Fitst day with my new 6500...first problem, sort of...

Ken - NM9P

Are we having fun yet!...Yes! My 6500 arrived this afternoon. I got the wiring all ready, preinstalled SSDR, read the release notes and quick start (again, again) and proceeded to unbox the rig. Time needed to unbox, connect, boot up, wait for calibration, start SmartSDR, wait for updates, reboot, and begin listening to signals on 40 meters = 20 minutes! It was super easy! I had my first contact with a friend in town on 10 meters. I have been able to play with setting up 2 panadapters and different rx & tx slices. But I had my first "problem" While trying to tune my dipole with the SGC-237 on 20 meters, the display froze, still showing a carrier on the air. but it wasn't transmitting. and the FLEX-6500 display said Shutting Down...Error PSL 13V8A 07.37. My guess is that either: 1) I have some RF in the shack with the new set up that I never noticed (or didn't have) with the FLEX-1500 and TS-850. Or 2) perhaps I was trying to tune on full power and it drew excessive current before the SCG tuner knocked the SWR down. If this is the case, I need to adjust operating habits with this rig. (I needed to tune with the full 5 watts on my FLEX-1500 or it wouldn't tune at all!) In any case, shutting down SmartSDR and letting the rig reboot and I am back in business.... Ken - NM9P

Tim - W4TME

The error "Shutting Down...Error PSL 13V8A 07.37." indicates that the power supply voltage dropped below the minimum value needed to run the radio. The FLEX-6500 was reading 7.37 VDC.

Army Curtis

Hi Ken. You mention that you were trying to tune your dipole with your SCG tuner. Why not just use the automatic antenna tuner built into the Flex? Or am I totally messed up in thinking the 6500 has an ATU like the 6700 does? BTW, nice call you have. 73, Army AE5P

Ken - NM9P

The antenna is 83 ft. on a leg, fed with 450 ohm line just into the shack and to the SGC-237 auto-coupler. I was using it on my FLEX-1500 and it is the only antenna I have right now. Tomorrow I may put a balun on it and feet it directly to the 6500 and use the internal tuner. But I didn't have time today... I wanted to play radio!