WSJT-X vs. HamLib vs. Flex-66xx or TS-2000 ??

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Question:   Every tutorial I have found and read on this site, and on the internet, say to select
rig type "Kenwood TS-2000" is the WSJT-X "Rig:" settings.  And yes, this works fine for me and has been for a while.

But I notice there is also a setting in WSJT-X Radio Tab, rig setting, for "FlexRadio 6xxx".
Why do the tutorials not talk about this?  Someone once told me they thought that hamlib
had problems with the FlexRadio 6xxx entry not being reliable, while the TS-2000 choice
worked very well.    If that was true 6 months ago, I would have expected some owner/user,
or employee to post a fix to hamlib by now so that current versions of software could work
fine with the proper radio selection.

Does anyone know the real status on this?
Was the selection for "FlexRadio 6xxx" in WSJT-X (hamlib) unreliable a while ago,
and has it since been fixed?

Is there any reason to keep selecting "TS-2000", or can we safely now use
the "FlexRadio 6xxx" setting and expect it work just as well?

I can't find any recent detail about this.

Thanks,

Neal    N6YFM

Johan _ SE3X

Hi Neal,

New on FT8 and WSJT-X since december 6. Installed current version at that time, then short after up-dated to 2.0 version. Since first installation I have selected Flex 6xxx as radio in settings. Done some 1400 QSO's and no issues noticed.

But I have had the same thought as you. Do hope some one with more knowledge will reply. Would be interesting to have some history on this.

Larry Loen WO7R

I think the last time I tried that setting was fairly early on and, while I forget the details, I was not happy with the outcome.  For all I know it was fixed long since, but I have never bothered.  I simply set it to the Kenwood TS2000 and all has worked since.  No muss, no fuss.

This is probably what is reflected in the various tutorials, which probably reached a similar conclusion and maybe nobody has noticed anything better.

In general, I have always had better "luck" with the Kenwood TS2000 settings for any piece of software.  That probably means I am not getting the benefit of any SmartSDR-specific code, but it has not hurt me up to now to forego whatever that gets me.

bobby

Just started using ft8 with version 2 setup as flex6000 series and created sdrcat port 5004 then in wsjtx put 127.0.0.1:5004 and it works fab, Tim said in a post that if you use the kenwood settings it causes more latency.

K3DCW

One benefit of using the Flex 6xxx selection in WSJT-X is that you don't have to tie up a CAT port, not that they're hard to setup or anything. It is just nice not to have to worry about it.

Jim K4JAF

Works fine here also with the Flex 6XXX selection.  I was told you have a bit less latency using the 5004 TCP port.  Setup has been posted on the reflector several times.  Here is one of the earlier setup posts: https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/ft8-setup-with-flex-6300

RoyS

Neal, i use Jim's setup above for my station. The only difference I have is the Cat Port that I create is TCP Port: 5002.   

Roy -- W5TKZ

Paul

I don't know the background on this, but I have been using the 6xxx with my 6600 for at least 3 months with no problems.

Paul, W3GQ

Al K0VM

The WJST-X flex interface for CAT is seems to be more robust with V2 of WSJT-X than previous versions and appears to  run correctly. However, if WSJT-X looses ethernet connectivity with the Flex radio while running, WSJT-X can go into a state which does not automatically recover when ethernet  connectivity is restored.  In this state, WSJT can consume 5 to 10 times normal CPU cycles and it will not close correctly if shut down, leaving a background task running which prevents restarting WSJT-X. This may require killing WSJT-X with the windows task manager.
AL, K0VM

John W9KXQ

Over 5,000 FT8 contacts in 2018, my Flex 6500 & WSJT-X.  The only setting that I have used in the past year is the "Flex Radio Setting"  It has worked perfectly.

NX6D Dave

I use the "Flex" settings, with no problems of any kind.  My frank answer to your question is that the tutorials are out of date, or poorly informed.  This is a problem with these sorts of tutorials.  They are produced with the best of intentions, some of them are accurate, some not so accurate, but they all eventually get out of date and are seldom updated.

Phil - AA4MY

This has been exactly my experience using both WSJT-X v2 and the latest JTDX alpha/release candidate.

NX6D Dave

Sorry if my comment sounds like I don't appreciate the effort people put into making tutorials.  I do, of course.

