Its always better to turn the IPO to off especially if your in a noisy floor area. I live in an extremely quiet noise floor area so im lucky and can use the ipo if required but i very rarely do. Great advice for others that havent played with their radio. Well done for putting this out there
Thanks for sharing and True on the ipo. Just trying to help out new hams a little with the videos. Probably should have used a different band when making the video. Anyway, I can’t use the amp very often at all on 40m but on very rare occasions I can get a little benefit from it. I probably use the attenuation more at 6db (although not very often) because I find at my location at times it tones down the noise just enough to help pull the contact out. I’m also finding at times that I am occasionally using the oscilloscope function of the radio to help fine tune the RF gain to pull out the voice that is list riding just above the top of the noise floor. It works better than my old ears. Thanks for sharing.
I'm one of the guys who had the RF Gain all the way up so I could give a legit signal strength, using the AF as a volume. Tried the backing off of the RF with the AF up, amazing difference in the noise! The only complaint is that it is showing +40 on the S meter all the time. But now I see how these things work so I can get that figured out. Thanks for the information!
@@reallyoldrookie433 glad it helped out. It’s just working through that process of finding out what works best for our particular situation. Thanks for commenting.
When your noise level is high (peaking 7-9 on the meter) in the absence of a specific signal, you can disable the AMP (set to IPO)… and then add attenuation until your meter doesn’t deflect too much in the absence of a signal. Then you can layer in the RF and AF gain recommendations, like suggested in the video. While you may not see very high numbers on the S meter with attenuation in place, it should give you better signal-to-noise.
@@Kinetic79 Good point and suggestion, particularly regarding IPO during high noise. An example of that today is noise was really low on 20 meters and I picked up a contact in Santiago, Chile that didn’t even move the S meter but because I could hear him I could make the contact. It’s the S/N ratio that makes a real difference. Thanks for sharing.
The DNF eliminates tones, not pulse noise. If using CW or digital modes, never use DNF as it will target the desired signal. Use NB for pulse noise. The FT-710 has the best NB I’ve ever seen.
Very true regarding CW and digital modes and hanks for mentioning that. The NB is very good too. I’ve herd that Icom does well but I have no experience with them. Thanks!
The area where you change the countour, the DSP, has several other settings that can make signals more intelligible. You can make the pass band wider, narrower, or offset it one way or the other. When there is a bad signal, even one that is being partially stepped on by another station, you can you can sometimes pull it out with the DSP by listening to less of the passband or shifting it a bit. And if you get it wrong you can just reaet it with one button. I also noticed you had an aess, how did that help, hurt?
@@NShellhopper Thanks for adding the additional info. I thought about adding that but tried to keep the video short and simple. You are correct those other features can make a big difference. As for the aess,I bought the field version, then attached a quality stereo speaker. It made a difference, I also faced the speaker away from me at my desk and that also cleans up the high noise in the audio over having it pointed at me. I probably will get a good set of headphones in the near future. Thanks
I find that voices start echoing at DNR 8 and above and makes it harder to hear in my opinion. I never go above 7. Do you hear the same on 8 and above?
@@puddleduck112 On mine I don’t really get that echo until around 11 and it’s annoying from 12 to 15 like they are talking into a barrel. 10 on mine is OK and I use 8 to 10 regularly. It seems that some of it is due to the received signal also.
Thanks. All of my antenna builds are tuned for the middle of the band, so many times I don’t require the ATU on the radio. My EFHW is an exception though. Unfortunately the ATU on the FT-710 doesn’t tune the entire band at the same time, only a window (only 10 kHz per the manual) and I’ve witnessed that during use as I move up the band. I may end up with a separate automatic ATU in the future but the built in ATU does a good job matching impedance while tuning range though. If you have some other information to assist with the ft-710 feel free to share your findings. Thanks.
In the manual page 36 it gives a way but I haven’t tried it. It says: 1. Press the [FUNC] knob. 2. Select [DISPLAY SETTING] → [VFO IND COL- OR]. 3. Select the item whose color you want to change. 4. Rotate the [FUNC] knob, or touch “” on either side of the value to select the Color. Select the color of the “3” mark in the table be- low for each item. There is a table in the manual that says that “none” can be selected. If you try it how about let us know if it works. Good luck.
I use these lights to indicate which antenna I should tune. Blue for 80M dipole, Green for fan dipole. Works as a great reminder and saves me from transmitting on the wrong antenna VFO A GREEN, VFO B BLUE.
The ft710 is a great radio. It hears really well and the filters work beautifully. 73 KB3ZWR
Its always better to turn the IPO to off especially if your in a noisy floor area. I live in an extremely quiet noise floor area so im lucky and can use the ipo if required but i very rarely do. Great advice for others that havent played with their radio. Well done for putting this out there
Thanks for sharing and True on the ipo. Just trying to help out new hams a little with the videos. Probably should have used a different band when making the video. Anyway, I can’t use the amp very often at all on 40m but on very rare occasions I can get a little benefit from it. I probably use the attenuation more at 6db (although not very often) because I find at my location at times it tones down the noise just enough to help pull the contact out. I’m also finding at times that I am occasionally using the oscilloscope function of the radio to help fine tune the RF gain to pull out the voice that is list riding just above the top of the noise floor. It works better than my old ears. Thanks for sharing.
