SSDR V 1.8.3 Update Problem

Paul Burton

Thanks again for all the replies and comments on this problem.  I am not suggesting that the fold back protection should be eliminated or disabled, only that it is excessively sensitive to common-mode RF which is present in every ham shack to some degree.  Fold back should not occur due to a small amount of common mode RF.  I'm not suggesting that I have no common-mode RF coming into the shack, but I have no overt indication of RF in the shack other than the Flex which goes belly-up.  All of my three HF antennas have baluns and the fold back occurs with every antenna on every band.  I have used several other transistorized transceivers (which all have SWR protection) without this problem.  I have installed multiple 31-mix clip-on ferrites on every line in or out of the Flex, and it still folds back at 600 watts output with low SWR.

I am waiting for FRS to respond on this and will continue to try to find the source of whatever is causing the fold back.

Paul AA6Z

W7NGA

I disagree. The PA transistors failed on my 6500 and I have talked to many owners that experienced the same issue and had to return their Flex for repair. It seems obvious to me that this new fold-back feature is a result of observing the failure rate. The finals were not adequately protected. Most likely, testing did not sample enough older technology to affect a change in the protection implementation and it needs to be altered to a degree that makes it usable in all scenarios.

The Flex circuitry is very sensitive to local RF currents. The joke around the ESSB crowd is that you can always tell a Flex radio from the audible echo on many signals. The same in this situation ... you should not have to add dozens of ferrite cores and burnt offerings to configure a working system. Protection is a grand notion .. but it would appear it needs to be further evaluated and altered to work with dynamic loading.

If you have a working system, making a software change ostensibly for the benefit of the user, should not cause the working system to fail. No one is running 3:1 SWR into their amplifier, especially those with an ATU. Allowing disabling of this feature defeats the purpose Flex intended (premature warranty returns).

W7NGA
Paris, France

KY6LA_Howard

I strongly recommend that you read and implement suggestions in my paper

"How to Build a Quiet Station"   Baluns and Ferrites along won't fix ground loops.  The other radios do not have networks and computers as part of their configuration so they are less likely to have ground loops that will pick up RF in the shack.

https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/202274599-How-to-Build-a-Quiet-Station-for-Better-R... 

Paul Burton

OK Howard, many thanks for the suggestion.  I'll check it out.

Mike va3mw

I tripped over this article by the YCCC and once I followed it, ALL and I mean ALL of my RF problem disappeared.  Not only that, I could also hear better as I had less local RF noise on  my feedlines.  The quieter you are, the more you can hear.

Like everyone else, I was in denial regarding RF and common mode currents.  My SGC500 Amp  on my remote base kept tripping off due to high currents, 40M was a mess, etc.  I thought having a good balun was good enough.  However, that doesn't prevent the feedline from other antennas (the ones you aren't using) from picking up RF from the active antenna and feeding it back to the radio.

See what I mean?

http://www.yccc.org/Articles/W1HIS/CommonModeChokesW1HIS2006Apr06.pdf 

I highly recommend reviewing it.   For me, I ordered a case of Mix 43 and Mix 31 cores.  It was one of the best purchases I have made for my station.  

Since then, zero issues.  My SGC500 stopped having over current errors.  My KPA500 also works perfectly and all this on my remote base.

Every antenna has cores below the balun.  The feedlines to the radios have cores at the antenna switches and just before the radio.   

You need chokes at the antenna, after the amp, between the amp and the radio, etc.  

I am a choke convert.  Mike va3mw

Bill Roberts

My 6300 folds back on CW but not on phone. Perhaps the foldback isn't fast enough to respond to SSB. Amp is an ALS 600. No fullback into antenna. As to stray RF, house, shack and lightning grounds bonded together. Torroids all over the place. To be sure, HF antenna line goes through a Comtex/DX Engineering l I be isolator. Even the $7.95 computer speakers are silent. I seem to notice a positive change to AGC-T action so I'd rather not go back to the previous release.

Jay Nation

All wire, should come with a big box of ferrites.
Plenty is never enough!
73, Jay - NO5J

KY6LA_Howard

You can never have too many ferrites.....

Heck.. I have one of the quietest stations possible .. then the cleaning people moved some wires and **** suddenly more RF in the shack... More ferrites fixed it...

Terry K7NY

1.8.3 works fine with my 6500 into my ALS-1300 and the SB221. No ferrite core's  on the antenna lines any where. The fold back feature works as it was designed.
Terry

Tim - W4TME

In general, the 1.8.3 release for SmartSDR for Windows, CAT and DAX is very stable.  There have been a few reports of the SWR foldback affecting a few users (much less than 1%).  We are in the process of characterizing their problem reports.  It has been entered into our bug tracker as issue #3765.  

I would strongly recommend upgrading to 1.8.3 because the items it fixed are more global in nature that the few reports we have received regarding the SWR issue.  If you upgrade and have the SWR issue, I strongly recommend that you open a HelpDesk support ticket so we can characterize your issue.  And you can always easily and conveniently revert back to 1.7.30.

Tim - W4TME

In general, the 1.8.3 release for SmartSDR for Windows, CAT and DAX is very stable.  There have been a few reports of the SWR foldback affecting a few users (much less than 1%).  We are in the process of characterizing their problem reports.  It has been entered into our bug tracker as issue #3765.  

I would strongly recommend upgrading to 1.8.3 because the items it fixed are more global in nature that the few reports we have received regarding the SWR issue.  If you upgrade and have the SWR issue, I strongly recommend that you open a HelpDesk support ticket so we can characterize your issue.  And you can always easily and conveniently revert back to 1.7.30.

Tim - W4TME

This issue has been resolved in SmartSDR v1.8.4