Smart SDR 3.0.1.9 with WSJT-X MOX not releasing

Joseph Hill

New issue with v3.0.1.9 as follows.  When I call a station on FT8 using WSJT-X of course, when the 6400/Maestro MOX red light on Maestro and the red on/off 6400 button get "stock on"...in other words they do not release and return to receive.  I have to press the MOX button on the Maestro a couple of times to stop the transmit mode.  HELP!  
Thanks,
Joe
K4PX

Mike-VA3MW

Hi Joe

There are few things that can cause the radio to stay in TX.

What method are you using to Key the radio?  

Are there any other applications that can also send a PTT command to the radio?

Mike

Jamie WW3S

The return to receive from transmit is “broke” in V3 in many third party applications....revert back to V2 for now.....

AH0U

I had this problem in V2 but a box of toroids fixed it.... RF on some cables

Mike-VA3MW

Jamie

V3 works well with all programs that don't use the FlexLib API and use a simple CAT connection.   HRD, WSJT, Log4OM, are just some off the top of my head that work just fine.

Which ones are you impacted by?

Mike

Joseph Hill

Using PTT all along.  Use DX Labs so DX Commander is radio selected.  Worked 100% for a long time until SmartSDR 3.0 loaded.  Thanks.

Joseph Hill

Oh great.  DX Labs/Commander worked perfectly with SmartSDR V2.x.  Wish I had known this before I plucked down $199 and went through the upgrade process!!  I want to roll back to 2.X and get my upgrade money back I guess.  What a shame and hassle.  Thanks.

Joseph Hill

I have changed absolutely no troubles at all until V3 loaded.  V2.X worked perfect for a long time.  Wish I had not upgraded to 3.0.  I have changed absolutely nothing other than the V3 upgrade.

Jamie WW3S

Patience....I know Dave is heavily involved with Flex in figuring out what may be wrong....I captured and sent files to both flex and Dave last night....

Joseph Hill

Thanks Jamie.  Gosh I wish I had not upgraded to V3!!!  What a waste of time and MONEY.  Guess I'll wait a bit before demanding my $199 back and rolling back versions.  

Joseph Hill

I pushed the "Test PTT" button on the WSJT-X Radio tab and it turns red and goes into transmit, but the only way to get the transmit to stop is push the MOX button on Maestro two times.

Jamie WW3S

It’s a problem somewhere between flex and dxlab.....flex changed the code....if you wait long enough, the communication between flex and commander times out ( if running smart sdr, look for the connection ballon to pop up in lower left corner) then the next press of RX in commander works.....of course, that doesn’t help with WSJT-x

Mike-VA3MW

Can you post a screen shot of your WSJTx Settings/Radio screen and another screen shot of your SmartSDR CAT application?

I use GreenShot (https://getgreenshot.org/) for all my screen captures.

Mike 

Joseph Hill

Hi Michael, I guess I could but I would rather just roll back to version 2.X of Smart SDR on my PC/6400/Maestro and forget the whole upgrade.  Dave at DX Labs reports that SmartSDR V3 is not compatible with DX Labs Commander so I feel like a fool to have upgraded to V3 and **** my station up.  Now I am off the air on FT8 because of V3.  So how do I roll back to previous version on PC/6400/Maestro and get my $199 back?  Thanks you.

Mike-VA3MW

Hi 

I'm not a DXLabs users, but I don't think DXLabs is involved when using WSJTx with a Flex Radio and keeping the radio into Transmit since it is WSJTx that sends the radio in and out of TX. 

This is why it is important that I see your 2 configuration screens.

I hope this picture helps.

Mike

Eric-KE5DTO

We are working with AA6YQ on this issue as I type this.  In the meantime, using SmartSDR CAT to handle the WSJT-X connection to the radio should work as a workaround.

Joseph Hill

Eric,
With all due respect I have no idea what you are talking about as to this workaround.  This V3 has been a complete fiasco for me.  I am so sorry I ever upgraded as everything was working well.  Not sure what possessed me to buy the upgrade but it is not the first mistake I have made.  Please send me detailed instructions as to take my PC+6400+Maestro back to V2.4X where all worked well.  Thanks for your efforts but I am totally disgusted.
Best,
Joe
K4PX

Joseph Hill

Michael,
With all due respect, you might want to talk to Eric in your company.  He had clearly communicated to me that there is indeed a problem between DX Labs and SmartSDR V3.  Your instructions do nothing to help me get DX Labs back up with WSJT-X and Flex V3.  Thank you.
Best,
Joe
K4PX

Jamie WW3S

Do you still have the ver 2 icon on your desktop? Just click on it, it should install back to the radio....takes a few minutes, the radio reboots, and then you are good to go....if you need ver 2 , should be able to download it from flex.....

bahillen

Joseph Try something simple. Turn in a help desk ticked for support one on one. It took less than 30 minutes for help desk to fix my Windows 10 problem with the spring windows update. At worst case they will get you back up with 2.4.9 and best case get you back on air with the work around until the API can be resolved and completely solved. 73 Bill W9JJB

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Joseph, I believe what Eric is advising is to not use DX Labs/Commander as an intermediary between SSDR and WSJTX.  Just use DAX and CAT on your PC to communicate with your Maestro.  That is what I do with my 6600M.  The issue is that DX Labs/Commander has not yet been updated for V3.  However, DAX and CAT by themselves work like champs -- I use this configuration every day.

