Is Flex-6700 rapid enough when switching bands in SO2R?

Kari Gustafsson SM0HRP

Hi, 
Any CW freaks working CW SO2R out there?
I just concluded another CW contest (CQ MM) with SO2R and N1MM. Spent most time to really test out 6700 in CW SO2R before the battle starts with CQ WPX
With N1MM it worked almost 100 % fine. Setting was set to 100 ms with Focus Helper in SDR set-up. But often when calling CQ on one band (TX focus on ANT1) and listening S&P on other band (RX focus on ANT2) after founding a station to call and sending F1 (calling the station on the other slice (ANT2)) N1MM rapidly changed correctly TX focus to ANT2 but Flex-6700 stayed on ANT1. With Maestro I could not see why. But changing from Maestro to smart SDR Windows I noticed that before this behaviour occured a pop-up window was shown by SDR "Transmit slice was not selected".
What is the cause for this window to pop-up?  I guess that this is the cause for this behaviour. Has anyone noticed similar with N1MM and SO2R operation?    

km9r.mike

Sounds like a set up issue.. Sorry, but the only reference I have is the PGXL video on this site that demonstrates the dueling CQs via N!MM. Not exactly the same as S&P like you were doing on the off band, but it requires the same tools. In the video, you can see on the maestro that the top slice (slice A ) is dedicated to ant1 / ant1 and the bottom slice (slice B ) is dedicated to ant 2 / ant 2 and the antenna selections remain fixed while N1MM swaps between the 20 and 40 meters slices. For whatever reason, when you selected the S&P slice via N1MM , it appears that you did not have a TX antenna defined for that slice or maybe you did and it became undefined somehow. I currently only utilize Ant 1 for both tx and receive with my 6700 and N!MM has never uncommanded that selection while changing bands so1v.  I would recheck config setting for 2nd radio in N1mm or ensure that you have defined the the tx and receive antennas for your S&P slice in SSDR.

Finally, in the PGXL dueling cq video, the amount of time between changing bands and starting a new cq on the other band does seem a little sluggish, but I am assuming that N1MM allows for a time variable between cqs in it's menu and that time delay can be reduced or maybe it is fixed in N1MM and it is what it is. I have yet to use that function or even look at it in the N1MM menu.

Kari Gustafsson SM0HRP

Hi Mike, thanks for the input. Yes I looked on the video and it clearly works BUT the switching between the slices from TX1 to TX2 between the bands is about one second. Very slow. In 35 WPM that is a long time and many dits or dahs....:) 
Yes I have configured each slice correctly with TX1 and TX2 profiles. I wonder if duelling CQ somehow is configured differently in the way the TX switching is performed. It could also be that the TX delay is very long too (0,5 s or more). I use standard SO2R, with "Focus on other radio" and perhaps that is different from Duelling CQ. 
I would have hoped that more CW Flex Contest user would have responded to the issue.

km9r.mike

Hi Kari,

I am still away for work, but I did see a comment on youtube wrt the dueling cq video that indeed the time between cqs in the dueling cq video is an N1MM parameter. Whether that parameter can be adjusted, I am not certain. 

In a way, I like to consider SO2R as one seamless radio. I do not like to think of it as two separate radios on two separate bands but one radio that has the ability to monitor separate bands simultaneously and transmit between the two bands seamlessly and instantaneously. I like you see any delay in the ability to do so as a critical issue and hopefully any and all issues whether in SSDR or N1MM will be reduced to an absolute minimum to ensure the most reliable SO2R platform in the amateur community. I trust that is the goal and I believe that people are working hard to achieve this.

I am happy to hear that you got the slice A and slice B ant profiles defined properly. Maybe a contest forum in the Flex community here and a sub SO2R forum might be a good place for operators and FRS to pass along ideas and techniques used to optimize their stations and Flex SS radios for both contesting and SO2R contesting.

Kari Gustafsson SM0HRP

Hi Mike, I agree with you. A great idea to start a Contest forum here. I will propose it. Lets be in touch in this... 73 Kari SM0HRP 

Ria

Hi Kari,

I don't think we can fully diagnose the issue without some more insight into your configuration. Did you configure it exactly according to the guide co-authored by K9CT? That is the definitive word on Flex 6700 SO2R configuration, and it works. 

Focus and switching issues are usually due to misconfigured OTRSP or something else interfering.

Can you post some screen shots of your port configurations in N1MM+?

Thanks.

Kari Gustafsson SM0HRP

Hi Ria, 
Sorry for late reply    But my station is on a remote island. 
Here are my screen shots.