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Help › Your radios

Amplifiers and tuners

RemoteMyShack talks to a 4O3A PowerGenius XL directly over your network, and to OM Power amplifiers (see OM Power amplifiers). This works whichever radio drives it, Icom or FlexRadio, except a FlexRadio Aurora: its 500 W would damage the amplifier, so RemoteMyShack won't pair the two (see Connecting a FlexRadio). The amplifier's panel shows in the console with its state, output power, SWR and temperature, and Standby and Operate buttons.

Add the amplifier

  1. On the shack computer, open the agent's setup page and open the Amplifiers & tuners tab and choose + Add an amplifier or tuner.
  2. The agent listens for the announcement the amplifier broadcasts on your network, and lists it under Amplifiers on this network. Select it, or type its IP address.
  3. Under Show it with, pick the radio that drives it. The amplifier's panel then shows in that radio's console. Choose Every radio if it's shared.
  4. Choose Save & connect.

You can also manage amplifiers from your account page at remotemyshack.com.

In the console

  • State: Standby, Operate, Transmit, or Fault.
  • Four dials, each filling to its reading and colored by how it's doing:
    • Output in watts while you transmit, up to 1,600 W; red past the rated 1,500 W. A white mark shows the peak the amplifier recorded.
    • SWR while you transmit: green up to 1.5, amber up to 2, red above.
    • Temp, the amplifier's temperature in °C: green up to 55 °C, amber up to 70 °C, red above.
    • Drain, the current its transistors draw, in amps, with its peak marked.
  • Under the dials: the band each input is on and where it gets it from (such as CI-V), the mains and supply voltages, and the fan mode. The amplifier's own messages show above them.
  • Standby and Operate. The amplifier takes a moment to go to Operate.

While the amplifier is in Operate, the radio's transmit meter shows its Output in watts (on a 1,500 W scale), with the radio's Drive beside it, and the SWR measured at the amplifier's output. In Standby the meter shows the radio's own power and SWR, as without an amplifier. A Tuner Genius XL doesn't change the meter.

Protection

If the amplifier reports a fault, RemoteMyShack unkeys its radio at once. For an amplifier shown with every radio, every radio is unkeyed. The transmit log records the fault as the reason.

Settings

In the agent's setup page, choose Edit next to the amplifier. Under Amplifier settings you can change:

  • Its nickname.

  • Fan mode.

  • MEffA, the amplifier's efficiency mode. Under Inputs you can change the CAT settings for inputs A and B: the radio type, baud rate and CI-V address the amplifier uses to follow the radio's band. They must match the radio:

  • CI-V address: the one set on the radio, which may not be the factory default. On an IC-7610 it's under MENU › SET › Connectors › CI-V › CI-V Address (98h from the factory).

  • Baud rate: the radio's CI-V Baud Rate in the same menu. On Auto, the radio follows the amplifier's rate.

  • Parity is always none for CI-V.

If the agent knows the radio's address (an Icom on the network that it's connected to), the form fills it in, or offers a Use button when the amplifier is set to a different address.

When the input is right, the amplifier's panel shows the radio's band.

Changing an input restarts the amplifier. Put it in Standby first, and tick the box that confirms the restart.

Tuner Genius XL

RemoteMyShack talks to a 4O3A Tuner Genius XL antenna tuner directly over your network too, whichever radio drives it, FlexRadio or another make. Add it the same way: choose + Add an amplifier or tuner. The scan lists it as Tuner Genius XL with its nickname. Choose which radio's console shows it under Show it with.

The tuner's panel in the console shows:

  • State: Operate, Standby, Bypass, or Tuning.
  • Power (up to 2,000 W) and SWR dials, while the radio transmits.
  • L · C1 · C2: the tuner's current inductor and capacitor settings.
  • The frequency each input is on, when the radio tells the tuner.

Bypass puts the antenna straight through, without the tuner; In line puts the tuner back. Standby and Operate switch the tuner as on its front panel.

The tuner tunes itself as it does at the shack: when it's linked to a FlexRadio, or when it hears the radio transmit with a high SWR, depending on how it's set up. Starting a tune from the console isn't available yet.

OM Power amplifiers

RemoteMyShack talks to an OM Power amplifier, such as the OM2000A+, through the LAN port on its back (a Lantronix XPort), whichever radio drives it. Support is in beta: reading its status and turning it on and off have been tested on an OM2000A+; switching it to Operate hasn't been tried yet.

Before you add it, the amplifier's LAN port needs an address on your network. From the factory it's 192.168.1.211; set one on your network in the XPort's web page (see section 7.5 of the amplifier's manual). Also close OM Power's HF PA Manager if it's running: the amplifier takes one connection at a time.

Add it the same way: choose + Add an amplifier or tuner. The scan lists it as OM Power amplifier, or choose OM Power amplifier under Device and type its IP address.

The amplifier's panel in the console shows:

  • State: Off, Warming up, Standby, Operate, Transmitting, Cooling down, or Fault.
  • Off and On. When you turn it on, the tube warms up for a few minutes first; the panel counts down. When you turn it off, it cools down before it switches off.
  • Standby and Operate, once it's warmed up.
  • Four dials while you transmit: Output in watts (red past the model's rated power: 2,000 W for an OM2000A+), SWR, Temp (the amplifier's temperature, all the time), and Plate current in amps.
  • Under the dials: the selected antenna and its name, the frequency the amplifier is on, the drive from the radio while transmitting, the plate (high) voltage while it's on and the mains voltage, any warning, the last fault, and the model and firmware.

If the amplifier reports a fault, the panel shows it (for example "SWR is too high") and RemoteMyShack unkeys the radio, as with a PowerGenius XL. The amplifier blocks transmitting for about a second and tries again; after three faults in ten seconds it goes to Standby. The panel shows the fault for ten seconds, and Operate is refused meanwhile; then it's listed as the last fault. While it's in Operate, the radio's transmit meter shows the amplifier's output on a scale to its rated power.

Choosing the amplifier's antenna, its fine tuning and its own settings stay on its front panel or in HF PA Manager for now.

Plans

Controlling an amplifier, tuner or antenna switch remotely is part of the Shack plan (one of each) and the Super Station plan (all of them). Rig doesn't include it. At the shack, the console controls them on any plan. See Plans and billing.

Signal path

Each radio's console and the setup page draw the gear between the radio and the antenna, live. See Signal path.