SmartLink works except min. waterfall. Great Battery Life

Steven Linley

Today was the first time I was able to use my Maestro, wirelessly and battery powered.  I did notice the touch screen would except my touch to move the Panafall but would not except my touches to move the VFO.  But since it was working I kept using it.  I then tried to use VNC to login to my Shack PC but could not.  I shut down the Maestro and was able to login to my PC with VNC.  I started the Maestro (same touch screen abnormalities).  I've been using the Maestro for over 9 hours and the battery is still on Full Charge!  I don't know why it didn't work very well on previous attempts (WiFi and Battery).  Previously, the Maestro dropped out and crashed unless plugged into power and WiFi.

After running for 6 hours +, I registered my Smart Link account and went to my vehicle for a new WiFi connection.  On boot-up the Maestro displayed a message about low battery, but after connecting to my 6600 the Maestro displayed a fully charged battery.  I made a few contacts and 15 minutes later shut-down.  But while on Smart Link the waterfall operated for 1-2 second out of every 5 seconds.  The spectrum display (upper half of the panafall) was normal.

After dinner I restarted the Maestro, on battery and WiFi,  in front of the 6600 and the touch screen worked normally.

I have a Virtual Club meeting on May 3rd and I'm hoping everything works.

I will test the Maestro on Smart Link from another location this weekend.

It's 9pm, the battery suddenly died, I thought the battery symbol would indicate battery charge, it didn't, but it ran for over 10 hours!  And when it died things went haywire.  The Flex was stuck, connected to the Maestro and I couldn't break the connection.  Turned off the Flex, restarted it and all was ok to operate from SmartSDR on my Shack PC.

k3Tim

The touch screen of Maestro can be used to slide/move Panafall and the frequency spread but NOT the VFO. To move the VFO one can double click the area of the screen where you want to move the slice frequency.

The battery gauge can't show the amount of charge left in the power pac that one installs in the device. These output a consistent 5.0 volts and give up the ghost rather abruptly. They provide no signal for the Maestro to query.

Not sure about the stuck condition as I often disconnect a Maestro  / PC-SSDR without any problems. In fact, this is so smooth and seamless it's an impressive bit of s/w work. 

Enjoy...
k3Tim

David Decoons, wo2x

Ateve Are you trying to run the Maestro on the internal battery? If so, it will not work. You need an external battery pack that goes in the compartment on the rear of the Maestro. The battery gaugu shows the charge of the internal battery which will keep the Maestro functioning for a couple of minutes while you transition from the ac adapter to an external battery or when switching external battery packs. Also if you are on an external battery pack it might not be an auto start pack, meaning it requires a button push to output voltahe out the USB port. The model battery pack I ise is no longer sold on Amazon. The size spec is 6 inches x 3 inches x 3/4 inch thick. Dave wo2x

Tim - W4TME

The battery gauge shows the charge of the internal battery which will keep the Maestro functioning for a couple of minutes while you transition from the ac adapter to an external battery or when switching external battery packs. 

This is not correct.  The battery indicator on the Maestro ONLY indicates that the Maestro is running off of a battery and does not provide any indication of the battery charge state.

Tim - W4TME

If you need a Maestro battery bank, check the HelpDesk.
https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/210311883-Suggested-Battery-Packs-for-Maestro

David Decoons, wo2x

Tim is correct (my bad). Very early versions of Maestro software had the battery icon which showed charge of internal battery and it was confusing customers using an external pack, therefore was removed. Dave wo2x

Steven WA8Y

Thanks, I didn't know there was a an internal battery in the Maestro. I charge the battery pack overnight. I will charge the Maestro. I haven't had a chance to use it today.