Problem: WSJT-X Tx audio disconnects from Flex DAX after sitting idle

Geoff_W8GNM

Current software configuration: WSJT-x v 2.2.0, Flex DAX v 2.6.2.50, Windows 10 Pro v 1909.
FlexRadio 6600M transceiver running v 2.6.2.50 software.
After WSJT-x in FT8 mode sits in a receive/monitor condition for several hours, the Tx audio connection via Flex DAX to the Flex 6600M transceiver is lost.
DAX is still conected to the radio, but the connection from WSJT-x is broken.
The Rx audio connection from the Flex 6600M via DAX remains working OK.
This problem with the loss of Tx audio has existed over the past several versions of WSJT-x and DAX.
Several other FlexRadio users are having exactly the same problem using Flex 6700 radios.
The problem can be fixed by shutting down WSJT-x and restarting it which causes the current activity window to be lost which is inconvenient
or without restarting WSJT-x by going to the WSJT-x FILE/SETTINGS/AUDIO/OUTPUT menu and changing from the "DAX AUDIO TX" selection to another selection and clicking OK,
then going back through the FILE/SETTINGS/AUDIO/OUTPUT menu and changing back to "DAX AUDIO TX" selection and then clicking OK.
This problem is most likely in the WSJT-x software and has been posted on the GroupIO site for FT8, but I wanted to let other Flex users know the workarounds until the problem is solved.

seancaldwell

Geoff, thank you for sharing. I found the same yesterday after leaving my Flex 6300 running v3.1.12 and WSJT-X 2.2.1 on for 5+ hours. When I returned, the system was still hearing fine, but noticed that when I went to reply to someone, there was no transmitter audio going out. A quick flip on the DAX TX stream button seemed to fix mine if I remember correctly. Will try it again in a few days.

73's. Sean 

Steve K9ZW

Recent Windows updates has done this to my setups (two systems) as well.

Been searching for whatever Windows is deciding to sleep/hibernate when idle, but have not yet found the culprit(s).

Takes one back to when at times you had to have a program to "keep alive" your system & connection...

Literally if you jiggle your mouse it stays alive.  But you brave sending lots of CQs on the hope that you've read the propagation well, it will die on you.  That is if it doesn't hit the expanded timeout first.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Blog:  http://k9zw.wordpress.com  

Geoff_W8GNM

Sean,  it takes less than an hour of sitting idle for my WSJT-x to lose Tx audio connection with the Flex DAX application.   Cycling the DAX Tx stream button ON and OFF does NOT cure the problem.  Shutting down DAX and restarting it does NOT fix the problem.  The only two ways to get WSJT-x to reconnect the Tx audio via DAX to my Flex 6600M is to either shut down WSJT-x and restart it  - OR - go into the
WSJT-x FILE/SETTINGS/AUDIO/OUTPUT menu and change from the "DAX AUDIO TX" selection to another selection and click OK, then go back through the FILE/SETTINGS/AUDIO/OUTPUT menu and change back to "DAX AUDIO TX" selection and then click OK.

Geoff_W8GNM

I feel pretty certain the problem is in the WSJT-x software.   Windows may be timing something out, but WSJT-x is not able to handle that condition.

Michael Wheatley

Does your Windows monitor turn itself off after some period of time.  If so, go to the Windows power settings and set the monitor to never turn off.  That fixed the problem for me.

Michael - KM6LHD

Ted VE3TRQ

Just as a point of comparison, I use xDax / xCat with both WSJT-X and JS8Call on a Mac, leaving them running for days on end. Never a glitch, never an issue, always tx's when asked.

The only issue I had was with a bad network switch at one time, causing xDax (and xCat) to drop the connection to the radio, and when I took it out of the loop, never a problem since.

Tim VE6SH

I have the same issue, but none of the work arounds here seem to help. WSJT-x will lose the DAX connection and restarting WSJT or DAX does not cure it. A reboot of the computer is necessary.
Tim VE6SH

Steve K9ZW

Are you also running slightly older software versions for your GUI in emulation?

Perhaps in counting downtime we should count the periods when xDAX/xCAT wasn't being updated making it much more difficult to use any of the latest software?

For what it is worth I have been rather unsuccessful running remotely with my iMac, as the configurations needed are eluding me.  Some quiet afternoon I'll have another go at it.

Of course this Mac-stuff is pretty much moot in what looks to be a Windows environment energy-setting that updates correlate with experience changes.  By necessity updates for any system can be widely ranging in what they touch, but Window's updates seem to often mess with parts of the ecosystem that are never mentioned in consumer-level documentation.  Of course Apple does the same...

