#113

The bootloader problem at the end of my video was MY fault. Firmware 2.29 is now flashed to my LP-500. With the next firmware upgrade I demonstrate the process and what I have done wrong! It is really easy....

[@beaseac]

Thanks for your review! I am seriously considering getting one and found this video very helpful! I really enjoy your videos, keep it up!

[@technos123]

Another great review Peter. And another piece of equipment for my Santa Clause list. Love watching your videos, always looking forward to the next.Robert.

[@TRXLab]

LOL hope your Santa list will not become to long and Santa gets confused at the end, Robert :^) Thanks for watching 73

[@QasimSeeha]

Thanks for the review/demo of the LP-500 .. I really enjoyed it.

[@TRXLab]

Thanks for watching 73

[@dougn7bfs]

Thanks for the nice review Peter, I'm looking at both items for my shack. I appreciate that you have a 'steady' mount for your camera and good microphone placement for good audio pickup. Your videos have always been informative, for some they may not fit the 'I'm in a rush, get on with it' impatient folks, don't let them bother you, your pace is fine :)

[@TRXLab]

Thanks for the kind feed back Douglas!

[@glaros0]

Thanks Peter for the detailed presentation. I enjoyed your analysis. Happy new year as well!73 Kostas

[@TRXLab]

Happy New Year Kostas and thanks for watching 73

[@on4amg]

Very informative round up Peter, tremendously enjoyed it, thank you very much for that! I have been using Larry's LP-100A for a couple of years already, it serves me very well and has never failed on me. I am looking forward to receiving my LP in a couple of months time. Have to look into the audio interfacing part, thank you for bringing that one up! 73's - Guy

[@TRXLab]

Thank you Guy! Yes it is a very nice unit. Thanks for feed back and for watching 73

[@YvoMunizAlphaTelecom]

Congratulations Peter! This is a GREAT station monitor! I'm the waiting list since 2013 (position 145 now)! Excellent review! 73's

[@TRXLab]

Hi Yvo, thank you! Yes it is really a great station monitor for sure. Very helpful for our lap! It has been a long time until the commercial shipment has started but it is worth the waiting! Position 145 should be shipped very soon! All the best my friend!! 73

[@TheRadioShop]

I have got to get me one of these Peter. Nice review and demonstration. That is one nice piece of test gear. Thanks my friend.

[@TRXLab]

Thank you Buddy. Yes this unit is awesome... Thanks for stopping by 73

[@baronlund9725]

Excellent video. Good information that will help ne understand my new LP-500 and all its setting.

[@mikesradiorepair]

Excellent review. Definitely on my soon to buy list.

[@TRXLab]

Yes it is worth the money! Thanks for comment, Mike 73

[@bobd.]

Wow, 8 minutes in and all I know is it's really, really quality and you love it. Pick up the pace man.

[@1112223333111]

I would cry about it and maybe you can get one too

[@JonathanAdami]

Yeah I lasted 10mn and thought "jeez that's a shame, the video seem amazing but it's too hard to listen to"

[@larryk4mu240]

Hi Peter, very nice piece of equipment. Good job of explaining it's ins and outs. 73

[@TRXLab]

Thank you Larry! 73

[@Billblom]

Sounds like an excellent piece of gear. I need to start saving...

[@NN3RP]

I enjoyed watching your vid...I'll need to watch some of your other videos to get more familiar with some of the stuff you mentioned...I am waiting on mine to arrive at some point....73 Rafael

[@TRXLab]

Thanks for feed-back Rafael! 73

[@wadehicks9270]

It's really quick responding to the signals very nice unit.

[@TRXLab]

Hi Wade, yes the respond time is excellent. Thanks for watching 73

[@bobwalter53]

I very much enjoy your videos. Thank you! 73

[@TRXLab]

Thank you Bob ! 73

[@g0fvt]

I hope you are well, not seen any new videos for a while. A very useful review, still a piece of equipment I intend to buy. I rather pay for test equipment than yet more ham gear.

[@dannycorley4536]

Really enjoy your videos! Question, have you done a review of the microHAM SM0RF watt meter/station monitor? Any comments?

[@robertcalkjr.8325]

Nice review. Thanks Peter.

