CAT connect to wrong radio

Robert -- N5IKD

At Field Day this year we had two 6700's. Many operators who have never operated an SDR got the chance to operate a 6700 or at least see it projected onto walls across the Denton County EOC. A fun time was had by all.

One issue we had periodically is that the SmartCAT that we each had connected to our local logging programs would connect somehow get connected to each others radios. This made for some confusing logs until I was able to straighten out the situation. I had to do this twice over the event.

It would be good if SmartCAT was smart enough to default to connecting to the radio that it last connected add an extra step to connect to radios that it has never connected to in the past.

Neal_K3NC

How does SmartCat decide which radio to connect to (since a slice is assigned to a DAX channel that mechanism seems pretty clear).
73

Robert -- N5IKD

It lets you choose the radio when it starts, but the guest operators don't always know what they are choosing. The concept if CAT over Ethernet totally blows their minds.

Tim - W4TME

Robert - there is a feature of FlexLib where you can add a filter file to the PC and all of hte FlexLib enabled applications like SmartSDR, CAT and DAX will reject the discovery packets of radios not listed in the file.

The file is a simple text file called "filter.txt" and it is located in %APPDATA%FlexRadio Systems folder.

All you do is place the serial number of the radio you want to dedicated to that PC in the file and all other radio connections will be prohibited.

Robert -- N5IKD

Tim,
This will solve the problem for me.

I regret adding this topic as a problem, it should have been listed as an idea topic.

The best solution would be for the logging software to use the network API, but since that will not happen quickly, I would like the CAT software more intelligently choose the radio connection. Perhaps it would only connect to radios in which the local SmartSDR has recently connected without an extra prompt. 

If SmartCAT and SmartSDR are running on the same computer, There should be a red flag if they are connected to separate radios.

Walt - KZ1F

Robert? Is that necessarily a valid statement? HRD uses flexlib, I believe ddutil uses flexlib. I am not sure, at this point, what actually uses smartcat. At the risk of sounding less informed, what uses smartcat now? I don't imagine there are too many people on this BB running multiple 6000 series radio simultaneously, but I suspect in Austin they do all the time.

Ted_Spiegel_NX6C

It would be "handy" to have the capability to choose which slice connects to CAT.

It would be very "handy" to have the capability for each slice able to choose a CAT port that is unique for that slice.

Ted

NX6C

Robert -- N5IKD

At Field Day we were using N3FJP which still connects using SmartCat. N1MM still uses SmartCat. I hope that using the API will be the norm, but most software is still written for legacy radios.

I don't usually have more than one Flex on the network at a time, but it is fun to show off multiple Flex's at club events. Our EOC is considering purchasing several 6000's along with Maestros, so this may become a regular occurrence.

Walt - KZ1F

I completely understand the allure of that Robert. What a perfect setting, in an EOC rather in the middle of a cow pasture with only make-shift tents for shelter....and that good country aroma to keep you awake.