73

Steve
K9ZW

Blog:  http://k9zw.wordpress.com  

Ted VE3TRQ

All my comments refer strictly to v2.4.9 on the radio, and the corresponding xDax/xCat. And I run "remote" to my 6600M only on my local LAN (although I do use SSDR for iOS truly remote from time-to-time). When I find a compelling reason to update to v3, I will (I bought it already, and have loaded it once).

Geoff_W8GNM

I believe that disabling the Windows "USB Selective Suspend" will solve your problem.  Even though I use only an IP connection (no USB audio device) via DAX Tx audio connection from WSJT-x to my Flex 6600M,  apparently a virtual USB port is used.   Instructions on how to disable "USB Selective Suspend" can be found at this link. https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices

This fix worked for me and a Flex 6700 user.

Geoff - W8GNM

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

I have the same issue, and none of these work-arounds do it.  If I **** and restart WSJT-X, it always comes back (Ability to TX).   That sort of aims a finger toward WSJT-X as to who should answer next.
DAX uses ethernet and not USB, so USB suspend/sleep would have nothing to do with it.  Since I do not need to restart Windows, and I do not need to restart DAX or Smart SDR, it really does seem to be something that WSJT-X does not know how to handle correctly.

Neal

Dale - AE6DS

Do you have WSJT-X configured to use CAT for PTT or are you using VOX to trigger TX? I had a similar issue with FLDigi losing TX. In my setup the weak link appeared to be hamlib not waking up correctly and ignoring the CAT PTT. Problem went away after switching to from network to serial CAT, but I haven’t tested extensively with the newest versions of either FLDigi or WSJT....

Michael Wheatley

This issue was discussed at great length some time ago:

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/no-tx-from-wsjt-x-ft8?topic-reply-list%5Bsettings%5D%5Bfilter_by%5D=all

I believe it was acknowledged to be a known problem in WSJT-X.  I found that for me the problem only occurred when my monitors went to sleep.  I changed the Windows 10 power settings to never allow the monitors to sleep and I have not had the problem since.

Michael -- KM6LHD

Geoff_W8GNM

Dale, I am using IP CAT via SmartSDR CAT on TCP port localhost: 5002 directly to the 6600M.
I have not had any problems with the CAT disconnecting after sitting idle.
Only the Tx audio stream from WSJT-x to the Flex 6600M via SmartSDR DAX disconnects after sitting idle.  After setting the Windows 10 power management to "never sleep" and disabling the Windows "USB Selective Suspend" function, my system no longer disconnects as long a I do not reboot the computer.  After I reboot the computer the problem comes back again.

Phil N3ZP

I have gotten pretty used to WSTX-X not going into transmit after being idle for awhile. CAT puts it into transmit but there is no audio. If I have left WSJT-X idle I just restart it.

AE2A

Many of the features in Windows 10 v 2004 are intended for the "Greater Population" of Windows users, as such Ham Radio applications are not the normal population so as each new update comes along you may need to reset your setting (or at least check to make sure they didn't change).

If you use a "Normal" security setup (One Administrative Account and one Standard User Account) make all of your System settings in the Administrative Account. You should not need to use an Administrative Account for any "Normal" computing needs.

"Stale" connections usually occur when your computer senses no activity. Normally this will cause your monitor to turn off the video. This in turn will cause a series of unintended actions that Windows "thinks" are required. All user processes are automatically lowered in execution priority, power conservation measure are invoked, the system shuts down the hard drive power, and depending on your individual settings, the CPU might even go into a state called "Hibernation". This state will save a memory image of the current state of the memory and save it to disk, then actually shut down the processor. When the system awakens from "Hibernation", the disk is powered up and the "Hibernation file" is reloaded and the system returns to its previous state - ALMOST.

Remember that the system has stopped the CPU while in Hibernation mode! This means that all virtual connections to your audio devices was shut down before entering the Hibernation state! Those devices also include DAX and any other software drivers. Now comes the interesting part, if the drivers were Hibernation Aware (in the actual coding of the drivers) the driver would save the state of its connections when it received the Hibernation signal from the system (known as the Kernel). Upon receiving the "Wakeup" signal, a properly coded driver would reload the previously saved state of its connections and then "wake up" each connection. This would result in the system actually returning to the functional state it was in before the system initiated Hibernation.

There are mutliple names for the various levels of Hibernation which some folks might know as "sleep states", but each level sets various circuits and functions to a low power state to conserve energy usage. You as the owner and administrator of your system should become familiar with each of these state and what timing and triggers both cause it to kick in and what brings it out of the "sleep state". Most of these settings can be found under the settings for "power" in windows. Be advised that the Administrative account should be used to set and control the power settings for all users.

