multiple crashes

Jamie WW3S

had multiple (25+?) crashes this weekend on my new Flex 6600 during the RTTY WPX contest. Running ver 2.4.9 with a Maestro and N1MM+, setup for SO2R. Crashes seemed random, at first they happened frequently, when moving TX from one slice to another, it just stopped, and the power led blinked red twice (software crash?)....I thought maybe it was something I was doing, so I slowed down a bit, and watched the TX indicators on both MM and the Maestro. didnt seem to matter....then I thought if I clicked in the callsign field of the non focus radio, maybe that would help...it didnt....sometimes I could go for hours with no crash...after lunch break, it crashed three time in 5 minutes ?!?!?!?......then, Sunday afternoon, after running on 20m (no so2r stuff going on) it crashed.....made like 80 qsos on 20 in a row, then the next one, CRASH !!!! really odd stuff, and seemed random....overall, other than the crashes, I liked the setup, but that many crashes really is a show stopper...I thought it was SO2R related, but then like I said, it happened this afternoon on 20m single band, with no interleaving qsos for over 45 minutes....

Bob

Jamie, Did you do factory reset? That helped when I experienced software crashes on my 6400M.

Bob W1AGC

Jamie WW3S

I factory reset on Friday, I hope they done expect you to do a reset in the middle of the contest every time it crashes. 

Andy - KU7T

Do you have a beefy power supply? Radio is known to crash when voyage is not adequate. Make sure you have 13.8 V at the radio while transmitting (measured via API). Andy KU7T

Jamie WW3S

well, its a 35 amp Astron, never had trouble with it before, but, I was wondering about that, theres a lot of relays clicking and clacking when it switches, maybe something drawing a little more power ? It did occur once though without any band changes.....

Bob

Yeah I know what you mean. I crashed a few times but haven't since the reset. Good luck!

Bill -VA3WTB

Most crashes are due to connection problems, were you using the radio over any network?  Were you connected directly to the radio?

Jamie WW3S

Thanks Bill and Larry....it MAY be my connection...it’s all new.....I had no Rfi in the past, but I just had one Ethernet connection from the jack to the pc.....now there is a switch involved with the pc, maestro and flex sharing the same connection....i just got an email that said it sounded like my audio had some noise or hash in it....so Rfi is a definite possibly, my first time using afsk....what’s the fix, toroids on the Ethernet cables?

W5AP

I also had 3 crashes this weekend running SO2R with my 6600M.  Each time the MOX button stayed red, and N1MM shut down.  Just as annoying was the radio starting up in digi-u when the profile is selected for SO2R for various band conditions like 20-40 SO2R. Requires going through the profiles to reset and save for mic,tx,and global.  When it is working, its super.  Also starts up with one slice muted.  I believe these are complications of profile settings, and the interaction of N1MM with the radio...so still a lot of issues to resolve for reliability....had a fun time though.  I may have RFI issues as well, since I'm running 1500 W to an antenna 80 feet away.  

Mack

Jamie,

Please open a ticket with the help desk. I have a 6600 and 6700 that stayed powered on and in use for months at a time.

73,

Mack
W4AX
Alpha Team

Jamie WW3S

Thanks Jim,, in my case MM never shut down, it did lose communication with the radio , but a simple right click in the band map and a reset cured that....I only have one profile , SO2R rtty, do you really need a separate one for each 2 band combination ? Oh, and yes, MOX stayed red, and only 100 watts here, but next weekend will be single radio/slice with the amp so I guess if it’s rfi I’ll know soon....

Jamie WW3S

Thanks Mack....do you do SO2R with any of them?

Joe N3HEE

I'm guessing you only experience crashes when you transmit ? I operated the RTTY contest with SSDR 2.4.9 software client and N1MM without any issues.  All cabling and feed lines should have ferrite chokes installed on them.  This  includes DC power and Ethernet cabling. I've spent lots of time and $$ installing chokes. It really helps. See how K3LR does it.  https://twit.tv/shows/ham-nation/episodes/386?autostart=false

HCampbell WB4IVF

I’d check out the PS voltage at the radio for sure.  You indicated you have an Astron 35 amp PS.  Many Astron’s model #’s indicate peak, not continuous amps (my RS-35M is rated at 25 amp continuous).  If you’re running 100W or close at high duty cycle, running other devices from the PS, and/or have some resistance in the cable/connectors, you might just have enough of a voltage drop to crash the radio.   

Howard

Jamie WW3S

Where you doing SO2R? Other than once, every crash was when I clicked a spot on one band map, and then went to th3 other to transmit....at first I thought it was a timing thing, maybe I was going to fast and focus wasn’t following....I slowed down I watched both focus on mm and the maestro, the focus was where it was supposed to be....after a while it got so I could almost predict it, as I heard some extra double clicks from the relays (maybe internal band pass filters?)....if I just heard the normal clicks (or no clicks) it worked.....when I heard that click-clack it failed.....could be free though, or maybe power supply issues....I’ll be checking both of those this week....

