Voltage Oddity

[VK3KYY]

No, I was under the impression that the calibration features were not to be used on the 9600.

Power and frequency calibration works on all radios.

Beware with the MD9600 however that the power vs PA drive characteristic has an inverse kink at high PA drive levels.

i.e On UHF you may find the radio will only produce approx 35W and increasing the PA drive beyond a certain level does not result increased power output.
This seem to be a quirk of the PA design in these radios.

Increasing PA drive above the level which causes the power to increase, can under some curcimstances result in less output RF power being produced, but causes increased current consumption.
The input current will then be going into making heat, which is Not good.

Personally, when calibrating the power of the MD-9600, I increase the PA drive until I notice that its not making any difference to the RF output and then I back it off about 0.5W so I know that I'm not overdriving the PA FETs

[KB0PCH]

OK, it was just a thought.

A good thought too. I appreciate everyone's help!

[KB0PCH]

Again, thanks to all who chimed in with advice and suggestions. For the Google-seekers who may land here hoping for an ending to this saga, after some digging I discovered my power supply was putting out 5 amps and not 7 amps like I thought. I got ahold of a bigger power supply (9 amps, peak 12 amps) and viola, the UHF maximum output jumped to 20 watts. Still not quite up to manufacture's advertised maximum, but I also suspect even the 9 amps isn't enough. I have a 30 amp power supply headed this way to hopefully put an end to this journey.

Again, thanks everyone and especially thanks to the people who made this firmware. I run it on two different radios (GD77 and MD-9600) and I can't imagine trying to figure out DMR with the provided firmware/CPS.

[VK3KYY]

Again, thanks to all who chimed in with advice and suggestions. For the Google-seekers who may land here hoping for an ending to this saga, after some digging I discovered my power supply was putting out 5 amps and not 7 amps like I thought. I got ahold of a bigger power supply (9 amps, peak 12 amps) and viola, the UHF maximum output jumped to 20 watts. Still not quite up to manufacture's advertised maximum, but I also suspect even the 9 amps isn't enough. I have a 30 amp power supply headed this way to hopefully put an end to this journey.

Again, thanks everyone and especially thanks to the people who made this firmware. I run it on two different radios (GD77 and MD-9600) and I can't imagine trying to figure out DMR with the provided firmware/CPS.

9A should be enough. I use a 10A and it normally shows 8A on full power

You also need to set the power calibration in Options->Calibration to get the correct power output, however you will be lucky to get more than 35W on UHF

[KB0PCH]

You also need to set the power calibration in Options->Calibration to get the correct power output, however you will be lucky to get more than 35W on UHF

Yeah so far I'm feeling like this amp does the job, I think you're spot on. I do have a question about calibration though, I've always stayed away from the screen because the manual says:

Calibration screen

This screen currently only applies to the TYT MD-UV380 | Retevis RT-3S | Baofeng DM-1701 | Retevis RT-84.

I have a GD-77 and MD-9600 do I didn't think either of my radios qualified to use the calibration options. Am I misinterpreting something?

[VK3KYY]

You also need to set the power calibration in Options->Calibration to get the correct power output, however you will be lucky to get more than 35W on UHF

Yeah so far I'm feeling like this amp does the job, I think you're spot on. I do have a question about calibration though, I've always stayed away from the screen because the manual says:

Calibration screen

This screen currently only applies to the TYT MD-UV380 | Retevis RT-3S | Baofeng DM-1701 | Retevis RT-84.

I have a GD-77 and MD-9600 do I didn't think either of my radios qualified to use the calibration options. Am I misinterpreting something?

The firmware has a frequency and power calibration screen

[KB0PCH]

The firmware has a frequency and power calibration screen

I did see that, but the manual states it's only for certain radios. Since messing with power output seems like something that could mess up a radio, I've stayed away from it since my model was listed in the manual.

Is it safe to use on all models now? If so, I'll definitely give that a shot. Although I don't know what's worse, my cheap Chinese power meter or the cheap Chinese radio

[VK3KYY]

The firmware has a frequency and power calibration screen

Is it safe to use on all models now? If so, I'll definitely give that a shot. Although I don't know what's worse, my cheap Chinese power meter or the cheap Chinese radio

The manual probably needs to be updated, because the calibration feature has been on all radios for about 6 months or more.

It is safe because it never actually changes the official calibration data. When the firmware is first run, after its first installed, it makes a copy of the official data and uses that. So any changes you make in the calibration screen change things in the copy

And the calibration screen has an option of "Factory reset" which re-reads from the official / master data.

[KB0PCH]

Awesome, good to know! I'll give it a go ASAP.

[PU2PWR]

internal meters in radios are only for input reference, so that you can be sure of the radio's power supply, I have several radios that happen the same thing, it's normal, the voltage just can't drop too much in the power supply, this one mine has 30A switched and always at 13.9 volts...