If I make up a tutorial on changing the oil in a 2012 Subaru Forester, assuming I get the details right, it will be useful for a long time to come.  But in this technical hobby, where things change all of the time, once you make a tutorial on a topic like this, you're basically putting yourself on the hook to keep it up to date as the details change.

I give a talk at QuartFest each year about JT modes (third week of January, Quartzite AZ, great fun!).  Each year I spend some time reviewing my slides and getting the details right.  It can be surprising how much changes year to year.

Mike-VA3MW

I found it interesting that no one mentioned using SliceMaster with WSJT which is all TCP connections.  As for latency, I doubt you could measure it enough or that it is enough to even make an operational difference.

Mike

Johan _ SE3X

Forgot to mention Slice Master. Using it together with WSJT-X and HRD logg. Works very nicely together.

W9ILY

After reading the comments I just tried this and works fine! I did notice that there was a one second delay when pressing the "test cat" button in WSJT-X when using a com port, but virtually no delay when using the port config shown above and the FlexRadio 6xxx rig type. I also noticed that the JTAlert response was much improved when using this config.

David Decoons, wo2x

If you decide to use DDUtil in the future, DDUtil uses TCP5002 and will conflict with WSJT-X the way you currently have it set. That is why I recommend to create a new TCP port dedicated to WSJT-X.

Dave wo2x

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Question:  In order to avoid forgetting this, should I go into SmartCAT and define
a TCP port with 5002 that is named DDUTIL Port, or will even having that defined
in SmartCAT cause a conflict?

Neal

Jay Nation

Neal

My experience so far has, been that SmartCAT creates the 5002 port automatically when first run, and I've had no luck trying to rename that port in the SmartCAT display. I just leave it alone and it works.

    #FlexRadio IRC chat

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Jay Nation

 Neal 

Excuse my faulty memory, the 5002 port, can be renamed, in SmartCAT.

    #FlexRadio IRC chat

For real-time discussions

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User created documentation.
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         73, Jay - NO5J

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Al and Phil:
How often have you experienced WSJT-X loosing ethernet connection
while working on a local LAN (for the above problem)?   Just curious so
I can evaluate the potential impact if I configure that way.

Cheers,

Neal

Mike-VA3MW

Neal

From my perspective... never.  The same is true with virtual com ports.

Mike

Sergey R5AU

my setup in  JTDX  is



works perfect

Al K0VM

With WSJT-X V2,  WSJT has only crashed when I intentionally crash it ( shut down the  radio without shutting down SSDR first ) or when testing alpha versions of SSDR.

If your LAN connection is solid I would expect a WSJT-x crash using the FLEX CAT interface to be very rare.

AL, K0VM
Flex alpha team member

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Thanks. But another question: why do you set a 300 millisecond TX delay? That seems excessive? Neal

Sergey R5AU

Neal, no specific reasons at all, I leave as is after installation
I have tried any timings with my 6700 even via Smartlink without any sensitive effects afterwards

szawrotny

Why do you have split turned off? Most of us operate split to avoid QRM on the TX freq.

Sergey R5AU

Stan I have no bad expirience with turned off, usually I am operate in FT8 via smartlink and many times start transmission on 2-3nd second of session , what my Flex 6700 received 99% confirmed in QSO and power always just TRX (90-100w)

szawrotny

Sergej,  It's not just about you. The QRM goes both ways. When you are XMTing on the same frequency as the guy you are calling, you are making it more difficult for him to hear others that he may already be in communications with.  Therefore, he may take longer finishing that QSO before he can respond to you. It's a courtesy.

BTW, I have seen DX and DXpeditions say on their websites that they will not respond to anyone who is QRMing them on their own frequencies.

If you pick an open frequency, as indicated by the scope under the waterfall, everybody wins.

Sergey R5AU

Thank you Stan, I’ll try, in my log over 95% are CW qso ) ( keyerman) , FT8 just for fun for me however improvement should be in place !

artimus

I have not been able to get any TX audio out of WSJT-X V2.0.0 (for WSPR).  I specified DAX TX as the output on the WSJT-X software but there is no audio displayed on the DAX TX screen or in WSJT-X.  I have tried all of the inputs to the TX ie. MIC, PC etc.  I assumed PC would work but no luck. DAX is also selected in the FlexRadio Smartsdr software.

Decoding and the PTT work either using the Flex 6XXX or Kenwood TS 2000 radio selection in WSKT-X.

Any ideas how to get it working?

Thanks
Jeff

KD6RC