Antenna configuration SDR on 6400M

Maxejb

Ok, I am trying to decide on the 6400 vs. 6400M. Here is the question(s): 1. To configure the antennas vs. Band, along with tuner power and transmit power levels, is the 6400M antenna setup menu/screen same as SmartSDR setup dialogue? 2. If I setup the antenna configuration in SmartSDR, is it automatically retained when I operate the 6400M locally (with knobs and buttons)? Thanks Maxejb

Alan

Maxejb.   I have a Maestro and Power SDR on a Windows 10 PC.  In my case, yes, that is how it works, sort of......

To further understand the details, you should review the "Persistence" section of the SDR manual.  There are a number of variables that change the TX setup, including antenna selection: but having said that, "Persistence" will work the same on both devices.   Next, review "Global Profiles" and "Transmit Profiles".

Assuming you are operating only one client at a time, the "Persistence" settings of the last client "last off" will be picked up by the "next on" client.

Another consideration is if you are working multiplex, where you share the Flex server with two clients.  "Persistence will not be the same on each client.  Also, the 6400 only has one receiver, so both clients must share the one receiver.  If one client changes the RX antenna, both clients will be changed to the same RX antenna.  A 6600 has two receivers, so it acts somewhat differently.

I do not see your decision as a 6400M vs 6400 question, more of a 6400 series vs 6600 series question.

Alan
WA9WUD

Maxejb

Alan, I believe I follow you. To help you understand the nature of my question, like me give you a mental picture of my antenna setup. 1. I want to put a vertical antenna on ANT-1 jack of the radio (this is a Zerofive 10m to 80m) 2. Coming off Ant-2 jack of the radio is my Acom amp, Amp-Ant-1 is a KLM36XA 10-15-20 tribander & Amp-Ant-2 is a tuner then Inverted vee for 40m -160m. What I want to do in the Flex radio antenna setup is dedicate receiver #1 to the Ant-1 jack (vertical antenna) & Ant-2 jack to Receiver #2 (going to amp). So it appears I must have the 6600 radio to dedicate each receiver to a specific Antenna output. Correct? Thanks Mike HK3EJB / KG5EJB

Alan

Mike

Yes, if you want to have Ant 1 go to Receiver 1, and Ant 2 to go to Receiver 2, both at the same moment, then yes, you need a 6600 series (two receivers, two antennas).  If you have a 6400, then the Receive antenna selection will go to both Ant 1 and Ant 2 (one receiver, two antennas).   You can have up to four "slices" in either Flex series, but as stated, you cannot split the slices up to multiple receivers (RX antennas) on the 6400.  One receiver with multiple slices has a passband, as I recall, of 15MHZ, so many not be a factor, depending on your desire to receive say, on 160 meters and 6 meters at the same time, on the sam antenna (not good).

For either series, there is a dedicated "RX Ant In"   BNC port for the receiver (s), so, like in my case, I may select one antenna for receive and select another for transmit.  6400 vs 6600 RX considerations as above, do not change.

Not an issue on the Transmitter side and your configuration will work just fine, in fact, good since it is easy to select Flex Server TX antennas.  There is only one transmitter in either 6400 or 6600.  You can use TX Profiles to set up the individual TX/Antenna/Power configurations and select them in a pull-down menu on the "M" console, the Maestro console, or the SDR desktop. (and your iPhone).

Then, thereafter, Persistance will reconfigure the TX / Ant configuration as you switch between the "active TX Slice" (remember, only one transmitter) (push button on the M / Maestro, or, click on a slice on the SDR desktop) to the previous configurations.


Alan
WA9WUD