Random Disconnect

Steve Gw0gei

My w10 new pc is fine, as is my older w7 laptop - it's the flex that disconnects and locks up, requiring a hard reboot, and not the pcs.

Bill -VA3WTB

What was your last communications with Flex? Are you going to send it in to have it repaired?

Mike VE3CKO

That seems to be the most logical step to take. If it is a hardware issue with the radio, asking for a software remedy will solve nothing.

Steve Gw0gei

It's been acknowledged by frs that this is a ssdr issue which effects some but not all users. They have never suggested that it is a hardware issue. I have been assured that it is a priority for frs to track down the issue and fix it. Hopefully a further update will be given by frs as soon as further progress with the issue has been made.

W4KCN

4 restarts in a week.

When I turn my wifi off should I also unplug my microwave?

Mike VE3CKO

You know what they say about about sarcasm. Someone maybe hacking into your network via wifi, but enough, I was just trying to assist you but I'm done. 

W4KCN

I appreciate the help Mike though its not wifi.

I could almost deal with SSDR crashing, but forcing the hard reboot is ridiculous.

Mike VE3CKO

I only mentioned wifi cuz if someone nearby was hacking into your network with a bot or whatever, successful or not, could be symptomatic of a brief lan disconnection.

W4KCN

Another disconnect.

Is anyone else running their Flex 24/7 with Skimmer or anything else consuming IQ data.  We already know DAX is flaky and requires a restart daily, so just trying figure out what's going on since FRS won't. 

W4KCN

I can literally disconnect the ethernet cable from the radio.  SSDR will display is standard "lost connection" message.  Plug ethernet cable back into radio and hit "OK" on the prompt.  My 6500 is then listed under available radios.

This is not a network problem.

Steve Jones gw0gei

Agreed its not a network problem, its a long standing radio problem due to either a firmware or client software bug. If its not found and fixed by the time the new radios start being used by early adopters it will be interesting to see if there are similar issues encountered by some new radio owners. Some will be plugging the new radios in place of existing 6000 radios on 2.0 ssdr which have had no problem with this issue, whilst others may have had the issue with their existing 6000 radio and be hoping the new radio will not suffer the same issue. If i had a guarantee from frs that a new 6600 would not suffer from the same disconnect and hanging problem i would order one today as i have the saved money to buy one and the amp - but the radio silence at present on this issue indicates that its still not found, fixed or being alpha tested yet. So I will continue with my antenna upgrade work and wait, using my ic7300 for contesting instead. Steve gw0gei / gw9j

Steve Jones gw0gei

Yet another random disconnect of my 6300 this evening - 75% through a one hour short 80m ssb contest. No warning this time, no distorted audio on rx or tx, or increasing packet loss. Just went from full green bars to disconnect in one fell swoop. I was running on my run frequency at the time - radio would not switch off, and the red tx light was still on the front of the radio. I had to pull the power to get the radio to reboot, and when it came back up it had lost persistence so I had to check my n1mm log for my run frequency and by the time I was back on the correct 80m run frequency, surprise surprise I had lost my frequency.

The radio had only been up and running since Monday morning, when I switched it back on after its failure to be reliable in first two hours of cqww contest. So up for a total of three and a half days, with just a couple of ssb net ragchews under its belt. 

My fault - I trusted it again, just for an hour long ssb contest. That is finally it, the end, finite! 

Rant over, I am now going to disconnect it and box it up for sale or trade in. Most (90%) of my radio time is spent contesting at weekends and weekday evenings, and this unreliability now outweighs the receiver performance benefits. I am  going to just use my ic7300 for contesting, and dedicate more time to get to know it better with a view to buying a second one and trying so2r with a pair of them. Its a real shame, but the radio silence from FRS on this issue, along with the above frustrating experience means its time to move on.

73
Steve gw0gei /gw9j 

Milen KG2C

Just curious, was the disconnect issue something that was happening from when you originally purchased the radio from Flex, or something that started happening after the 30 day return period?

Steve Jones gw0gei

It started with more recent versions of SSDR Milen. I bought my first 6300 brand new and used 1.3 ssdr onwards. I sold my original one to upgrade to a second hand 6500 - no problems with disconnect with either radio. The random disconnects on this, my second 6300 ( a three month old radio bought from a good friend who preferred his k3) only started with the usb enabled versions of ssdr from memory. I went a few months on ssdr 1.10.160 without a disconnect but have had increasingly frequent ones since 1.11 ssdr based on 2.0 code came out. I am sure some of the other bugs were sorted in 2.0 / 1.11 but not this one.

On the plus side, twice in the last twelve months I have almost paid nearly £7000 for a new 6700, but something made me hold back at the last minute on both occasions. I can live more easily with putting a £1600 6300 into storage or taking a hit on part exchange, than if I had bought a 6700 and faced an even bigger loss. I am sure that FRS will solve the problem at some stage, and a new 6600 may yet come into my shack if that happens, but in the meantime my contesting will be done with other radios.
73 Steve gw0gei /gw9j

W4KCN

Another lockup/disconnect overnight.  Got into the office this morning and checked my RBN spots.  Crashed around 445AM.  

I guess the 6000 series should have came with a remote power switch as well.

Mike VE3CKO

It has that capability, there have been many threads on that, here is one:
https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/remote-antenna-switch

W4KCN

Thank you again Mike, but I am not buying something else as a solution.

Tim - W4TME

Chance,

I see that you have never opened a HelPDesk support ticket for this issue.  Rather than continuously reporting your failure, please open a HelpDesk support ticket so we can investigate what is happening in more detail.  Thank you.

W4KCN

Request #20507

Based off past experience, I don't have high expectations.

I will continue to update this thread when I experience disconnects so others with the issue can possibly find similarities between the issue.

Tim - W4TME

Unfortunately, continuing to report incidents of the problem without providing any detailed data to correlate cause and effect have no diagnostic value.  Also, since we are addressing your issue via the HelpDesk, please do not complicate the situation by cross-posting.

W4KCN

I have posted plenty of information in this thread.  If you don't care to read it, then that's on you.

Tim - W4TME

I have captured the information from this post in your HelpDesk ticket. Since this issue is now being addressed via the HelpDesk to provide personal one-on-one attention, I am closing this post.  Thank you to everyone who posted and tried to provide assistance.