Joe N3HEE

Yes, I did some SO2R operating for a while.  Rule out RFI by connecting dummy loads to each slice antenna.  Also, rule out the Maestro by using SSDR and see if you can replicate the problem.  This doesn't sound like RFI.  It sounds like a control issue. Something is getting stepped on during the switching process ?

K5XH

Hi Jamie. Thanks for the contacts in the contest!

I had a similar experience lately but not during a contest. I ran the RTTY Roundup contest in January without any problems. I left everything setup just like it was at the end of the contest (6600 SO2R 40-80 HP). A week later I powered everything back up and tried to work some DX station on 80 CW. First time I hit the key the radio froze and SSDR disappeared from my screen. The red light came on and the amplifier stayed keyed (no RF out from the radio at that point). The red light stayed on for a few seconds (while I was having a heart attack!!) then the green light started to flash. After a bit  the radio reset. After reloading SSDR I tried again with the same results. After some trouble shooting I discovered I could crash the radio even at low power. I unhooked everything from the radio except the power supply (Astron 50A linear), the LAN, and one RF output into a dummy load and still had the problem. I walked way from the radio for about a week. When I went back (everything just like I left it) I could not duplicate the problem. I hooked everything back up and ran for a few hours in the WPX contest without any problems.

In short, I don't know what caused the problem - only that it went away. I have had the problem again right after the contest when I transmitted into my tuner with it set for the wrong band. I attempted to transmit at about 70 watts into a high SWR. This leads me to believe that my problem is RF related. I've got chokes on everything and everything is grounded. Guess I'll wait and see if it happens again.

Hope you find a solution. Please let me know if you do!

73, Mark K5XH

Tim VE6SH

Jamie

When I received my first Flex I had a number of RFI issues. They have all been resolved and I would commend you to look at Al's (NN4ZZ) web page for some ideas. I followed most of them (I found running fiber from my router made the biggest difference) and have not had an issue for almost 2 years.

73

Tim VE6SH

Russ K5OA

I had the exact same problem this weekend and swapped power supplies, went off UPS to main power, swapped ethernet cables all without any help.    Have it just on now without any other software running and it reset itself overnight.  I am remote now but can do a cold boot if needed.  Was trying to eliminate all the software external like N1mm, SliceMaster, etc first.  DC voltage did not seem to be a problem as well as it happened I think only on receive.  I was using Slice A only.
Took off Maestro and ran only on main PC and still reset.  Ran ARRL RTTY without one reset month ago.  What changed?

I am not at the remote site now so cant do the push power button and wait for white light.
 
Any way to do it remotely??  I can power down and can do push to talk remotely but I can not hold power button down??

Thanks to all who sent in help here.  Will keep testing for now.


73, Russ K5OA

W5AP

Russ,
I turn on/shut off my 6600M remotely through an internet switch - which just removes ac power from the rig and re-applies power when the remote internet switch is activated.  I DO have the "remote control" switch turned on in the rig. 
Hope this helps,   Jim

Russ K5OA

Yes, I can do that as have full remote control of zac and dc power but can't push the power button to hold it for white lights!  I did remove DC power and swapped power supplies and also changed  the control outlet from one remote device to another but I really don't think it is an external dc power issue.  It is not RFI as happened overnight with no transmit in hours on my break.
 Thanks and thanks for QSO's always as well.
Russ

Russ K5OA

I had also noticed a transmit MOX (actually two short hits) after MMTTY was in the receive mode in last part of the contest so was thinking N1MM new 7523 was an issue so backed out to last full install and still happened, so was not N1MM. 
I was on site and not remote so could make a lot of changes to try and be sure what was happening.  I am back home now and just watching it on my remote desktop.
Thanks Jim.

Russ K5OA

Can someone point me to the error codes list for the flashing red power button on 6600.  Tim said it may be once or up to 6 times and each mean something?
I have 45 pager hardware but see nothing on flashing power light decoder.  I did not count the flashes over the weekend but since I am remote now I can't even see the radio.

TU

Jay Nation

The LED error code descriptions are listed in the Hardware Reference manual in the "FRONT PANEL CONTROLS AND CONNECTIONS" section for whichever 6000 series model you are looking for.

For the  6600 ...

https://www.flexradio.com/downloads/flex-6400-and-flex-6600-hardware-reference-manual-pdf/?wpdmdl=3104&refresh=5c6233897e5001549939593

Jay / NO5J

JoeMoffatt

This acts like a RF TX mistmatch. The radio will fault into a red flash then reboot when this happens. If you don’t have a good match antenna and are using the ATU, make sure on each band the ATU mem is enables and you have tuned each 10 kHz or so on each antenna so that you have a good memory setting. If the Atu is on a bad memory or not on at all, this can happen.