First time Kiwi owner here. Read through the thread and came to conclusion most of the stuff is over my head. However I did do some other researcher and found this https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-rg5000hd
Depends. Will you have a transmitter in the same area? If so, something to switch the Kiwi antenna out/to ground while transmitting is ideal. If it's on the same coax/antenna, you REALLY should switch out the kiwi. But if not feasible or easy, you can look at how much signal your Kiwi is receiving when transmitting nearby, and figure out the math from there.
While the 5000 limited the signal more, it's no longer available. The HD is available, and limits things to about 13 dbm, generally. As you can see from the chart posted above, the Kiwi can handle more than 13dbm until below 5mhz. So the 5000HD will do the job most of the time.
I use a 5000HD right now, and will have an MFJ1708B-SDR inline when I have my transmitter hooked up, as they will share antennas. Then the MFJ will switch the kiwi out when transmitting, and then the RG5000HD is there as a backup/just in case something goes wrong. And my Kiwi will sit between the transmitter and amplifier, so worst case in a failure, it's going to see maybe 3-4 watts, which the 5000 HD should have no problem handling.
Tell us more about your situation/setup, and we can more accurately answer if the RG5000HD is enough for you.
So, I think I did bad. I left my kiwi 2 plugged on a long wire antenna and yammered on at 3.7 mhz. Oops. So I set the loop test to as close to the troubleshooting parameters as I could.. CW, 10mhz, matched the WF ceil/floor values and the 0.2 gain. Received signal was -80dbm, test showed -48.change. The pattern was the same though, if weaker. When the kiwi is just on and on a confirmed good antenna the waterfall's dark.
http://www.kiwisdr.com/ks/troubleshooting.pdf point 4 at the bottom indicates a signal problem from the sma to the adc input but not what could/should be done. How bad is this thing f'd in the a by me being careless?
From JKS on 5 Aug, "We're finding the Kiwi-2 electronic attenuator goes open-circuit in a lot of cases. Despite all of the protection we built in to Kiwi-2 and the external measures people take." How can I determine if that's the case here? I'm a carpenter so try to use little words haha
From your description it certainly sounds like an open attenuator. Especially if you're getting the self-test patterns, just attenuated by 40 dB.
Please send an email to sales@kiwisdr.nz (note ".nz") requesting a repair. We're having to figure out some sort of formal solution to this problem since a significant number of people are asking.
I have enough antennas that there would ne no need to use the same antenna for the transceiver and Kiwi. However they are in close proximity to each other. The Kiwi is currently on a DX LBPlus inverted "V: dipole. I have a 80meter Delta loop, a Gap Titan DX vertical and a 80M EFHW (not in image).
You guys shouldn't think using "limiters" and other such devices will save your Kiwi when any nearby transmitter is involved.
In the good old days there was always a TR switch (transmit/receive) involved that disconnected and grounded the receiver antenna input before any TX energy was emitted. Or at least a manual switch that did the same thing. Anything else is just asking for trouble.
Common sense seems to have gone out the window here..
Common sense seems to have gone out the window here..
hey i admitted to being a careless dummy. if the jumper repair works i might just go ahead and move my kiwi 120 km down the road to my parent's acreage where i probably can't make the same bone-headed mistake that far away
Comments
First time Kiwi owner here. Read through the thread and came to conclusion most of the stuff is over my head. However I did do some other researcher and found this https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-rg5000hd
Would this limit enough RF to protect my Kiwi?
Depends. Will you have a transmitter in the same area? If so, something to switch the Kiwi antenna out/to ground while transmitting is ideal. If it's on the same coax/antenna, you REALLY should switch out the kiwi. But if not feasible or easy, you can look at how much signal your Kiwi is receiving when transmitting nearby, and figure out the math from there.
QST reviewed the RG5000s in 2015: https://static.dxengineering.com/global/images/technicalarticles/dxe-rg-5000_sn.pdf
While the 5000 limited the signal more, it's no longer available. The HD is available, and limits things to about 13 dbm, generally. As you can see from the chart posted above, the Kiwi can handle more than 13dbm until below 5mhz. So the 5000HD will do the job most of the time.
I use a 5000HD right now, and will have an MFJ1708B-SDR inline when I have my transmitter hooked up, as they will share antennas. Then the MFJ will switch the kiwi out when transmitting, and then the RG5000HD is there as a backup/just in case something goes wrong. And my Kiwi will sit between the transmitter and amplifier, so worst case in a failure, it's going to see maybe 3-4 watts, which the 5000 HD should have no problem handling.
Tell us more about your situation/setup, and we can more accurately answer if the RG5000HD is enough for you.
-Nate
N8BTR
http://21040.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/
Loots like a re-spin of their previous model, but with lots more diodes.
I don't know why they have taken this route, maybe to increase the power handling, who knows ?
Either way, it's a big markup on the <$10 cost of parts.
Regards,
Martin
So, I think I did bad. I left my kiwi 2 plugged on a long wire antenna and yammered on at 3.7 mhz. Oops. So I set the loop test to as close to the troubleshooting parameters as I could.. CW, 10mhz, matched the WF ceil/floor values and the 0.2 gain. Received signal was -80dbm, test showed -48.change. The pattern was the same though, if weaker. When the kiwi is just on and on a confirmed good antenna the waterfall's dark.
http://www.kiwisdr.com/ks/troubleshooting.pdf point 4 at the bottom indicates a signal problem from the sma to the adc input but not what could/should be done. How bad is this thing f'd in the a by me being careless?
From JKS on 5 Aug, "We're finding the Kiwi-2 electronic attenuator goes open-circuit in a lot of cases. Despite all of the protection we built in to Kiwi-2 and the external measures people take." How can I determine if that's the case here? I'm a carpenter so try to use little words haha
From your description it certainly sounds like an open attenuator. Especially if you're getting the self-test patterns, just attenuated by 40 dB.
Please send an email to sales@kiwisdr.nz (note ".nz") requesting a repair. We're having to figure out some sort of formal solution to this problem since a significant number of people are asking.
I have enough antennas that there would ne no need to use the same antenna for the transceiver and Kiwi. However they are in close proximity to each other. The Kiwi is currently on a DX LBPlus inverted "V: dipole. I have a 80meter Delta loop, a Gap Titan DX vertical and a 80M EFHW (not in image).
Thanks to all, an email has been sent.
You guys shouldn't think using "limiters" and other such devices will save your Kiwi when any nearby transmitter is involved.
In the good old days there was always a TR switch (transmit/receive) involved that disconnected and grounded the receiver antenna input before any TX energy was emitted. Or at least a manual switch that did the same thing. Anything else is just asking for trouble.
Common sense seems to have gone out the window here..
done and done.
Common sense seems to have gone out the window here..
hey i admitted to being a careless dummy. if the jumper repair works i might just go ahead and move my kiwi 120 km down the road to my parent's acreage where i probably can't make the same bone-headed mistake that far away