Dave AA6YQ

Eric is correct; through Commander works correctly when directing SmartSDR v2 to switch from TX to RX, SmartSDR v3 unexpectedly disconnects from Commander. No one is concerned with "blame", we're just trying to understand what's going on, and why - so we can fix it!

Michael,  there are two ways for an application to interact with SmartSDR via its API:

1. use FlexLib

2. send commands over an ethernet connections via TCp

Commander uses the latter approach; that's fortuitous, because it means I can extend Commander to support both the v2 API syntax and the v3 API syntax. My understanding is that 3rd party apps that use FlexLib must create separate v2 and v3 versions of their apps.

There is a third way for an application to interact with SmartSDR: run SmartSDR CAT, and send it CAT commands via the virtual serial port it creates. Commander originally provided this capability, but I retracted it years ago after releasing the first version of Commander with SmartSDR API support because the latter is superior in every dimension. 

Michael, you're also wrong about the use of DXLab with WSJT-X. WSJT-X can be configured to use Commander to switch the transceiver between RX and TX. Most DXLab users exploit this; it works flawlessly with SmartSDR v2.

Dave AA6YQ

Here's a screenshot of the Radio tab of my WSJT-X Settings window:

Jamie WW3S

Well, it remains to be seen what the “issue” is.....commander didn’t change, flex software did....obviously flex made an unexpected change .....I’m not as smart as I look, but it appears to me it has something to do with the comms between the server and the client.....once the TX command is sent and received, the comms drop, ignoring any further commands .....once it’s reestablished, the switch to RX command works....I’m confident those much smarter than me will figure it out....in the meantime, revert back to ver2.....

Dave AA6YQ

Re "The issue is that DX Labs/Commander has not yet been updated for V3" There is nothing in the SmartSDR v3 migration guide about a change in the API commands used to switch the radio between RX and TX. Flex personnel and I are working to understand why what has long worked correctly with v2 now fails with v3. As for your recommend workaround, that's fine for ops who don't use DXLab. For those who do, Commander must be interacting with the radio - not just for RX-TX switching, but to QSY, and to report the current frequency and mode for accurate logging.

Mike-VA3MW

Joseph

My setup has SmartSDR CAT connected to WSJTx.  I have another port connected to DX Commander via a CAT port, not a TCP port.   For the features I  use, this has worked for me on V3 on a single slice to get band data.  In this configuration, I tell DXLabs it is communicating with a Kenwood radio since the Flex CAT command set mirrors the Kenwood command set.  This is what Neil is talking about.

I had mine working on 6M for the last number of days and able to log.

DXLabs has many features and it depends which ones you use, and yes, some may not function if you have to use a CAT connection to the radio.  

Since both DXLabs, which Dave has done an amazing job on,  and FlexRadios are highly customizable, there are many ways to solve this problem, at least for the features I use.

Eric and I are in constant communication, and both Dave and Eric are as well.  

I'm sorry you are impacted by this, but there a few work arounds until it is resolved.

Have a great weekend.

Mike

Joseph Hill

Gents I have no idea how to implement any of these workarounds. And I have no idea how to go through the process of reverting back to v2.x. So I am off the air with FT8 because Flex SmartSDR was released prematurely without enough testing. Yes I am quite disappointed in Flex Corp. I will mull it over during the weekend as to what I will do. Most likely I will sell my Flex 6400+Maestro and go back to Icom while keeping Dave's software which I love. I am kicking myself. My WSJT setup is just as Dave's screenshot and worked 100% with v2.x. if someone can send me a cookbook as to how to return to v2.x I'm willing to try that before getting out of Flex altogether. 73 Joe K4PX

Pat N6PAT

Joe,

I've had to downgrade from 2.4.9 to 2.3.9 several times. I would think downgrading from V3 to V2.x should be the same thing

To downgrade from 2.4.9 to 2.3.9 I simply start up my 6700 and then select SSDR 2.3.9 from my PC instead of 2.4.9. I save each version on my PC but they are available for download from the Flex site

Then after SSDR 2.3.9 starts I select the radio. I get a message that the radio is on a different version and an option to press to downgrade the radio.

When I select the downgrade option the radio starts downgrading and I see a status bar in SSDR. When it's done I restart the radio and SSDR 2.3.9. That's all that's to it.

Dave AA6YQ

Joe, as I suggested to you on the DXLab Discussion Group, you should revert to SmartSDR v2.4.9 while we sort out whatever is preventing DXLab Commander from working with SmartSDR v3. Decisions made while frustrated or angry often have poor outcomes.

I'm not familiar with the downgrade process, but my understanding is that it requires a factory reset of the radio: depressing the power button until it turns white.

Flex personnel, I suggest that you add a "how to downgrade v3 to v2" entry in the FAQ at

https://www.flexradio.com/faq-smartsdr/

so that ops like Joe can confidently revert to 2.4.9.

N8AUM

I constantly switch between versions that way. Very simple and only takes a few minutes for the radio to load whichever version you choose.

N3RC

I too have this problem and wonder how resolution is going?

Roger N3RC 6600