ANYTONE AT-5555N2 receive noise work-around

[FredTx63]

Thanks 399 I have actually had a quick look at this - the settings are roughly the same.

When Magnuman and I were playing around with this, we half expected to see a big difference in the service menu settings between my radio and his, but the settings were basically the same.

I'm thinking (assuming) it could be a hardware change that has happened, that the firmware hasn't quite matched up with yet. There are no schematics or anything like that available from Qixiang, so it is all a bit of a guess at this point.

Parroting as in repeating, yes.

Again, I was letting you know that I'm familiar with how noise blankers work, their trade offs, various methods of implementation and their typical performance in 30 years of using them on CB/10 meter transceivers & HF transceivers and that I don't turn them on just for grins, it's when there's a need from a constant or intermittent impulse type noise source. Of which, there are plenty around my QTH and in my truck.

 

[FredTx63]

Take it easy Fred. We are just trying to help. Dont let it get personal.

I'm not upset. Pez just makes a lot of quick assumptions about people and their knowledge or experience with the topics being discussed. Much like how he dismissed those of us talking about this very receive noise/S meter issue in the original Q5N2 thread. Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Appreciate your post and sharing of this information.

 

[FredTx63]

Hi all,

I am going to see if I can find out anything more from the factory about this. I have an AT-5555Nii and a CRT SS-7900V on my bench and neither have this problem - they are perfectly quiet - but Magnuman's AT-5555Nii definitely does have the problem!

And as a test, if I increase my RFG setting on a good radio to see what happens, I will see the large instant 'step' of RF gain in the RX too - it changes the linearity of the RF Gain knob on the front panel and seems to drive the internal RFG circuit very differently, to a point where it goes full ON, like a switch - but not in a good way on my radio (which again, my radio not have the problem that Magnuman is having).

73

Is increasing the value of the RFG service menu item changing the 'range' of the RF gain knob on the front of the radio?

 

[FredTx63]

Thanks 399 I have actually had a quick look at this - the settings are roughly the same.

When Magnuman and I were playing around with this, we half expected to see a big difference in the service menu settings between my radio and his, but the settings were basically the same.

I'm thinking (assuming) it could be a hardware change that has happened, that the firmware hasn't quite matched up with yet. There are no schematics or anything like that available from Qixiang, so it is all a bit of a guess at this point.

Were your settings for RFG close the same or exactly the same?

Maybe Scott from Scott's Radios could check the factory RFG value of some of the radio he aligns before shipping them out to confirm if they're all the same. He doesn't think there's an issue with any of these radios receive though. He did a few videos a few days ago comparing the receive performance to an IC-7300 with preamp 1&2 enabled (which I'm not sure is a fair comparison).

 

[Pez]

I'm not upset. Pez just makes a lot of quick assumptions about people and their knowledge or experience with the topics being discussed. Much like how he dismissed those of us talking about this very receive noise/S meter issue in the original Q5N2 thread. Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Appreciate your post and sharing of this information.

Hi Fred, I'm sorry but that is unfair, and I'm sorry this is even a discussion.

FWIW, I have never gone down this path sort of path in a forum before, but honestly, I'm going to address your comments:

"Quick assumptions about people and their knowledge" Nothing I have said is assuming anything about anyone, or their level of radio understanding. None of this is about people, it's about the radios we have in front of us ONLY. Read it all again - I just did and I'm sorry, I just don't see any of it that way.

I am only here to help people, but I will happily head off and do something else if its annoying, or doesn't help for whatever reason.

And, "dismissing" people is not how I roll. I test what I have here, on proper test equipment. I was explaining to everyone that my radios do NOT have this problem. And some were telling me that mine must also have the problem, because theirs do. And for a LONG time, nobody was willing to do the basic tests I asked them to do, or show me any evidence so that we could get to the bottom of it. So, there were LOTS of questions. And now, here we all are, all trying to work on an issue. A radio issue. Not a people issue.

73

 

[Pez]

Is increasing the value of the RFG service menu item changing the 'range' of the RF gain knob on the front of the radio?

the knob range does change, but I would say its having more impact on the gain stage in the firmware, and how quickly it gets to the situation where it goes into, what I could call 'saturation' (fully ON).

 

[FredTx63]

Hi Fred, I'm sorry but that is unfair, and I'm sorry this is even a discussion.

FWIW, I have never gone down this path sort of path in a forum before, but honestly, I'm going to address your comments:

"Quick assumptions about people and their knowledge" Nothing I have said is assuming anything about anyone, or their level of radio understanding. None of this is about people, it's about the radios we have in front of us ONLY. Read it all again - I just did and I'm sorry, I just don't see any of it that way.

