WA4GEG FT-1000 Series Notes

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                          ATU / Auto Antenna Tuner Facts                                


How-to reduce the risk of damaging your transceiver when making use of the internal antenna tuner:

1) FT-1000MP series: Keep menu 4-3 (TUNING DRIVE) set for no more than 50 watts of power (75W for the 200 watt Mark-V.)

2) Always measure your antenna's SWR before activating the internal tuner, i.e. RF Power set for about 10~20 watts, CW mode, and PTT your mic. and read the SWR on the transceivers meter. The tuner is not designed to tune non-resonate systems and an SWR close to or greater than 3:1 etc. Attempting to tune an out of range or otherwise non-tunable loads risks damage to T/R, ATU and RF power amplifier components.

3) FT-1000MP, Mark-V and Field: If you don't normally use the internal antenna tuner, it is best to disable it by setting menu 8-8 to OFF. This will eliminate the risk of accidentally initializing the tuner by bumping the tuner's START button during otherwise normal operating activity.

4) Initializing the ATU into an open circuit (i.e. no antenna connected,) faulty and or intermittent load is a known cause for damaging the RF Power Amplifier and/or LPF Unit, especially for the 200 Watt Mark-V and 200 Watt FT-1000/D.
Menu Settings
FT-1000MP, Mark-V and Field:

In the course of servicing, and to properly align these transceivers, it is necessary to set certain user menus as follows. These settings also give the highest analog operating performance for the transceiver, including the best receiver SNR for all bands 160 through 12 meters. (For best 10 meter receiver *SNR, set menu 8-4 to tuned.)

4-4       TX Audio ESDP                                         OFF
5-0        (only for **Mark-V & Field)                      OFF (OFF = 2.4 KHz filters ON, as odd as it seems)
7-7        EDSP modulation and demodulation        OFF, OFF, OFF, and OFF 
8-4        Front End RF Amp Selection                    FLAT
8-9        Carrier Offset                                          All ranges set to all zeros

*SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio. The lower the SNR, the better the weak signal reception, assuming low noise conditions etc.

**I commonly find menu 5-0 set to 8.2 - 455 in many Mark-V and Mark-V Field transceivers. This "mal-setting" defeats the internal 2.4 KHz crystal filter when the filter selection BANDWIDTH is set to the NOR position. The 2.4 KHz filter is available when the BANDWIDTH NAR-1 is selected however. Such a menu "mal-setting" makes it appear as if the transceiver has a narrow option filter installed at position NAR-1, which is normally reserved for the 2.0 KHz option filters (when in SSB mode.) And more importantly, performance suffers in that the receiver's IF circuitry is exposed to adjacent frequency interference. Such a menu setting is useless for serious SSB/CW work, and should be avoided - unless perhaps you have an after market narrow roofing filter installed (i.e. Inrad Roofing filter) and desire listening through the 4.5 KHz nominal bandwidth of the after-market "roofer."




FT-1000MP Mark-V,  Linear Power Supply Replacement for the FP-29 switcher:

For the 30-VDC supply, most 28VDC linear supplies when turned up to 30 volts work well. One supplier for such a supply is Astron:

http://www.astroncorp.com/w28.shtml

Many Mark-V owners are making use of the Astron LS-25A power supply. For the 13.5VDC requirement, a regulated supply good for at least 3.5 amps. continuous duty is also required.
FT-1000MP, Mark-V & Field notes

VFO A/B resetting to 7.000.00 at switch-on is a common symptom many MP series transceivers tend to develop over time as the units age. Sometimes this annoying but mostly harmless characteristic will remain over several power-on cycles and then straighten up on its own.

Unless the problem is related to a hard fault in the CNTL Unit board, cycling the back-up battery ON/OFF switch several times may correct it. Cycling the switch burnishes-in its silvered contacts restoring any lost continuity. Stubborn cases may require switch cleaning with contact cleaner, then de-Ox treatment.

FT-1000 / FT-1000D notes
RF Power Measurement in SSB mode:

The FT-1000/D RF power metering function displays average transmitter power only, not Peak Envelope Power as needed for displaying the actual power of SSB transmissions during voice peaks. This confuses many operators new to the FT-1000/D transceivers, and gives the impression that the transceiver is some how not working properly. I.e., when the transceiver is operating at its full 200 watts PEP SSB power output, with the PROC off, voice peak indications will display or hover between 10~30 watts (METER, PO function selected) depending on the operator's voice characteristics. This is normal behavior for the transceivers PO metering, and for the matter, all external after market "average reading" RF Watt-meters.

So how do you know what your SSB transmitter power is? Select CW mode, key the transmitter (MOX or PTT) and read the power output as displayed on the transceiver's PO METER, first insuring that the front panel DRIVE control is set for normal ALC indication when the METER is set to ALC. Then, with the METER set to ALC, transmit on LSB or USB and adjust the MIC gain (while speaking normally) for ALC metering indication keeping such within the ALC metering scale. The transmitter's SSB power output will now be the same as that indicated on CW. Disregard the low PO metering indication during SSB transmissions. The normal position for the METER switch for SSB operation is ALC. As long as ALC is being developed, full SSB power output is being achieved.

AM/FM Transmitter Power Output:

The FT-1000/D should be set for no more than 35~50 watts carrier power during AM and FM transmissions using the front panel RF-PWR control. This will help prevent the 200 Watt RF power amplifier from overheating.


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