[@TRXLab]

Thank you Robert, sorry I'm late 73

[@robertcalkjr.8325]

No problem my friend. I don't expect you to have the time to answer every comment.

[@DonDegidio]

Peter, Nice review. I read the User Manual and when running the bootloader is mentions to click on Connect when you see the LP500 being recognized. Is that what solved the problem? WB3BJU

[@TRXLab]

Hi Donald, that is the trick.. You have only a very short window to connect the MCU. Thanks for watching 73

[@1112223333111]

how do you like it now? I'm looking at the 700 but is it really worth the cash over the LP100a? thanks 73

[@audiotecnologia4084]

Hi, It seems to me a very stable instrument, would like to see a comparison regarding the accuracy compared to other brands ... excellent video

[@TRXLab]

Thank you! Well I have the LP-100 tested against my R&S reference and the LP-500 is reading very similar to the LP-100. 73

[@quietprolink5322]

Wow! wake me up when you done.

[@mikesradiorepair]

Hey, how did my station monitor get on your bench???? :) I saw them when they first released them. I plan on getting a 700 soon and probably a 500 after that. Great addition to your bench.

[@TRXLab]

LOL very good question I have no clue Mike :^) Yeah it is a very nice unit worth the money...

[@stevec5000]

How can you afford to buy all this expensive test equipment? You must charge a lot to fix all the broken Kenwood radios!

[@johannbrummer6764]

What is a "coupler"?

[@samiam5557]

Sweet sweet!

[@TRXLab]

Yes it is a nice peace of equipment 73

[@mrbig9167]

Where can I buy one of these?

[@PapasDino]

Thanks Peter for the review. I imagine you probably didn't "take it apart" but I was wondering why there is a plastic or rubber plug on the top cover where you'd expect the fourth screw to be placed (left front). Also, can you set the peak hold function to actually hold on the highest peak? The way it appears to work is that the peak hold indicator on the bar display remains momentarily and then moves downward for example to a reflect a lower peak. I would think the peak hold would indicate the highest peak until perhaps you manually cleared it for further measurements. I hadn't really noticed that before but that's the way it works on the LPA100 as well. Small issues but curious. 73 - Dino KL0S

[@PapasDino]

BTW, the other thing I noticed was that the front panel control knob appears to cover the silk screen label for the knob.

[@TRXLab]

Hi Dino, yes I have seen the plastic plug as well, seems to be a kind of warranty seal I believe. In the menu you can adjust the peak hold time and then it appears that it holds this peak until you release the PTT or a higher peak arrives. In my unit the peak hold time is adjusted to 0,5 s. May be a bit to short.

[@TRXLab]

Yes that is true it is not 100% at the right place. Thanks for watching 73

[@chansetwo]

On AM. the positive modulation peaks should be about 25% higher than the negative peaks, as the monitor shows, since the human voice is asymetrical.

[@PXJF]

Like 134. I would like to have LP500. LP100-A I like it very much, I use it in my laboratory

[@TRXLab]

Hi Andre, yes the LP-500 is really a nice unit...Thanks for watching 73

[@teemoinvietnam1356]

No Fixed-Width font in the settings menu? That grinds my gears.

[@TRXLab]

No not so far... 73

[@NW-dl3bb]

WHY are THE SQUARE buttons c r 0 0 k e D ??? ( no big deal but curious )

[@TRXLab]

No idea I'm not the desinger

[@TheDefpom]

How do I get manufacturers to send me items for my KZbin channel?

[@mikesradiorepair]

You buy them like he did. He purchased it, it wasn't free.

[@TheDefpom]

MikesRadioRepair - yeah I realized that when the video progressed further, certainly looks like a sound investment.

[@TRXLab]

Very good question. I don't know. All you see on my bench I have paid for... 73

[@TheDefpom]

TRX Bench - yes likewise for mine, I just hear if it happening for some channels, wouldn't it be nice if we all got sponsored equipment!

[@dennisqwertyuiop]

great demo,, I will give you my address so you can send me your old LP-100,, thanks Peter

[@TRXLab]

LOL yeah okay :^) Thanks for watching Dennis! 73

[@paimg0uut]

did you sort the update if so can you send me the link please thank you kind vy 73 elan

[@TRXLab]

Yes,it is quit easy. You need to press the connect button from you boot loader program before the LP500 program starts. That is the time frame directly after you have pushed the power switch to ON. Hope that helps..

