Help! I just receive my F6300 two days ago. Now, no power output at all.

Arnie

I received my new F6300 on Friday.  I installed SmartSDR 1.2.1 yesterday. Everything seemed to work fine. I turned the radio off after shutting down SmartSDR normally. However, today when I fired everything up, I get no power output at all. Receiver seems to be ok (the bands are in terrible shape today), but even when I hit TUNE, I get no power output. The SWR indicator on SmartSDR shows maximum when I hit tune, even though I know the antenna has an swr of 1.4 indicated when I use it with another rig.
Help!
Tnx de Arnie W8DU

George KF2T

Quick check - is TX selected in the slice you're using? 

"Easy" way to reset is to shut down, remove power for a few minutes, and re-set. Usually fixes any weird states.

Good luck!

Arnie

Thanks George. I did try the shutdown/restart but no dice. I do have TX enabled for Slice A, which is the only slice open. As I said, I get full scale deflection for SWR when I hit TUNE, but no output on an antenna I know is good, and which seemed to work fine yesterday. Maybe I should remove/reinstall SmartSDR?

George KF2T

Before you do that, try a radio reset to factory settings (not sure on 6300 - check manual), and a reset with power disconnected -- the power disconnect is important. SSDR isn't usually the problem, since it is a client application. 

Dave - WB5NHL

Do you have the XMT antenna set corrrectly? In the the slice "flag" the blue ANT is the recv antenna and the red ANT is the XMT antenna.  Obviously you could receiving on ANT1 and trying to transmit on ANT2 without an antenna!

Arnie

I cannot locate the information as to how to do a factory reset. Do you know where it is or how to do it?
Tnx de Arnie W8DU

Arnie

No, they are both set for ANT1.

George KF2T

Looks like (per Tim) "removing DC power from the radio after it is powered down using the front power button will reset the radio to factory defaults."

Give it a couple of minutes with no power connected, just to be on the safe side.

Arnie

Tried that. No dice. I also notice that while I do receive and see stations on the waterfall, the panadapter signals are below -125 and I can only see the peaks of strong signals reaching above the bottom line of the panapter display. The lack of power out and full scale SWR deflection persists and I have tried removing/reinstalling SSDR in addition to trying the powerdown/power removal for ten minutes.
Any other ideas, or is this unit defective?

7e de Arnie W8DU
p.s. even though I 'removed/reinstalled' SSDR, when it came back up it 'persisted' with the exact same settings, including frequency, that existed when I shut it down before removing/reinstalling it.

Jim Gilliam

Make sure your RF power control in the TX window if fully to the right for full power output.

jim

is the  TX  turned on in dax ?

George KF2T

Wow, Arnie.  Sounds like the antenna is just not connecting. Try toggling the antenna settings a couple of times, maybe that will kick it over. Of course, checking your cables and connectors might help (I suspect you've been through all that, though). Maybe something loose right at the SO239? Have you tried using the same antenna on another port? Or even the transverter port to confirm reception?


Oh, one more thing - can you hit us with a screen shot? Extra eyes sometimes spot things...

Al_NN4ZZ

Arnie,
One more thing you can try is resetting the persistence database.   See #2 below for the steps.  This is from the V1.2 release notes. 

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

George KF2T

Another idea/question - maybe it's the ATU? Do things improve if you select BYP? Does the tuner chatter when you hit ATU?

Al_NN4ZZ

Arnie,
I just realized that the 6300 front panel is different and doesn't have the "OK" button.  So the process to reset the persistence database in the V1.2 release notes is not relevant.  

(not sure what the process is for the 6300)

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

Arnie

Thanks again George. I did try changing antenna ports and swapping coax with another rig that is working just right. Still no dice. I agree that it sounds like the antenna is just not connecting internally. Maybe a stuck relay? Seems like this one is going to go back to Flex HQ.

Arnie

Thanks Al. I could not find that info either. The hardware manual mentions a "multifunction power switch" but fails to give any info as to what the "multifunctions" are or how or when to use them.

Arnie

Nope on the ATU. Mine is outboard and it is not seeing any RF when I hit TUNE, as it does with my other rig.

Dale KB5VE

I have followed this and one thing stands out. You say you have recieve but it is down to -125dbm. It looks like you have antenna connection issues in the radio.

Arnie

Thanks Dale. i failed to mention that after I reinstalled SSDR, the baseline on the panadapter did come up to around -120 on most bands except 17m. Whatever antenna connection issues there are must be internal to the radio because the very same antenna with the very same coax connected to my other radio works FB. I wish I could find out how to do a complete factory default reset of the radio. Powering it down does not seem to do that because when it comes back up, it comes up with the very same settings that were in place when I powered it down.

jim

have you tried  this ?
23.12 RESTORING TO FACTORY DEFAULTS On the FLEX-6500 or FLEX-6700, restore to factory defaults hold down the “OK” button on the front 
panel of the radio while you press the power button. On the FLEX-6300, hold down the power button 
until the LED blinks purple. This will clear any memories in the radio and return them back to their 
original state. NOTE: This should only be used as a last resort. Contact support if you are having trouble 
with your radio. 

Al_NN4ZZ

Jim,
Which document (filename, version, etc) has that reference (23.12) ? 

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

jim

SmartSDR Software Users Guide 1.2.1.pdfFile

page  91 i think 

found under  6300  download

jim

sorry   it's on   page 92 

Al_NN4ZZ

Jim, 
Got it, thanks.
Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

Arnie

Ok. So I did the factory default reset as described on page 92 of the SSDR software guide. That restored the panadapter display to normal. However, it did not restore RF output. I still get the same full scale deflection of the SWR indicator on SSDR and no RF output. Receive is working ok but no transmit. Any further suggestions or ideas on this?
Tnx de Arnie W8DU

Jim Gilliam

If you are getting full-scale deflection it is either your antenna tuner is not working, or it is mistuned. I would try connecting the output of your radio to a dummy load to make sure you don't have a mismatched antenna.

George KF2T

Hi Arnie - wow, you've had quite a day. 

Only things I have left are 1) second re-set, followed by power disconnected for 10-15 minutes. And 2) switching antenna settings in SSDR back and forth - sometimes that shakes out the matrix a bit. 
Granted, grasping a little now - might be a service ticket in the morning.

Good luck!

Arnie

Jim, it does the same thing connect to a dummy load so I suspect the T/R relay inside the 6300 is not working.
 
George: I will try another reset and I did submit a trouble ticket. It is Sunday, of course, but Dudley did acknowledge receipt to hopefully I will get an interactive response tomorrow.
73 de Arnie W8Du

Tim - W4TME

I have converted this topic to a support HelpDesk ticket (http://helpdesk.flexradio.com) for expedited issue resolution.  If anyone else is experiencing an issue similar to this one, please submit a HelpDesk support ticket for issue resolution.