Why I can't wait.....

KC9EI - Dave

In anticipation of receiving my 6600M I have strapped on my training wheels and jumped into the world of digital communications. Unfortunately... my radio (brand/model isn't important) does not want to play nice. For example.... it's haunted! I know it is. It has to be!!! As I work from the west coast and those Europeans start popping up on my screen I finally get one to respond to me. 

Then it happens. My USB interface pukes, my rig looses frequency, and the program wants to **** out! ARGHHHHHHH. And it's only on those elusive contacts. I swear it is. It's haunted I tell you!

I'm about as certain as I can be, I'm going to enjoy my new 6600M. You know, the one with the IP instead of the USB audio interface. I sure it's going to be something like switching from driving a cement truck to a new Buick. My blood pressure will probably drop a good number of points too.

Excuse me while I go outside and face the east in anticipation of the Fed-Ex truck arriving from Texas.  Sigh.....

Clay N9IO

Yep that's pretty much it
You forgot the sweaty palms though, ha.
Carly Simon summed it up well.
"Anticipation" https://youtu.be/4NwP3wes4M8

Mark_WS7M

I hear you Dave.  I am going to have to say that if you expect absolutely flawless operation from your new 6600M you might prepare to be disappointed.

The reason I say this is that any radio, whether flex or not, is dependent upon the successful function of many other various parts and subsystems.  In your case your radio may have been doing just fine but as you say the USB subsystem had some issue which threw things off.

With your 6600M if your network is not rock solid you could see the same or different issues.  So best to make sure everything is in tip, top shape then your 6600M experience will go smooth.

Here is what I've done with my Flex 6500:

I have a short fiber network feed to it and the critical gear.  I've heard of lightning surges traveling through network wires.  So I want as little a path to my gear as possible so I have a 3 foot fiber network switch to switch connection.

I have replaced all of my network cables with really good ones.  I have done careful station grounding.  I bought and used pre-built coax cables because they seem to be able to do a better job on the ends than I can.

I have a surge protector inline with the antenna.  I recently blew the static protection diode in my Flex6500 on ant 1 because I had not installed this **** thing.  It actually arrived the day the **** happened.  sigh...

Since I like to run my unit remote I own my own cable modem, a model much better than the one Comcast would rent me.  I also put that modem in bridge mode so all it is, is a modem and I purchased an IQ router to do the routing based on data in this forum.

What this has resulted in is a station that works well from any point of my house.  I can even sit outside under my deck in the shade in summer and run my station just like I'm sitting in front of it.

I can completely run my station remote thanks to VPN and SmartSDR V2.00 and it works very well primarily because the IQ router is always trying to optimize my upload/download in an ever changing network environment.

Anyway you probably know and have done all this, just wanted to make sure you are aware that these little things cause strange behavior.  I had a simple bad 3 foot network cable years ago between my modem and router that caused all kinds of strange things to happen.  I mean very strange things.  I replaced that one day not because I suspected it but because I rearranged things and all the problems disappeared.  I put it back in place and they came back.

So to give yourself the best possible 6600M experience since you have waited so long, do the ground work and check all your stuff to make sure when it arrived you won't be chasing another gremlin!

Mark

Scott Russell - N1SER

While you're facing East I'm facing West...

KC9EI - Dave

Many thanks for the thoughtful comments. I have been doing a lot of what you speak of over the last month in preparation.  

My local network is now a full GigB with multimode  fiber interconnects between, and cabling is now shielded CAT6. My weaknesses are the Linksys  router and access point. 

I intend to do a lot of remote operating while traveling with my job. 

Gordon, ve7on

Yes, I agree.  The main problem is that anything that relies on Windows is a disaster waiting to happen!

Clay N9IO

Windows 10 In particular. I run my station on Win 7 Pro and frankly I don't run into these issues. Not sure when End of Life is scheduled for W7, praying not for a long time.

Steve K9ZW

Remember there are actually stable versions of Windows, so we cannot completely dismiss products dependent on Windows.

One of my reasons to buy the Flex-6600M was that all the moving parts of Windows, Windows Updates and Networks could be described to be "all in one self-contained box, with FRS guarding access."

I'm of the understanding that the CE/Embedded/IoT/Hardened OEM versions of Windows are manageable risks. 

73

Steve K9ZW