[@JohnFT3414]

Hmmm, a better unit than the LP-100A, but no impedance measurement? It's bad enough that the LP-100A doesn't display the sign of the reactance of the complex impedance! MicroHam smurf is the top-of-the-line!

[@TRXLab]

yeah you need both lol

[@paimg0uut]

i love your review very good thank you vy 73 elan

[@TRXLab]

Thank you Elan 73

[@1112223333111]

maybe press connect?

[@TRXLab]

Yes that is right. You have a very short window to connect the MCU. 73

[@joeorange9391]

Hi Peter, You may want to correct your math in minute 56. Each peak has less than 1/10 of power your are speaking about because modulation two tone signal is about 10dB weaker than 200Hz sub-carrier as you show in minute 42. Therefore spectrum shows IMD products radio generates in SSB mode when driven by two tone signal to less than 10W PEP, not 100W. At 100W it would be different, usually much worse. 100W PEP value shown in lower right corner is bit misleading as is generated by sub-carrier which has very low contribution to shown IMD products and is filtered from display. Otherwise nice video, thank you. regards Joe

[@TRXLab]

Joe, okay let's discuss it this way. The LP500 is a very accurate test device and from this perspective lets approach the reading. Don't ever let you confuse by the algorithmic which is needed to get the meter doing what it should. In minute 51:40 you see that the setting is put to 55dbm max. That means that the zero line is full power = 55dbm. On 55:36 you see the both fundamentals on -11dbc That means it is 55dBm-11dBm= 44dBm. And we can agree that 44 dBm is 25 watt per tone. As we have 2 tones that means we have 50 watt on average power thus it is 100 watt PEP output. And trust me the radio was set to full HF power and it was transmitting with 100W PEP. In video#42 you can find the answer how it hangs together if you like. Thanks for watching and comment . 73

[@joeorange9391]

Thank you for response Peter. Unfortunately you are missing point, probably because I wasn't exact and my initial figures were rough. So lets do math again exactly. In spectrum mode you set output of your radio to 100W (99W to be exact). It is 50dBm, not 55dBm. 55dBm is 316W ... Actually, LP-500 shows 99W/49dBm. 49dBm is 79W but it is probably error of truncating decimals instead of rounding. Let's not hair pick there ... Assume that 100W/50dBm is set as zero reference, both fundamentals are -11db lower what is 50dBm - 11dB = 39dBm. 39dBm is 7.9W. So two tone signal has 2*7.9W average power, 31.6W PEP. Rest to shown power 99W, exactly 67.4W (99W - 31.6W) is hidden in the sub-carrier. Therefore IMD products obtained as difference between two tone fundamental levels and their IM3 siblings do not provide correct IMD figures as if radio was driven by pure two tone signal to 100W PEP, radio is driven by two tone signal only to 31.6W PEP output power and by sub-carrier to 67.4W PEP. So algorithmic matters a lot. I'm not confused and understand that sub-carrier must be there to pass two tone signals in SSB mode through simple envelope detectors originally invented for AM detection, not SSB. Results obtained in Spectrum mode need to be properly interpreted to not make bad conclusion whether radio generates clean or dirty signal. There is no 50W PEP power in each tone but only 15.8W, and that's an error I wanted to highlight in your otherwise very nice video. Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas Joe

[@TRXLab]

Joe, nothing wrong with your math BUT LP500's reference zero line is 55dBm! I f you would do your calculation with this setting... Other than that all is fine :^) Merry Christmas Peter

[@joeorange9391]

Hi Peter, You are right, according to LP-500 manual, reference can be set to 45/55/65dBm. Seems spectrum amplitudes are intentionaly manipulated to hide drawback of used sub-carrier algorithmic. Bummer ... regards Joe

[@kn9ioutom]

SO MANY HAM TOYS ! SO LITTLE TIME ! 73 DE K9IOU

[@TRXLab]

LOL yeah that is true..Thanks for watching 73

[@knietiefimdispo2458]

riill ol siss ?

[@dl9nbj]

Gut, aber viel zu lang gezogen, kann man sicherlich auch in einer halben Stunde alles erzählen.