"Certified Used" 6400M delivered today - ATU doesn't appear to be working

N7CXI

Received the 6400M today, unboxed and hooked up this evening.
Everything seems to be fine so far except the ATU.

Pressing the ATU (quickly) pops up a gray "TUNE" balloon in the display, but no flashes or relays. The "ATU Mem" button in the TX menu appears to be disabled. ("grayed out") I did, in fact read the ATU section in the manual several times.  I also did a full reset, (white button) but that had no effect.

Pure speculation on my part, but it's almost like the radio doesn't know it's supposed to have an ATU installed.  

Any ideas?

- other than that, simply brilliant so far. Beautiful display, excellent GUI design. TX audio is red hot, at least with my drill-sergeant voice. :-)

Thanks,
Jim N7CXI

N7CXI

Here's an image of how it looks in SmartSDR.

Tim W

I have a 6400 thats waiting for its ATU to be delivered. That’s exactly what mine looks like when no ATU is detected

N7CXI

Thanks, Tim.
I suspect the ATU is either missing or something shook loose in shipping?  Hard to say. I'm tempted to pull the cover and peek in there to see, but I'll wait until I hear from Flex. I have a PalStar AT5K-HP I use with the amp anyway - no crisis.

73,
Jim N7CXI

WQ2H - Jim Poulette

Jim - My suspicion is that if you are not getting a state indication (above the ATU button in green) - then an ATU is not being sensed. Good luck!

73
Jim, WQ2H

Johan / SE3X

What's the SWR on the antenna you are trying to tune? If it's "to good" the tuner won't kick-in. Look's like that on both my 6500 and the 6700 because I have resonant antennas on most of the band segments i work. Tuner will indicate By (as) if SWR good enough.
 

WQ2H - Jim Poulette

I would back up -  if the ATU & MEM buttons are "grayed out", with no state indication at all, then the radio is probably not recognizing the ATU or it is not installed. I'm not sure you can do much troubleshooting beyond that. The only other thing I would do is enable a profile first and see if that has any effect.

73
Jim, WQ2H

EduardoCarvalho

Jim, Looks like the radio is not seeing the ATU. I suggest you enter a help desk ticket. Flex will then contact you to troubleshoot. Eduardo, KC8R

W8TZ Ross

Go to Settings/Radio Setup in SSDR. In the Radio tab, it should say Options: ATU if the radio knows it has a tuner.

N8SDR

Was going to post  as well, I would check and see if the ATU is even installed, I have a 6400 NON ATU rig and it looks just like you posted above. Check the specs and check what you ordered as the 6400 s available With and Without the ATU as its an option on this model.

N7CXI

Thanks for the replies.

N8SDR gets the gold star - the Radio tab of the Settings window shows "Options: None". It's pretty clear at this point that the ATU is either not installed or damaged. 

I'll see if I can find a bit around here that matches that tiny Torx head **** in the case. I have a complete Torx driver set around here SOMEWHERE, but I haven't seen it in some time.

N7CXI

Oops - Got that wrong, it was Ross.  Have to keep those things straight. :-)

Alan C

Reviewed the Flex Radio 'order page' - there is no Ant Tuner option listed for the 6400(M) or the 6600(M). I think this is an oops on Flex's part. Ant Tuner is an option for the 6400(M) as I bought one 6 months ago. - not sure about the 6600(M)...

my .02

K3SF

ATU is standard with the 6600M...

N7CXI

Understood. I bought the rig with the ATU option, it's listed on the invoice.
I'm not all that wound up about, just enjoying the new radio. :-)

Thanks,
Jim N7CXI

N8SDR

Jim if it was listed that way on invoice and description , I'm sure they will work to make it right, BTW the ATU is a field install-able unit.  Which is why when I ordered my 6400 I opted to not get it right away and use my dedicated tuner instead, knowing I could if wanted or needed some point order the ATU and install it myself.

N7CXI

Thanks again for the replies, all.
I opened a Help Desk ticket, and will be well.

All things considered, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I think I've fallen in love with the display. Who needs an ATU ?  ;-)

--jim

WQ2H - Jim Poulette

Well.....I think that doesn't always work. This ATU works great but has never shown up as an option. Go figure.

73
Jim, WQ2H

VK7WH Winston

Jim, it looks like you have 6600 according to your Radio Identification. I think the Tuner comes standard equipment with a 6600 and therefore that might explain why it it doesn’t show. I have a 6700 so I may be wrong 73 de Winston

Andrew VK5CV

Let the antenna do the work.
Andrew VK5CV

WQ2H - Jim Poulette

AH-HA ! Got it !