HL2Setup question

Peter Grace

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Mar 11, 2026, 12:57:12 AMMar 11

to Hermes-Lite

Hello,

I received my Hermes-Lite 2 today and have been puttering with it for the last hour or two. I noticed that I was getting power output from the PA that seemed to indicate 5W output, but the wattmeter response in deskhpsdr was showing 0.2 Watts. While looking for possible causes for this, I stumbled upon the hl2setup program for setting transistor bias.

I executed said program and the first transistor seemed to adjust properly, but the second transistor process fails with "Bias1 code 100 but low bias current < 10ma." The power amp current never seemed to go above 7ma while it was sending the second transistor commands.

Now when I transmit, I'm barely sending any output (I assume because my transistors are now badly mismatched on settings?)

As a result, I have a few questions:

1) is there a source repository for the hl2setup app? Is it possible I have an out of date version? I downloaded the one from N2ADR's website.

2) is there a way to "reset to factory" for those settings? Or a command I can send that matches the defaults that come from the factory?

3) If there is not, is there a way I can manually diagnose why transistor 2 is failing the hl2setup and adjust manually?

Thanks in advance for any help the group might provide!

Pete - W3POG

Peter Grace

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Mar 12, 2026, 6:50:14 AMMar 12

to Hermes-Lite

As an update to this post -- when I was tightening down the nut on the heat spreader I must have managed to knock off both L34 and B106. Talk about ham-fisted. I have replacement components on order but this is almost certainly why transistor 2 is not responding to bias changes.

Steve Haynal

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Mar 15, 2026, 11:29:25 PMMar 15

to Hermes-Lite

Hi Pete,

I'm happy to hear you found the issue. Scraping off some components around the heat spreader is an issue which does occur from time to time.

73,

Steve

kf7o

paul chancellor

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Mar 18, 2026, 6:28:06 PMMar 18

to Steve Haynal, Hermes-Lite, Paul D. Chancellor

Steve,

I have traced a runaway bias issue (Q3, Q4) to MCP4662. However, there are various ones of these chips with differing KOhm values. Can you advise if MCP4662-502E/UN (5KOhm) is the correct chip or if another should be used.

Thank You!

Paul

Paul D. Chancellor

Ocean Law

Patent & Trademark Law

694 Longpine

Eclectic, AL 36024

Tel: 805-368-4586

Fax: 805-299-4919

Email: p...@oceanlawgroup.com

From: herme...@googlegroups.com <herme...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Steve Haynal <softerh...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2026 10:29 PM
To: Hermes-Lite <herme...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: HL2Setup question

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