I am only here to help people, but I will happily head off and do something else if its annoying, or doesn't help for whatever reason.

And, "dismissing" people is not how I roll. I test what I have here, on proper test equipment. I was explaining to everyone that my radios do NOT have this problem. And some were telling me that mine must also have the problem, because theirs do. And for a LONG time, nobody was willing to do the basic tests I asked them to do, or show me any evidence so that we could get to the bottom of it. So, there were LOTS of questions. And now, here we all are, all trying to work on an issue. A radio issue. Not a people issue.

73

Maybe I was misinterpreting your posts. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. Sorry to derail the conversation. I appreciate you and Magnuman sharing this workaround. Very curious to hear what Anytone says.

 

[FredTx63]

the knob range does change, but I would say its having more impact on the gain stage in the firmware, and how quickly it gets to the situation where it goes into, what I could only call 'saturation' (fully ON).

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Pez]

Were your settings for RFG close the same or exactly the same?

Maybe Scott from Scott's Radios could check the factory RFG value of some of the radio he aligns before shipping them out to confirm if they're all the same. He doesn't think there's an issue with any of these radios receive though. He did a few videos a few days ago comparing the receive performance to an IC-7300 with preamp 1&2 enabled (which I'm not sure is a fair comparison).

I have spoken to a few people with new and old radios now, and the alignment settings are always close. Not usually the same (all these radios are individually aligned), but there is no strong correlation between old and new alignment settings that I can see at this stage. Small changes don't seem to have a BIG impact in the RFG setting either. So, they all appear to be in the same ballpark. Did you see this one:

 

[unit_399]

Wih software-controlled radios, there are so many different things that can cause a problem like this. A single line of bad code in the software or firmware could do it. But that can be fixed by a running change at the factory. Trouble is . . . the factory will never admit to this, and no service bulletin will be issued to fix the defective units already in the field.
The worst case condition is whan a batch of mislabeled parts makes it into production. If the affected radios pass testing and inspection and are released for sale, the end user who buys one is SOL. A single reel of mislabeled parts ( for instance, 100k ohm resistors mislabeled 1k) could put maybe 1000 bad rigs in the pipeline. Once they're gone, the factory has no way to determine the what happened.

This is the problem with today's manufacturers. They keep everything (schematics, software, firmware, etc.), that people like us really need, to themselves. You can't blame them. They invest many $$$ in R & D developing these radios, and the last thing they want is someone making cheap clones and selling them for half the price.
So what can we do ??? Right now, the answer is "work-arounds" like the one that PEZ and others have worked out. Other than that, like I said, we're SOL.

- 399

 

[Pez]

Wih software-controlled radios, there are so many different things that can cause a problem like this. A single line of bad code in the software or firmware could do it. But that can be fixed by a running change at the factory. Trouble is . . . the factory will never admit to this, and no service bulletin will be issued to fix the defective units already in the field.
The worst case condition is whan a batch of mislabeled parts makes it into production. If the affected radios pass testing and inspection and are released for sale, the end user who buys one is SOL. A single reel of mislabeled parts ( for instance, 100k ohm resistors mislabeled 1k) could put maybe 1000 bad rigs in the pipeline. Once they're gone, the factory has no way to determine the what happened.

This is the problem with today's manufacturers. They keep everything (schematics, software, firmware, etc.), that people like us really need, to themselves. You can't blame them. They invest many $$$ in R & D developing these radios, and the last thing they want is someone making cheap clones and selling them for half the price.
So what can we do ??? Right now, the answer is "work-arounds" like the one that PEZ and others have worked out. Other than that, like I said, we're SOL.

- 399

Sad but 100% true. I will report back with any information I can get from the factory (I have a contact there). However, it will probably take some time to get any sort of response on this one.

73

 

[AxlMyk]

Once you have the service menu up, how do you access a setting to view/change it? Pushing the channel knob doesn't seem to do it.
I'm building a spreadsheet for this menu, but can't get to the values.

 

[FredTx63]

Once you have the service menu up, how do you access a setting to view/change it? Pushing the channel knob doesn't seem to do it.
I'm building a spreadsheet for this menu, but can't get to the values.

You have to key the mic to view/change current value. Probably a "safety" so people don't accidentally change values while thumbing through the menu.

 

[AxlMyk]

You have to key the mic to view/change current value. Probably a "safety" so people don't accidentally change values while thumbing through the menu.

That's something I never would have figured out on my own. Kinda sneaky. TY

 

[AxlMyk]

My Q5n2 doesn't have the noise floor problem. I made a spreadsheet to take the settings down. Here are my settings, and a blank for your own use.