SmartSDR v1.3 Available

Steve-N5AC

FlexRadio Systems is pleased to announce the availability of SmartSDR v1.3.  The installation package includes the release notes which have important information about the features and important caveats.  Our team has worked hard to provide not only the features promised with v1.3, but many new features that we feel will enhance your operation and provide more fun.  Here's a partial list of the new features we are releasing with SmartSDR v1.3:

CWX: Provides the ability to send CW through a keyboarding interface in SmartSDR.  The CWX pop-out window provides macro support and modes for "live" sending of CW as well as a type-ahead mode.  It also includes API and CAT commands that allow third-party software to send CW through an API or CAT connection to the radio.

Diversity: For FLEX-6700 owners, diversity provides two frequency-locked receivers that can be placed on different antennas with the audio routing to different ears. Diversity mode helps the operator discern signals near the noise floor that are selectively fading on individual antennas, but are most often present on at least one antenna at a time.  Diversity is best expereinced with headphones.

Profiles: In the past, radios have used a technique called "band stacking" in an attempt to remember multiple individual operating modes per band.  Band stacking was clumsy at best and always stored the same number of possible modes (three, typically).  With profiles, the entire configuration of the radio can be stored including the number of receivers, where they are tuned and how they are setup.  Each of these "global profiles" can be named and then later recalled quickly to transition between operating modes.  In addition, transmit profiles can store the settings for specific microphones to allow a rapid switch between multiple microphones.

Import/Export: With profiles, we have added the ability to import and export profile and preference data (automatically remembered preferences) for later retrieval.  Data can be exported to a file, saved and then later re-imported back into the radio.  This allows sharing of setups with other FLEX-6000 owners, quick setup for a number of radios in a DXpedition, or backup of settings for later use.

Basic Transverter: With basic transverter support, SmartSDR can switch to external transverters and properly display the frequency of operation when operating through a transverter.  When connected to a transverter, all of the underlying SmartSDR capabilities are provided including complete receiver control and adjustments, the ability to view substantial portions of a transverted band in the panadapter (7-14MHz depending on model) and the ability to zoom into the band with resolutions that quickly uncover signals that would be in the noise on most IF radios.

With all of these features, we recommend reading the SmartSDR Software Users Guide which details how each of these feature work and how to get the most out of your operating experience with these added capabilities.  It is available on the from the FlexRadio web site downloads page.

There are many more features packed in this version of SmartSDR. The release notes that accompany the software will give you all the details on what we've added and fixed since the last release.

This version of SmartSDR for Windows contains an updated version of SmartSDR CAT (v1.3.0) which will need to be installed after SmartSDR v1.3 has been installed.

There are several sub-procedures described below that are outlined in greater detail in the SmartSDR v1.3 Release Notes. Make sure you review the Release Notes before updating the FLEX-6000 radio software and SmartSDR CAT. 

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Upgrading SmartSDR for Windows 
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1.  Shut down SmartSDR for Windows if running.
2.  If SmartSDR CAT is running, close it too
3.  Power cycle the FLEX-6000 by pressing the front panel power button, waiting several seconds and then pressing it again to reboot the radio. Wait until the radio has finished booting before continuing. 
4. Run the SmartSDR v1.3 Installer (see bottom of post for link)
5. At the end of the installation process, display the release notes (A PDF reader is required) and run SmartSDR for Windows. 
6. You should see your FLEX-6000 in the chooser indicating that an upgrade is required. If you have never done a FLEX-6000 software upgrade, you may what to review the FLEX-6000 Upgrade procedure on page 8 in the Release Notes which can be also found in the Windows Start Menu -> FlexRadio Systems -> SmartSDR v1.3 -> Release Notes folder.
7. After the FLEX-6000 software has upgraded, you should see the radio in the SmartSDR Radio Chooser indicating it is "Available". If after 5 minutes or so and you do not see the radio become "Available" (the yellow Update bar will have completely traversed to the right hand side), power off the radio using the Power button and power it back on. 
8. You can now run SmartSDR v1.3

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Upgrading SmartSDR CAT
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1. If SmartSDR for Windows is running, shut it down now. 
2. Follow the procedure "Uninstalling SmartSDR CAT" starting on page 10 in the SmartSDR v1.3 Release Notes. Make sure to reboot the PC when done (this is very important). 
3. Follow the procedure "Installing SmartSDR CAT" starting on page 11 in the SmartSDR v1.3 Release Notes. 
4. Start SmartSDR CAT by selecting the SmartSDR CAT program from the Windows Start Menu -> FlexRadio Systems program folder 
5. If needed, configure the virtual com ports as per the SmartSDR CAT documentation 

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Release Specific Information
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Please review the Known Issues, Caveats and Limitations section in the SmartSDR for Windows Release Notes on page 5 for a comprehensive listing of release specific information regarding the operation of your FLEX-6000 Signature Series SDR. 

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Where to Download SmartSDR v1.3
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SmartSDR v1.3 is approximately 45 MB in size. You can download SmartSDR for Windows from: 

SmartSDR_v1.3

See you on the bands!