs to be checked and made to G2 DEFAULT then check with Two tone, it was defaulting to 7000 values. (0.28/7000) (0.61 G2)

4 . G2 Keying Issue, 3.5mm STEREO PTT Male plug, Tip PTT, Ring PTT OUT, is causing owners and user's of the EMTRONDV ES-4 to keep HOT SWITCHING LED (Blue) lit all of the time, which inhibits the Protection of the ES-4 electronic switch, I have spoken to the designer / builder some transients on the RING is enough to pass a false signal to the ES-4 switch negating the HOT SWITCHING, PLUS locking ES-4 switch in original position,
****The above scenario ceased after Multiple PTT key up and unkey still not sure why it happened, maybe relay never unkeyed completely

5. Switching live A/7000 to B/ G2 I believe the RX is better on the G2, quieter to the ear, my New shack is only 7yrs old, 20mtrs of Hutton 3/4" & 20mtrs or MESSIE&PAOLONI 13mm Flexible up tower, with ULTRA-BEAM VL-2-3 antenna, maximum return loss all of the time, I would say G2 RX is a pinch better.

6 . I have noticed a longer period of starting Radio is required with G2, EG; from switch G2 ON to starting Thetis POWER ON needs to be a Minimum of 30secs
otherwise Thetis can not start the radio.

7 . Top case mounted fan is quieter then 7000 bottom mounted fan.

8 . POOR SHOW replacing RCA connectors with PW, POS, Rubbish 3.5mm Stereo Sockets


Cheers Dennis vk4sx

# 4. is resolved, Not all 3.5mm Stereo Plugs are equal, stay away from Yum cha,
purchased a PRO AUDIO Gold 3.5mm stereo male plug, ( much better plug with much better insulation ) made new lead, Precise Click on entry to radio stereo socket
plug is locking into socket, el cheepo was not clicking into the socket on last 2mm final travel.

cheers

Dennis, thanks for the Initial observations.

It has been disappointing that other G2 owners are not sharing their observations and pictures of the control face version.
Same goes for the Andromeda.

Dennis,

Do you have a mic with an XLR cable to test the XLR microphone input?

73,
Tem
WT4DX

WT4DX wrote:Dennis,

Do you have a mic with an XLR cable to test the XLR microphone input?

73,
Tem
WT4DX

That would be good if the unit actually had an XLR input. I know the letters XLR are printed on the back, but no XLR connection.

The connection on the rear is a 1/4 TRS balanced connection. It uses a 1/4 male TRS plug or Stereo connector. Flex Radio uses the same thing on their 6600/M radios. It's easy to build or buy.
James
WD5GWY

Yes, it is very confusing that the connector is marked "XLR", and that the available documentation consistently refers to an XLR connection, when the reality is that the connector is a 1/4" TRS as James already pointed out.

It probably should have been labeled "BAL MIC IN", short for balance microphone in.

The standard for this connector is tip = mic +, ring = mic -, and shield = ground.

I don't have a G2, but my understanding is that this is a legit balanced mic input that terminates into a high performance op amp mic preamp. It's also my understanding that there are no provisions for 48V phantom power, or any mic bias voltage at all, so if you plan to use a professional condenser mic you will need an external phantom power injector.

These work very well for supplying phantom power to a mic. There are other brands available as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Nady-SMPS-1X-1-C ... B000XUUXB8

Dave
k4em

Dave30019 wrote:These work very well for supplying phantom power to a mic. There are other brands available as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Nady-SMPS-1X-1-C ... B000XUUXB8

Dave
k4em

Neat little unit and cheap too.

FWIW, here's a comparison of the Anan 7000 MKII to the G2-100.
I have both radios. The 7000 is over 3 years old, and the G2 is 10 days old. I'm using Thetis v2.10.0 on a homebrew Windows 11 computer. I've configured both radios to where I can switch the same microphone, speakers, antennas, etc between the two by manually turning switches, so all external connected devices are the same for both radios. I'm not using VAC. All mic and speaker connections are made directly to the radio. I'm not experiencing any seq errors on either radio, even when running a KW.
Two issues with the G2 that have been reported involve the CW keyer not working, and no audio when when using the Monitor mode. In both cases, the 7000 works perfectly when using the CW keyer, and the Monitor function also work correctly with the 7000. However, neither will function on the G2 as has been previously reported in various posts.
73
Bob

WT4DX wrote:Dennis,

Do you have a mic with an XLR cable to test the XLR microphone input?

73,
Tem
WT4DX

I ran p2app with the -m xlr option, connected a Sennheiser 280 headset with an XLR to TRS adapter and started Thetis.

The G2 did transmit the audio from the dynamic microphone mounted in the boom. i monitored via my TS-890 on the other side of the shack and the audio sounded fine. I couldn't turn up the volume loud enough to be discriminating since there was a little feedback but it's hard to be objective on your own voice anyways.

The monitor audio did not work via the headset but I did not have speakers plugged into the computer I was using to know if the monitor circuit was working via the computer sound card.

Ran out of time for further testing but the XLR / TRS balanced microphone input does work.

73,

George / W7GES

W7GES wrote:i monitored via my TS-890 on the other side of the shack and the audio sounded fine.

Hi George,
When using the TS-890 as an off-air monitor while transmitting on your G2, how did the audio latency seem to you?
73,
Bryan W4WMT

W7GES wrote:

WT4DX wrote:Dennis,

Do you have a mic with an XLR cable to test the XLR microphone input?

73,
Tem
WT4DX

I ran p2app with the -m xlr option, connected a Sennheiser 280 headset with an XLR to TRS adapter and started Thetis.

The G2 did transmit the audio from the dynamic microphone mounted in the boom. i monitored via my TS-890 on the other side of the shack and the audio sounded fine. I couldn't turn up the volume loud enough to be discriminating since there was a little feedback but it's hard to be objective on your own voice anyways.

The monitor audio did not work via the headset but I did not have speakers plugged into the computer I was using to know if the monitor circuit was working via the computer sound card.

Ran out of time for further testing but the XLR / TRS balanced microphone input does work.

73,

George / W7GES

Thank you for the feedback George.

73,
Tem
WT4DX

W4WMT wrote:

W7GES wrote:i monitored via my TS-890 on the other side of the shack and the audio sounded fine.

Hi George,
When using the TS-890 as an off-air monitor while transmitting on your G2, how did the audio latency seem to you?
73,
Bryan W4WMT

There was no latency using Thetis with the G2, 1/4” balanced input / XLR microphone.

———-

With my 7000 DLE MKII I don’t hear any latency while monitoring either. I don’t use VAC for SO2R. Microphone and Headphone jack for SSB “live” audio from YCCC SO2R box and for RTTY / FT8 audio in and out I use back panel jacks to a Presonus Studio 192 Mobile. Thetis is running on a separate computer from N1MM / FT8, etc.

All my rigs / computers are connected to a Ubitquiti switch.

If I get some time for radio I plan on switching out the 7000 with the G2. It will involve some programming changes as antenna switching / rotor control / etc is all automatic but everything is tied together with Node-Red flows.

I did set up my 7000 to be M2 capable. If I run the 7000 from the second station computer I use VAC for the audio to and from the rig across the room. There isn’t enough audio latency then to notice either.

I remember having some latency that drove me nuts early on while getting the 7000 configured but I read the various threads on this forum and also bought faster computers / network switch / external sound device along with Richie’s Thetis improvements and have no issues any longer.

73,

George / W7GES