Repairs In The Time of Covid19

Tim N9PUZ

I'd like to thank everyone at Flex for the great support I received with a recent problem with my Flex 6400M.

I discovered a few weeks ago that although the radio itself seemed to be operating just fine I could not operate the built-in ATU when I tried to operate the radio with SmartSDR remotely. Any time I would move the mouse over the ATU buttons a message would pop up indicating there was no ATU installed. Activating the button on the radio itself always activated a tuning sequence.

I entered a ticket and was quickly contacted by support. We ran a series of tests, they had me check internal cables, etc. and unfortunately it was determined that the radio needed to be sent in for repair. ****.

I was issued an RMA number but told to wait on shipping the radio until I got a separate "permission to ship". They did not want equipment stacking up at the repair facility since they were running with reduced staff and extra precautions due to Covid19. It took about two weeks to get the shipping permisson but I still had the use of the radio so not a huge problem.

Once I shipped the radio it took a couple of days transit time. As soon as it arrived at Flex I was notified and it went through a 24 hour quarantine before being moved to repair. Once moved to repair I got a notice from the technician that it was on his bench and by the end of the day he had updated me on the problem, the solution, and indicated it was headed back to the shipping area for it's return home. (They decided to replace the whole ATU.)

I have a tracking number in hand and am anxiously awaiting its arrival back here. I've been using my portable radio, an Elecraft KX2, as my backup. It's a great rig but not as much fun as the Flex in the shack.

Thanks to everyone involved at Flex! Considering the current health situation in the world you all did a fantastic job.

Tim N9PUZ