SmartSDR v2.0.17 Now Available

Tim - W4TME

FlexRadio Systems announces the immediate availability of SmartSDR v2.0.17 for the FLEX-6000 Signature Series SDRs.  SmartSDR v2.0.17 is a General Availability (GA) release containing new features and fixes for SmartSDR for Windows, SmartSDR for Maestro, SmartSDR CAT and DAX.

SmartSDR 2.0.17 can be downloaded from the FlexRadio Systems web site. Please download and review the SmartSDR v2.0.17 Release Notes and SmartSDR for Maestro Release Notes prior to installing SmartSDR v2.0.17 to ensure an optimal software installation experience.

SmartSDR v2.0.17 is the first release of SmartSDR v2.  A software license is required to run SmartSDR v2.

All owners of the Limited Edition (LE) FLEX-6700 and FLEX-6500 SDRs or radios sold after May 19, 2017, have been pre-authorized for SmartSDR v2 and do not require the purchase of a SmartSDR v2 license.  To run SmartSDR v2 on all other radios requires the purchase of a software license for the radio.

Obtaining and validating a license for your FLEX-6000 software defined radio is a simple process.  Once the radio and client have network access to the Internet, just load any version of the SmartSDR v2 software on your PC or Maestro.  In the radio chooser, if a radio requires a license, a status message will indicate a license is required before connecting to the radio and updating the firmware.  A “Buy” button is also presented so that you can conveniently purchase a SmartSDRv2 license using our Online Store.  Please see details below regarding purchasing a SmartSDR software license for your radio.

The following highlights are SmartSDR specific features:

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 for SmartSDR and the SmartLink Quick Start Guide for Maestro available on the FlexRadio Systems web site before installing SmartSDR v2.0.17.  More detailed information regarding the operation of SmartLink is available in the SmartSDR Software User’s Guide and the SmartSDR for Maestro Software User 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 v2.0.17.  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 v2.0.17 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 v2.0.17.  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. After installing SmartSDR v2.0.17, you will have to manually reset and clear any com ports currently in use by using the HelpDesk procedure Removing "In Use" Com Ports for Available Com Ports

Maestro: X/RIT Readouts Added:   When using XIT or RIT the offset frequency is shown on the display (Feature #4353).

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 v2.0.17, 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) 

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

SmartSDR for iOS

In addition, SmartSDR for IOS v2 is also available from the Apple App Store.

This update includes several improvements and user requested features.

First of all, this update supports all new features of Version 2 of SmartSDRTM for Windows which includes Remote Access via SmartLinkTM. 

In addition, this update includes:

• Improved slice touch / moving
• Option to enable the statusbar (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

Finally, the following bugs were fixed:

• 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 

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The cumulative SmartSDR v2.0.17 Change Log detail is listed below.

