What new features are in SmartSDR v2.0?

Tim - W4TME

I have been getting this question a lot in the past few days, so I thought it would be a good idea to share a few of the SmartSDR v2.0 release highlights.


SmartSDR for Windows:

Initial Release of SmartLink (Internet remote access) with SmartSDR CAT:   SmartLink is the integrated remote access feature that does not require additional hardware, complicated VPNs or remote desktop software.  Setting up SmartLink is a straightforward process.  Just create a secure user account, log in to the account, associate a radio with your account and establish a remote connection. 
It is highly recommended that you review the SmartLink Quick Start Guide available on the FlexRadio Systems website before installing SmartSDR v2.0.16.  More detailed information regarding the operation of SmartLink is available in the SmartSDR Software User’s Guide.
SmartSDR CAT is also SmartLink enabled, allowing you to use a logger or any other CAT enabled application in a remote setting.  Like SmartSDR for Windows, you will need to login to SmartSDR CAT with your user ID and connect to your SmartLink enabled radio.

Pop Out Panels: The ability to “pop out” or undock panadapters and the CWX and TX sidebar panels is included in SmartSDR v2.0.16.  This new feature allows you to undock panadapters and move them to different locations on your Windows Desktop.  This capability also extends to the CWX and TX sidebar panels as well.  Once undocked, their display position is remembered after SmartSDR is closed and restarted.  Note that there must be at least one panadapter in the main console windows, but subsequently created panadapters can be undocked.

Support for N1MM Spectrum Display Feature: SmartSDR v2.0.16 now provides support for the new Spectrum display feature with integrated spots in N1MM+ (v 1.0.6559 and greater).  For more information on the N1MM+ Spectrum feature, refer to the N1MM website.

Improved Dynamic Range for FLEX-6300: The IMD dynamic range performance of the FLEX-6300 has been improved in this release by a software modification.  This change benefits all FLEX-6300s.

Additional RF Preamp Gain for FLEX-6700 and FLEX-6700R: An additional +10 dB of RF preamp gain has been enabled in the FLEX-6700 and FLEX-6700R.  When operating on higher frequency bands where the antenna is not noise limited (a low noise floor), you can enable up to +40 dB of RF gain.  Please refer to the HelpDesk article How to determine the amount of RF Preamp gain to apply for band conditions for configuring the RF preamp for maximum SNR performance.

New TURFs: New region/entity specific TURF files have been added for IARU Region 2 and Australia (Update #4529 and #4951).

New FlexVSP driver: A new and updated FlexVSP driver (v1.0.6) used with SmartSDR CAT is included in SmartSDR v2.0.16.  The driver installs automatically.  This virtual serial port driver has better performance and stability characteristics than the previous version, especially when used on Windows 10. This updated FlexVSP driver also corrects an existing defect #4394, Serial Ports left "in use" when CAT is shut down. 


SmatSDR for Maestro:

Initial Release of SmartLink (Internet remote access):  SmartLink is fully supported on the Maestro including a method for purchasing a SmartSDR v2.0 license if necessary.  It is highly recommended that you review the SmartLink Quick Start Guide available on the FlexRadio Systems website before installing SmartSDR v2.0.16.  More detailed information regarding the operation of SmartLink is available in the SmartSDR Software User’s Guide.

X/RIT Readouts Added:   When using XIT or RIT, the offset frequency is shown on the display.

New metering sidebar for Maestro:   A new feature has been added to Maestro that provides a user definable metering side bar that will always show RF Power output, SWR, Mic Level, Compression, and hardware ALC voltage levels.  The new metering side bar is activated by tapping the “Meters>” menu control at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen (Feature #3087).

Corrected Maestro Disconnect Issues:   Multiple disconnect issues have been addressed in SmartSDR v2.0.16, including disconnects related to connection state, when using a WiFi   connection, too many clients connections were left in an open state, and client-side out of memory errors  (Defects #4566, #4305, #4428, #4731) 

Issue with RF Preamp Not Being Set Properly Resolved:   A defect that prevented the RF preamp for properly setting the RF preamp has been resolved (Defect #4676)


SmartSDR for IOS:

SmartLink Support: All new features of Version 2 of SmartSDRTM for Windows which includes Remote Access via SmartLinkTM. 

 Additional improvements include:

• Improved slice touch / moving
• Option to enable the status bar (Battery, WiFi Status)
• Option to reverse the tuning wheel
• Griffin and CMD Micro: New Commands for Slice and main Mute added
• Additional user hints in case of wrong settings

The following defects were resolved:

• In DX-Cluster, now six digit GRID QTH Locators are working
• Griffin Powermate de-bouncing time reduced
• In Remote Mode, the Tuning Wheel now stays displayed
• Crash when editing Memories fixed
• Crash when editing USB Cables
• DX-Cluster Filter settings are now saved to iCloud