[1000mp] Mark V ALC Reading

[Bill Miner]

John,

My Mark V works similar to yours.  The ALC gives little or no indication
at QRP levels but then moves up above the top of the orange scale until
you reach about 150 watts and then goes back down to full scale on the
orange line on the dial at about the 200 watt level.

I listened to a monitor receiver and looked at the output with my
monitor scope and see NO difference in the rise an fall times of the
keying wave shape at any power level.  There is little or no difference,
(other than level), in the sound of the keying in my monitor receiver.

You can operate CW in the class A PA mode and get better looking ALC
response. This is a waste of power on CW however and does not seem to
change the keying wave shape in any way.

To date every "problem" that I have ever had with my Mk V has turned out
to be "cockpit error". (Knocking on wood!)

73,
Bill - K6WLM

John Rippey wrote:
> 
> Today I talked with a technician at Yaesu about the ALC reading I get with
> my Mark V on CW. It turns out that when the Mark V is properly matched to
> an antenna and is operating at full power (200 watts) the ALC reading
> almost exactly matches the red bar on the ALC/Comp meter. However, reducing
> power makes the ALC reading rise beyond the red bar and below 100 watts it
> will go off scale--like hitting the pin on an analog meter. I didn't like
> what I was seeing at less than 100 watts output, but the technician said
> this is normal--that's what the ALC is supposed to do. He said it will not
> harm the transmitter to have such a reading BUT it may result in
> distortion. In the case of CW, this would show up as a raspy tone.
> 
> So it looks like the Mark V is happiest when its final is operating at
> between 100-200 watts and things begin to falter when output power is
> significantly reduced. I'm not complaining. I also own a Ten-Tec Argonaut V.
> 
> Comments, anyone?
> 
> 73,
> John, W3ULS
> 
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