Continuity at swr transformer

[km4ezk]

I just assembled my (tr)usdx kit today, and I am worried I did something wrong.

Firstly I am able to receive reasonably well, so at least it seems my logic board is good. Additionally I can transmit into a dummy load; though, there is a bit of what looks like an issue here as well.

1: When I soldered the swr transformers I checked continuity between each of the pads once they were soldered down. No matter at what point on any of the swr transformer pads I check continuity I have it. If I probe any of the single turn pads and any of the 7 turn pads I have continuity. Did I mess something up here? I can re-wind them if so, but I wanted to check with y'all first.

2: When I power on the radio and tune to a frequency with an antenna attached I see a faint carier on frequency even when I am not transmitting. Is this expected? It seems it shouldn't be.

3: I seem to have a lot of splatter when transmitting. I can make out my voice, but there is a lot of splatter on the waterfall.

4: When I plug in a dummy load I am getting an S reading of around 5. Shouldn't this be closer to 1?

I should note that at present I'm transmitting into a 1w dummy load that I generally use with my vna, and I'm only powering the radio with USB power which I understand should put me at about 1/2 watt transmit power.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really want to get this radio working as I'd really love to be able to use this radio on a couple trips I have coming up.

EDIT: Fixed a typo about the SWR I see on dummy load.

EDIT2: I re-wrapped the swr tansformers in such a way that the wires do not come into contact with each other at all and so there could be no chance of a short, but I'm still seeing continuity between any combination of pad which I check with the multimeter. Additionally I also see continuity between the sma center conductor and the shield / ground. I'm almost certain that this should not be the case.

EDIT3: I was mistaken about the swr measurement. I just read I that only CW will show a live SWR reading. On the dummy load that is at 1 on all bands. My other issues persist.
1: Faint signal on tuned up frequency even when not transmitting.
2: Splatter when using USB/LSB
3: Multimeter is showing continuity between all the swr transformer pads and between the sma connector center pint and shield / ground.

[KK4DF]

Once you connect T1 and T2, you will show continuity to ground and between all Tx connections, as you are measuring with DC when using a multimeter.

https://dl2man.de/wp-content/uploads/20 ... ic_1.0.pdf

Notice that your SMA center pin sees DC ground via the 7T winding on T2. At RF frequencies, T1 and T2 will operate as desired. But once T1 and T2 are soldered in, the multimeter can be misleading.

[km4ezk]

Thanks KK4DF, I appreciate the info. Aside from the splatter when transmitting ssb the radio otherwise seems to be functioning as expected. I'm thinking some of the ssb splatter and the faint signal on frequency even when not transmitting may be due to the relatively close proximity I have to my SDR so I'll think on how I might be able to test it from further away to capture some info from the SDR.

EDIT: Looked up your call, and it seems you're actually not too far from me. I'm over here in NC south of Raleigh. Maybe we will catch each other on the air with the (tr)usdx some time.

[KK4DF]

I will be on a week-long SOTA trip next week, and will be using my (tr)uSDX on some of the tougher climbs. Check where and when at https://sotl.as/alerts