Is it possible to perform unattended auto-recording of a swath of bandwidth with the 6000 series?

John M

Although I am a happy owner of a Flex 1500, I realize what I am asking cannot be done with the 1500, 3000 and 5000 series.  That is why I have been considering upgrading to a 6000 series unit. 

My specific question relates to whether or not a 6000 series radio can; in an unattended, automatic manner; record a section of bandwidth for a specified period of time, given my computer hard drive has enough free space to store the data?  More specifically; would it be possible for me to record everything from 14.319Mhz to 14.339Mhz for a period of 1 hour and then play it back later.  The specific aim here is to listen to the Sunday afternoon Flex Radio net on 14.329Mhz plus and minus noise and QRM if I forget to turn on the radio or am not home for some reason.

Any feedback would certainly be appreciated.

Regards:  John M.  (VE3INH)

Jim Gilliam

I could be wrong, but I don't think IQ reecordings are available on Smart SDR, yet. I would love to be wrong as I think recording a band of frequencies for later playback is really a neat feature.

Jim, K6QE

Andrew O'Brien

I'm probably not being very helpful, but you can do that using SDR-Radio by Simon Brown but the Flex radios are not among the list of supported radios.
Andy K3UK

WX7Y

I know you can record the I/Q audio on the Flex 5000 but not automatically, as I did this for a Ham Fest demonstration so I had something to play back to show the Panadapter, Panafall and Oscilloscope and the great Audio on the FLEX 5K about 5 years ago but now I don't remember how I did it, I do know it takes a huge amount of Hard Drive space running at 128bit on the Flex5K.

73's

Bret
WX7Y

Robert -- N5IKD

You can connect up to a 192kHz IQ Stream for each panadapter that you have available to any third-party program that you already own. Many windows programs have this functionality already.

EA4GLI

96000 x 2 for the 6300

Jim Gilliam

Can you be specific of which third party program I can use to record this data and, then, play it back?

Jim, K6QE

Robert -- N5IKD

Jim, 
You can record and playback through HDSDR. You can also record and perform some frequency analysis using Audacity.

Audicity will record at a specified time using the "Timer Record..." function under the transport menu. It can be set up to receive the IQ stream directly, don't forget to set the bandwidth correctly. You may be able to export the Audacity files to a format that you can playback in HDSDR or another SDR program.

Jim Gilliam

Thank you so much for the info. All this time I have be waiting patiently for this feature to become available on Smart SDR as it is available in Power SDR. Can't wait to try it! Thanks again.

Jim

John M

Thank you to everyone who responded to my original question.  This is a great community.

Please note that although I own and have used a Flex 1500 for the past few months, I am a relative newcomer to SDR and do not presently own a 6000 series radio; therefore some of the concepts and terminology that have entered this message thread are somewhat challenging from my present perspective and level of knowledge.

Robert;  can I assume that the chart for IQ streams you provided in your initial response refers to something I would see in the DAX setup of a 6000 series radio?  Also; when I checked out the HDSDR web page, there were no direct references to use of the open source program with Flex radio transceivers; it was more-so related to various commercial standalone SDR receivers.  I was just wondering if there are any youtube videos or text based tutorials on the web to facilitate a better understanding of how HDSDR works in relation to Flex radio transceivers?  Sorry for my apparent lack of knowledge.  I am simply getting started in this exciting new area of amateur radio, even though I have been licensed for 38 years.  Thank you for everyone's patience and any assistance they can offer.

Regards:  John (VE3INH)

Jim Gilliam

I think your question is entirely reasonable and I was thinking the same things myself. Thanks for bringing it up!

Robert -- N5IKD

I am happy to answer any and all of your questions. 

The snapshot from my original post is indeed from the DAX control panel.

The HDSDR will connect to the Flex via sound card configuration and not a specific hardware connection.

The setup has been previously discussed in the community. <-- Be sure to check out this link.

I can make a YouTube video if necessary, but it will not happen today.

Stan VA7NF

Wanted:  A FlexRadio 6000 series server simulator that runs on a windows OS.

Features:

• Simulates a hardware 6000
• May be set to simulate a 6300 6500 or 6700
• Discoverable - Appears on the network as a real box
• Responds to all CAT or API calls
• Plays one or two (6700 mode) IQ stream(s) previously recorded
• Option to insert itself between SmartSDR and a real box to capture the IQ stream(s)

This sounds like something the Flex GUI developers would already have to record and run test cases.

BTW: Really liked the Field Day recording on the Flex 5K; it was a great marketing tool and sold me on Flex SDR, then I purchased the 6700!  Imagine the experience of running a virtual 6700 with diversity in contest conditions.

73,  Stan

EA4GLI

Great to practice CW.

Jim Gilliam

HI, Robert!

Thanks for all of your help. You are a true gentleman. Just got HDSDR working. It is really a fine business piece of software. Thank you again for bringing it our attention.

Jim, K6QE

Robert -- N5IKD

Glad to help.

Ken - NM9P

Since all of the signal processing and demodulation is done internally in the 6000 Series, rather than in the computer as the 1500/3000/5000 do, it is unlikely that a 6000 Demo would be possible.  

The PowerSDR Demo uses saved IQ data for the input and allows it to be processed in the same way that the rig can record and play back IQ Wave files.

A 6000 Series Demo would not be able to do this, since the processing is all in the rig.

Ken - NM9P

I do look forward to a day when IQ or full bandwidth record and playback is possible on the 6000 series.  That would be awesome.  But it would take a LOT of datafile space to record 7 or 14 MHz wide panadapter for any length of time.  But HD's are getting cheaper!

Jim Gilliam

Is there a way of determining the correct frequency using HDSDR without the .dll program which I don't think is available from Flex?

Robert -- N5IKD

Make sure the Panadapter frequency in the DAX control panel matches the LO frequency in HDSDR. If you move the Panadapter then you will need to update the LO frequency. I don't know a way of automatically synchronizing the two short of writing a simple program using the Flex Radio API.

John M

Hello there again Robert and thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed and informative response.

From what I can surmise of what has been said so far, the 6000 series is capable of doing the automated recording of a segment of bandwidth with the 3rd party programs you indicated.  A youtube video of the process would be absolutely fantastic to see at some point in the future when you find the time to work on it.  Can I also assume that the same thing is possible with the Flex 1500 as long as I can find a virtual audio cable (VAC) program?

Regards:  John M.  (VE3INH)

Jim Gilliam

Funny, I never noticed that frequency in the DAX control panel before. Thank you again. I learn something new every day!