I have had the same problem with mine but only when operating on 6 meters.
If I lower my power from 100w to less than 50w the problem goes away. It is
apparent that RF is getting in to it. The W5XD keyer I have is the older
version that I assembled my self. I took a chance and put it in a plastic
box. I suspect I need to put it into a metal box and make sure the box is
grounded OK.
I used mini coax (RG-149) for all of the cable connection from the keyer to
the rig and a good quality RS-232 cable to the PC. Any of your connections
to the keyer are good candidates for RF paths.
I suggest you try lowering the power and see if that helps. If it does then
you are also having RF problems like me. Look to make sure all of the
interconnecting cables are well shielded and the keyer is in a metal box to
shield it directly. Keep the connecting cables as short as practical.
Good quality shielding on the cables is important. Audio type shielded
cables like you can buy at Radio Shack with the RCA plugs is not a good
choice when you're trying to shield RF out. If the keyer is in a metal box
that is grounded and all of your connecting cables are well shielded the
next thing to try is ferrite clamp-on chokes on the cables.
I'm sure many folks will be interested in how you make out with this so
please post what you find works and what doesn't work. I've done a lot of
RFI troubleshooting for my work and one thing I've learned is that it's a
trial and error process that can be very frustrating. Often it takes a
combination of things to solve the problem.
good luck
Dale AA1QD
From: "Tom Baugh" <tombaugh@discoverynet.com>
To: "Write Log \(maillist\)" <writelog@contesting.com>
To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 20:35:05 -0600
Subject: [WriteLog] w5xd keyer
I've owned my new keyer for a few weeks now and have the folowing problem.
Periodically for apparent reason.. while sending CW manually the box will
lock the transmitter ON.
In other words. sending along didadidadida and it gets stuck dahhhhhhhhhh..
Don't know why.. It just does it.
A quick swith of the on/of switch to the off posistion then back on and
everything is back to working correctly.
Any ideas?
Pretty annoying when you're working a new one on 160M with deepQSB and
you're barely in there anyway.
Tom
AE9B
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