HELP - No side tone o CW

K7JV

HELP!!!   Flex-6400 w/Maestro - On CW I no longer have a side tone while keying the Bencher.  New Flex system as of about two weeks ago.  Sidetone worked until last night.  I am using the keyer in the Flex and my key is believed to be connected properly.  On the menu I show:

Sidetone - 13 (Volume)
Delay - 86
Pan - Centered
Tune - 10
Pitch - 600
ATU MEM - Selected
TX - Default

If I try to turn the sidetone volume much higher, I start getting feedback thru the Maestro speaker!  How can that be???

Also, last evening I sat my mic next to the Maestro and suddenly had very loud feedback!  How can that be???  Not transmitting.  Slice volume controls had zero control over the squeal from the speaker.

K7JV

I HAVEN'T TOUCHED THE RADIO FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES AND NOW THE SIDETONE IS WORKING!!!  I DIDN'T TOUCH IT!!!  What makes this radio do something one minute and then do something else, the next?  Should I be re-installing operating systems?  Is there anything I should do when it acts up and I can't figure out why??  I'm sure it's cockpit error, but I'm starting to think that I'm not smart enough to operate a FLEX Radio!

Biff Craine

Noticed the same odd behavior on my 6600 with noise in shack being registered on the meter as if transmitting. Weird.

K7JV

Almost as if the mic is "hot".  Now that the sidetone "fixed" itself, the feedback when I tweak the sidetone level is GONE!  I have always said, "When it doubt, re-boot."  But I'm not finding that to work a lot of the times where I'm getting unexpected results.

Ok, new thing.  A couple of days ago, the keyer would not handle iambic action on the Bencher.  That fixed itself, too.  But I just did a wee bit of on the air testing, and the keyer is once again not working properly as an iambic keyer.  When I make a "K", which I do often as K7JV, it comes out as an "N"!

I am going to re-boot the Maestro AND the radio.  I'll report back.

K7JV

After re-booting both, the sidetone is working and the iambic performance is back to normal.

Am I doing something wrong that is screwing up the software in the Maestro or the radio that I can fix by changing my procedures?

Should I be re-installing software?

Should I be reverting to an earlier version of the software?  I am using 3.1.8.71

K0FLY

I have in the past had some goofy problems with the FLEX, in one instance I found that every time I  I loaded a certain profile , the TX DAX was actuated, the MIC input was changed to BAL from MIC,and the ATU was turned on.   I deleted the corrupted profile and saved a new one to solve the problem.  If you are using profiles, this maybe causing your problem.  Since the latest versions of software automatically save any changes you could have accidentally changed a profile thus causing you issues.  If your problem recurs, try to remember the operational steps you took prior to seeing issue.

Just a thought good luck and stay healthy

Gayle K0FLY

K7JV

If I am wrong, please tell me.  But since I will be the sole operator of this station, it might be wise to not set any profiles other than perhaps just one with my preferences.  I have not been able to make my Mac talk to the FLEX via Windows, under Parallels, so I don't think I have any way to save any backups.  But if the radio sticks with the last used setting, I'm probably good to go.

Thank you for your thoughts, Gayle.

K7JV

I guess I really need to follow my own advice I've given for years, "When in doubt, re-boot!"