First question, does cutting the attenuator pad work for both RX & TX levels? I’m having an issue with everything being over driven to & from the FT-897. I’m using the factory cables. I have the Digital gain on the radio turned down to 5 for TX, 20dB of software attn in HRD for Rx, Win 10 level adjustments in 3 places 
set at different levels. I can get acceptable levels, but I’m not certain yet whether they will carry over to each program without adjusting every time. there is no dig line out level on the radio that can be adjusted. Looking for suggestions to get dialed in.
The attenuator is for the Digirig’s audio input. Typically, that’s where more range is needed.
So what I’ve found so far in regards to the FT-897D settings is that in the Windows Sound System settings is you have to choose the Digirig from the output device drop-down then below where the slider for device properties appears set the Master Volume for 30. Then the Digi Gain on the FT-897D is set to 50 and this will give 4-5 bars of ALC. I think this is ideal adjustment range for the TX level settings.
In the Sound Control panel Digirig device Recording properties, the Mic level (Audio level from the radio IN to the computer) is set to 0.0dB. This is works but is still on the hot side. With the RF gain on the radio set to 0, the indicated input level in WSJT-X is 21dB. In a dead band (static background) , the level indicated is 63dB, received signals are around 66dB. There is no option to set the Dig Output level on the FT-8xx series so this is where cutting the attenuation pad would bring the level into an adjustable range. I hate the thought of doing that in case I want to move to a different mfrs radio. Perhaps an ATT switch on a future version or maybe just a M-F DIN pass thru adapter that has the 100k resistor in the audio line. I’m using the Digirig Yaesu cable set, the resistor could be incorporated into the cable but I don’t know what other Yaesu radios besides the FT-8xx series the cable set works with so it could cause other issues.
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I did end up cutting the trace to enable the attenuator, this brought all the levels into a reasonable range. I ended up with the master volume in Windows set to 30 and the Digi gain on the FT-897D set to 50.
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