#5092 Fixed Maestro not working properly if downgraded from 2.0.15 to 1.10.16
#4992 CAT: Make new chooser more obviously different to avoid confusion
#4951 Add new Australian region to TURF
#4870 IMD DR3 Performance enhancements for FLEX-6300
#2497 Fix spur on 6M
#4847 Rapid band changes no longer show duplicate slices
#4910 Fix UHE on CAT exit
#4904 UHE on forced disconnect
#4902 Fix UHE related to ModeList
#4867 Fix UHE related to disconnect in RadioChooser
#4879 SmartSDR: Fix no profile list or TX settings in TX panel
#4892 Fix VOX level being lost on reboot
#4824 CAT: Add radio chooser (enabled CAT use with SmartLink)
#4595 CAT: Avoid creating COM ports that are reserved
#4848 Fix memory leak when changing global profiles
#4831 Fix CW Delay being reset to 0 after update
#4825 FlexLib: API zip file no longer needs extra steps to compile after decompressing
#4777 Fix pan edge tuning with FlexControl after profile load
#4774 DAX and CAT v2.0.X versions no longer connect to non 2.0 versions
#4688 Add CAT and radio support for streaming panadapter data to N1MM
#4772 Add 6M NF improvement by adding +40dB preamp setting for 6700 and 6700R
#4789 Maestro: Fix network status bars
#4769 Add slice button no longer defaults to USB all the time
#4625 Mic Profile load correctly sets up Mic Input 
#4779 Maestro: Radio chooser entry text no longer overlaps with long FQDNs
#4767 Added headphone volume control to FlexControl
#4771 Maestro: Slice menu is now automatically closed when the ENT button is pressed
#4353 Maestro: Add XIT/RIT readouts when in use
#4394 CAT: VSP driver updated to v5.5.5.0 (should fix the serial ports 'in-use' problem)
#4798 Fixed radio crash
#4687 SmartLink: Fix distortion on transmit audio
#4747 Maestro: Fix CW issue that would disable Maestro CW
#4625 Profiles: Fix several instances of profiles showing up modified when they weren't and incorrect MIC input on startup
#4780 Remote TX audio buffering improvements
#3087 Maestro: Add "METERS" sidebar button
#4762 Maestro:  Fixed a bug where more than two slices could appear
#4781 Maestro: Added "Switch Radio" button that takes the user back to the radio chooser window (Menu -> Radio)
#4714 Fix UHE when closing SmartSDR
#4708 API: Fix meter conversion based on software version
#4733 Reduced UDP receive buffer size (memory usage improvement)
#4731 Maestro: Fix out of memory on client disconnect
#4724 Fix disconnect of client by another client (no longer hangs on 'in-use')
#1075 RemoteAudio: Handle out of order packets (should result in improved audio through SmartLink)
#4655 Fix FlexControl not working on startup
#4676 Fix Maestro preamp control not working
#4675 Fix Maestro LEDs
#4455 Initial SmartLink Alpha Implementation
#4410 Fixed XVTR Power Persistence
#4312 TX Watchdog added to ensure radio goes back to RX if a crash is encountered while transmitting
#4428 Fixed crash due to many clients connecting and disconnecting (just under 200) 
#4334 Updates show Unable to contact radio message after updating the radio
#4305 Fixed Maestro disconnect during upgrade over Wifi
#4305 Initial PowerGenius XLTM Functionality
#4412 FPS Now loaded from persistence on direct frequency band change
#4335 Fix transmit slice references in FlexLib
#4433 Fix zoom buttons in SmartSDR
#4470 Radio protocol version now v1.3.0.0 
#4486 TX Filter no longer cuts off TUNE tone in DIGU/L and USB/LSB
#4511 Fixed issue with opening the profile import/export form if the old import filepath no longer exists
#4507 Fixed a rare UHE that occurs when the radio is disconnecting
#1008 Meters now support the change in voltage depending on radio version
#4172 CWX: Closing a slice while sending CWX no longer leaves radio in keyed state
#4512 RTTY: Tune no longer gets cut off by TX Filter 
#4544 Sideband Suppression: Implement low-cut dependent filter sharpness to fix suppression when low cut is below 200Hz 
#4533 TUNE now works properly in USB/LSB/DIGU/DIGL when CWL is selected
#4547 CWX: Radio no longer stays keyed when erasing the last character
#4542 CWX: 'cwx erase' no longer triggers a 'cwx clear' from CAT 
#4529 Added IARU Region 2
#4789 Maestro: Fix network status bars
#4779 Maestro: Radio chooser entry text no longer overlaps with long FQDNs
#4771 Maestro: Slice menu is now automatically closed when the ENT button is pressed
#4353 Maestro: Add XIT/RIT readouts when in use
#4747 Maestro: Fix CW issue that would disable Maestro CW
#3087 Maestro: Add "METERS" sidebar button
#4762 Maestro: Fixed a bug where more than two slices could appear
#4781 Maestro: Added "Switch Radio" button that takes the user back to the radio chooser window (Menu -> Radio)
#4731 Maestro: Fix out of memory on client disconnect
#4676 Fix Maestro preamp control not working
#4675 Fix Maestro LEDs
#4540 DSTAR no longer shows up in cable type in SmartSDR
#2563 First band change to XVTR band now creates slice on correct frequency (instead of LO)
#1570 RFGain Persistent across antenna changes
#4482 RFGain Persistent when changing TX Slice (affected SO2R )
#4245 Can now use DAX and Remote TX Audio (Maestro) with VOX at the same time. (DAX Overwrites if audio is present)
#2910 CAT:  Improved resiliency of client settings when the PC reboots
#4575 CAT:  Fixed ZZSW1 not working properly
#4565 Fixed a UHE related to the FlexControl
#4566 Fixed several connect/disconnect issues with clients
#4583 API: 'remote_audio' replies with correct responses instead of 'unknown'
#4589 API: Persistence loads from 'client gui' command instead of 'client udpport ' command
#4585 USB: SO2R TX Antenna fixes (BCD does not drop out when TX slice changes)
#4597 CAT: Fixed problem with CAT split mode
#3988 Added pop-out panadapters, CWX and TX windows
#4113 VOX: Fix intermittent key when VOX is used with DAX
#4586 Fix crash with client disconnect
#3641 Remote Audio: Upgrade OPUS Codec - 10% Less CPU Usage
#4428 Fixed crash due to many clients connecting and disconnecting (just under 200) 
#4305 Fixed Maestro disconnect during upgrade over Wifi
#4566 Fixed several connect/disconnect issues with clients