I just got a 710 and this video was a great help. Thanks for posting! 👍
@@mxcollin95 glad it was helpful.
This is great! Thanks for this. Really helps bring out SSTV signals too.
Glad it helped out. 73.
Im hearing really long comms. now. Wow. Thank you. Your settings work very well.
@@1040north-t7h That’s awesome. Glad it worked out for you.
My 710 arrives tomorrow, thank you for the pointers!
Glad you got one, hope these tips help you out! I think you will find that it is a great radio.
well done, that would be the best decision you would have made, great radio.
I'm one of the guys who had the RF Gain all the way up so I could give a legit signal strength, using the AF as a volume. Tried the backing off of the RF with the AF up, amazing difference in the noise! The only complaint is that it is showing +40 on the S meter all the time. But now I see how these things work so I can get that figured out. Thanks for the information!
@@reallyoldrookie433 glad it helped out. It’s just working through that process of finding out what works best for our particular situation. Thanks for commenting.
When your noise level is high (peaking 7-9 on the meter) in the absence of a specific signal, you can disable the AMP (set to IPO)… and then add attenuation until your meter doesn’t deflect too much in the absence of a signal. Then you can layer in the RF and AF gain recommendations, like suggested in the video. While you may not see very high numbers on the S meter with attenuation in place, it should give you better signal-to-noise.
@@Kinetic79 Good point and suggestion, particularly regarding IPO during high noise. An example of that today is noise was really low on 20 meters and I picked up a contact in Santiago, Chile that didn’t even move the S meter but because I could hear him I could make the contact. It’s the S/N ratio that makes a real difference. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Very informative.
Merry Christmas.
KO4HPC 73
@@agoraphobicadam1171 thanks!
Hi, the antenna tuner for this radio is only for tx. In rx is by passed.
Good summary still trying different contour settings
@@davidhaman4642 I hope it works out well for you. Let us know how it goes.
The DNF eliminates tones, not pulse noise. If using CW or digital modes, never use DNF as it will target the desired signal. Use NB for pulse noise. The FT-710 has the best NB I’ve ever seen.
Very true regarding CW and digital modes and hanks for mentioning that. The NB is very good too. I’ve herd that Icom does well but I have no experience with them. Thanks!
Great vid---I'm new and I have a 710. Running BF I did get CA?
The area where you change the countour, the DSP, has several other settings that can make signals more intelligible. You can make the pass band wider, narrower, or offset it one way or the other. When there is a bad signal, even one that is being partially stepped on by another station, you can you can sometimes pull it out with the DSP by listening to less of the passband or shifting it a bit. And if you get it wrong you can just reaet it with one button. I also noticed you had an aess, how did that help, hurt?
@@NShellhopper Thanks for adding the additional info. I thought about adding that but tried to keep the video short and simple. You are correct those other features can make a big difference. As for the aess,I bought the field version, then attached a quality stereo speaker. It made a difference, I also faced the speaker away from me at my desk and that also cleans up the high noise in the audio over having it pointed at me. I probably will get a good set of headphones in the near future. Thanks
I find that voices start echoing at DNR 8 and above and makes it harder to hear in my opinion. I never go above 7. Do you hear the same on 8 and above?
@@puddleduck112 On mine I don’t really get that echo until around 11 and it’s annoying from 12 to 15 like they are talking into a barrel.
10 on mine is OK and I use 8 to 10 regularly. It seems that some of it is due to the received signal also.
You do know that exactly 7200 is the tuning frequency, right?
Thanks. All of my antenna builds are tuned for the middle of the band, so many times I don’t require the ATU on the radio. My EFHW is an exception though. Unfortunately the ATU on the FT-710 doesn’t tune the entire band at the same time, only a window (only 10 kHz per the manual) and I’ve witnessed that during use as I move up the band. I may end up with a separate automatic ATU in the future but the built in ATU does a good job matching impedance while tuning range though. If you have some other information to assist with the ft-710 feel free to share your findings. Thanks.
Is there a way to turn those stupid blue LED strips off on each side of the tuning knob?
In the manual page 36 it gives a way but I haven’t tried it. It says:
1. Press the [FUNC] knob.
2. Select [DISPLAY SETTING] → [VFO IND COL-
OR].
3. Select the item whose color you want to change.
4. Rotate the [FUNC] knob, or touch “” on
either side of the value to select the Color. Select the color of the “3” mark in the table be- low for each item.
There is a table in the manual that says that “none” can be selected.
If you try it how about let us know if it works. Good luck.
@@yqtszhj Out of curiosity, I tried it and it works. But I set mine to red.
I use these lights to indicate which antenna I should tune. Blue for 80M dipole, Green for fan dipole. Works as a great reminder and saves me from transmitting on the wrong antenna VFO A GREEN, VFO B BLUE.