FTDX10 voice recording for playback

FTDX10 voice recording for playback 

I have an ftdx10 and use a heil PRO 7 (and heil adapter) for most of my ssb. Not too long ago, I tried to set one of the voice recordings up to be used in a contest environment.
I was following the listed steps in the ftdx10 manual.  It kept failing. I scratched my head long and hard, decided that I should try the exact same steps utilizing the factory mic and the radio internal speaker.

That was successful.  

My question is, has anyone else had that experience?  I am trying to determine if the Heil items have an fault/compatibility issue or if the FTDX10 does?

 

You guys are all making this process far too hard.  Simply use VOX and record your messages.

 

The mic has no part of playing your voice message.

Make sure you have the BK IN turned on, even when on SSB. Otherwise the recording will not transmit. It will play, you will hear it in your speaker but it will not key the radio.

No need to have the radio on VOX or MOX.

Simply press the Message Memory # and plays and transmits.

I have the TX Level set at 50%

BTW I use a Heil Goldline. But again the mic has no part of playing back the messages.

 

 

It will only record using a Yaesu mic. The PTT circuit in my Heil doesn’t trigger the recording. I tap MEM and a memory number.  I press PTT and the number I pressed will light up blue to verify which memory I am recording to. When I finish speaking and unkey, the recording is saved. I can immediately tap that memory number to play it back.  Note that BK-IN must be enabled or the message memory will not engage the transmitter.

The quality of the recording will be better for DX or contesting when using the Yaesu mic. it is tailored for 2-way communications quality audio.

 

 

It appears to ME that the active low input for PTT is extremely "fast" and can read switch bounce as multiple presses!

What we did to eliminate all presumed variables (RF feedback and other in-shack RFI):

Attach dummy load.

Set power out to 5w.

Attach a short test fixture to the 8 pin mic connector 

(https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Screw-Terminal-Block-Adaptor/dp/B075QB35DS)

Attach only a 3 inch 26ga wire to pin 7 (GND) and leave the other end "flying".

Attach NOTHING else to any terminals (no mic).

At this point, the manual procedure was followed for recording a message. At the point where PTT was to be activated the flying lead was tapped on pin 6 (PTT).

If the connection was made rapidly and firmly, the message could be recorded predictably. Of course, these were "empty" (no audio). So we timed a 1 second "message" in slot 1 and a 2 second message in slot 2 etc  etc until a 5 second "blank" message was stored in slot 5.

All could be played back predictably (no modulation -- just the length of the message "proved" it was recorded.)

Then we played around just "tickling" the input to PTT during recording. The rig would quickly drop out of recording a lot of the time.

Next we attached the foot switch alone to the terminals on the fixture from Amazon (pins 6 and 7.)

Turns out the foot switch if "mashed" rapidly would 80% of the time work. A gently press would result in the message more often than not being recorded -- but every now and then it would.

Then we tried a variety of other switches from my uncles junk box on terminals 6 and 7 and quite a few of those switches worked very well indeed. And some others, not so much.

Bottom line: the stock mike apparently either has (and I haven't looked inside) a hardware debouncer (RC circuit?) on the PTT OR it's just a very "good quality" and low bounce switch?

I am thinking of trying some RC magic at the input to the PTT in combination with the foot switch he uses (did open that and it has a cheap looking Chinese copy of a classic micro-switch.)

Like this:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/honeywell-sensing-and-productivity-solutions/V7-2B17D8/1887777

Of course the Honeywell is quite possibly from China too, and might work just as poorly for a fast digital type input.

I am unqualified to comment on proper design of transceiver I/O, but it would seem that the design would call for an input that was debounced when interfacing to real-world devices like vanilla switches people might employ for PTT function. That said it works as expected with the supplied MIC! What we do with our radios is sort of "on us" right?

Finally here is something I think might guide any seeker in the right direction on how to "deal" with these situations:

https://my.eng.utah.edu/%7Ecs5780/debouncing.pdf

When I get around to more testing with possible RC circuits, I will reply here again. The easy way out might be to try some different micro switches in the my uncle's foot pedal!