One Flex 6700 and two computers.

N4AB

This is not a problem, praise, or question and is not even an idea. Its an observation of something I discovered by accident that probably every body (but me) knew about.
I run my 6700 on my LAN and have two computers (#1 WIN 8.1, #2 WIN 7) also running on the LAN. The first computer is used for the radio and the second is for general use and a backup for the radio.
I was working JT65/JT9 tonite when a call sign poped up (on the radio computer) that I wanted to know if I had already worked that station. So I reached over to the general computer and started my backup Logging program, put in the call and then discovered that the logging program had downloaded the frequency, and mode data from the 6700 as it would in normal operation on the radio computer. I had already started to answer the CQ on the radio computer and the other computer talking to the 6700 did not effect the 6700 transmitter or normal operation at all.
Since the backup computer has the SSDR program installed on it and the SmartCAT program starts when the computer boots up I guess it was ready to go when I started the log program.
The bottom line on this discovery, at least for me, is that I can move my logging program and operation off the radio computer and not have to swap back and forth while continuing to operate the radio. I'm not sure if this is usefull or not, but it is another 6xxx operational data point.

Reggie-k6xr

I posted the same thing when i first got my 6500! I run my logging program on one computer and ssdr on another! clicking spots on the one populates the ssdr on the other!  slick!

Ed - W2RF

I run SmartSDR on one computer, and everything else on another. That includes a logger, multiple CW Skimmers, and SDR-Bridge. This is an excellent way to distribute CPU load!

73 Ed W2RF

DrTeeth

CPU load is only an issue if one program uses an insane amount of CPU cycles (well over 90% continuously) on a single core PC.

What was your CPU loading with everything running on one PC?

Ed - W2RF

The load I am speaking of is four instances of CW Skimmer and one copy of SmartSDR running four or more Panadapters, all with waterfalls at a reasonably high refresh rate. There is also a considerable load associated with the four DAX IQ channels operating at 96khz required by this configuration. It is well known that this is a substantial CPU burden, even for very strong computers.

Running everything on one quad-core PC used all available CPU and caused sporadic operational problems.

Splitting the CPU between computers lowered the CPU load to reasonable levels on both computers.

73 Ed W2RF

Tim - W4TME

With the FLEX-6700 / 6500 and SDR-Bridge , you can run 4 concurrent instances of CWSkimmer covering 96 kHz of bandwidth on 4 different bands.  Unless you have a high-end i7 or equivalent PC, with just those 6 programs running, you can melt a CPU.  In cases like this, having the ability to load distribute processes (applications on different PCs is a really convenient feature.

Richard G7EIX

I'm building a Dual CPU SQL Server for a customer at the moment - a pair of Intel Xeon E5-2670 and 256GB RAM - I have to burn it in for a few days - perhaps I should see how many instances I can run on that puppy!

Tim - W4TME

That would be an interesting experiment.

DrTeeth

Got it now Ed ;-).

Best wishes

Guy G4DWV/4X1LT

rfoust

I *really* *really* *really* hope that eventually we will be able to run multiple copies of SmartSDR on different computers at the same time, each connected to 'x' number of panadapters/slice receivers.  The radio already acts like a server, so no reason this shouldn't be possible.