NX-411 Tips and Modification
NX-411 Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI)
The NX-411 is full of bells and whistles and one of those cool features is the radios built in RSSI feature. The RSSI feature can be added the radios menu and accessed to allow the signal level in dBm to be read on the display- and believe it or not it's ridiculously accurate!
I tested the RSSI indication with my IFR 1200 Super S at 927.5000MHz, and wanted to see what level each bar on the display equated to with regards to RSSI. Shown below are the results of testing the receive bar indication and RSSI.
Pictured below is a NX-411 being injected with a signal on 927.5000MHz at -118dBm; the display reads -118dBm with just 1 bar (the antenna symbol). An RF signal at -118dBm (0.28uV) would be very weak/noisy.
Pictured below is a NX-411 being injected with a signal on 927.5000MHz at -110dBm; the display reads -110dBm with 2 bars. An RF signal at -110dBm (0.70uV) would have quite a bit of white noise.
Pictured below is a NX-411 being injected with a signal on 927.5000MHz at -95dBm; the display reads -95dBm with three bars. An RF signal at -95dBm (4.0uV) would have a very slight amount of white noise.
Pictured below is a NX-411 being injected with a signal on 927.5000MHz at -80dBm; the display reads -80dBm with 4 bars. An RF signal at -80dBm (22.0uV) would be full quieting into the receiver.
NX-411 Date and Time Memory Backup Battery
The NX-411 has a neat feature that other 900MHz Kenwood series radios do not; a date and time feature. The date and time feature is there to show the current time and also time stamp events such as calls received, VGS-1 voice memo recordings, etc... The date and time are stored in SRAM (static memory) and backed up by a lithium battery. The tuning data/programming/firmware in the radio is stored in flash memory which does NOT require a memory backup battery (its non-volatile). If the date and time is not being stored when your NX-411 is removed from its power source (i.e. battery is removed) then its time to renew the lithium memory backup battery. The 3.3V, ML-614, lithium memory backup battery for date and time retention can be ordered from Pacific Coast Parts or East Coast Transistor. The lithium memory backup battery part number is W09-0971-05 and the cost is $5.17.
NX-411 Startup Display Bitmaps
The NX-411 has a rather novel feature in that you can configure in the KPG-111D or KPG-111DN software for your NX-411 to display a startup bitmap image of your choosing! This feature can be programmed into the radio by going to the "Edit" menu and then selecting "Optional Features" and then "Optional Features 1", once there click on the "Common Page 2" tab. Go to the "Power-on" section and click on the checkbox "Custon Start-up Screen". Once there you can select a bitmap image of your choosing and load that into the radio as your startup image.There is a default image already in the software that you can select that will display "NEXEDGE" on startup. If you copy this image, you can erase the "NEXEDGE" and make your own bitmaps! These bitmaps must be on a template that is 120 pixels wide by 48 pixels in height, with a bit depth of 1. Provided below for download are a few bitmaps I made, along with a blank template so that you can make your own.