As you can see, the idle state of a user level computer has many variables and every system has a different mix of applications and drivers, and to make things worse, every computer has different hardware settings that control all of these! The best method of troubleshooting any of these is to disable all unintended power control including your screensaver, hard drive power, CPU sleep states, and monitor power. Many drivers for certain hardware are not fully compliant with the software applications interfaces, so various low power modes will result in "Stale" connections failing in any of a number of ways.

SmartSDR and other software for Ham Radio sound card modes depends on all of the software to be fully compliant with the power control specifications. Unfortunately this is easier to say than actually to put into the code that makes everything play together nicely! Finding and resolving all of these issues is not a trivial task, testing its functioning correctly is an even larger task. The only way to eliminate this type of "stale" operation is to turn OFF all power controls wherever you find them. Usually the best utility for this is the Device Manager. Your goal is to be able to walk away from the computer and have the computer continue to function with no automatic power controls being triggered. This is not easy for the beginner to accomplish and even for those more experienced in System Administration, it can be difficult. If you are not going to use something, turn it off (disable the control). Ideally in the future, we will have access to "keep alive" utilities that will prevent the computer from getting "sleepy".

Ken Wells

I have had good luck by disabling "Power Management" in Windows - Never sleep, never turn HD off, never turn Video graphics card off.

BUT there are other places to tweak:

Find your network adapter card driver and click on "Properties" and "Configure" Then the "Advanced" tab.

Scroll down the list and turn off or disable

"Energy Efficient Ethernet" "Green Ethernet" and "Power Saving Mode"

Then in the "Power Management" tab, "un-check" the option to "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."

These steps will prevent your computer from shutting down or throttling down your network card when it thinks there isn't enough traffic.

Lou KI5FTY

This is happening to me also on NON flex radios (VAC not DAX installed on the PC). Happens on my Hermes Lite 2 using PowerSDRmrx and SDRConsole. Also happens with SunSDR2 Pro and their software. I have replicated this on 2 different Windows 10 machines one of which is a brand new machine and install.

KM4CQG

Ken

Thank you for the tips on the Network card.

Ian

KA9CFD

I have seen this issue of random no TX audio after sitting idle when using both WSJT-X and JTDX. In my installation, I have found it appeared to be a problem when using WSJT-X and JTDX radio settings/split operation set to Fake It. It seemed like a timing issue where the Flex tried to transmit audio before the Slice was switched up or down in frequency was completed using Fake It mode? Setting Split Operation to None cured the problem and I have not had the issue since. I hope this helps some. Something to try if you have been using Rig or Fake It for split operation in WSJT-X or JTDX. I am using a Windows 10 64 bit computer, Flex 6500 with SmartSDR 2.6.2, WSJT-X 2.2.2 and JTDX rc-152.

73 Jay KA9CFD

N9TX

I too have seen this issue with WSJT-X. However, I have recently had it happen to me while running MMTTY in N1MM, so this may not be just a WSJT-X issue.

Keith - N9TX

Phillip Hare

I had the same disconnect problem until I went into Device Manager and disabled power management for my Ethernet card. Zero issues with WSJT 'disconnecting' since. My monitors are set to turn off after a set time - but the computer is set to never 'sleep'. This also fixed the same issue I was having with DM780.

Also - sometimes Windows updates will 're-enable' power management - so if the above suggestion works for you, and then after a Windows update the problem returns - just disable power management for your ethernet card again.

Phillip - W4ABF

Phillip Hare

(Sorry for the duplicate reply - I was having sign in issues with Flex site)

Tjerk

Using my Flex-6300, running SmartSDR v3.2.34 (and previous versions) with W10 Pro and WSJ-X v2.2.2, I had the same problem.
Turning the screen saver off, solved the problem.

David Decoons, wo2x

I have had the problem with WSJT-X losing TX audio. Stopping and starting WSJT-X fixes it. DAX control panel still shows DAX TX level out.

Dave wo2x

Tim VE6SH

I have an issue where WSJT-X sporadically loses RX audio if idle or if the program is shut down and restarted. Restarting WSJT-X and/or DAX does not fix the issue. The only fix I have found is to reboot the (3 month old) computer. In fairness, I had this issue with my older computer as well. I have turned off all energy saving features.

Tim vE6SH

gbo

I have the same problem with WSJT-X losing TX audio. Stopping and starting WSJT-X fixes it. Is there any clue why this happens or permanent fix? My system only need few minutes without operating and TX is lost.

VK2PW

I have a slightly different issue with mine. If I leave WSJTX (2.3.1 - Princeton Version) running it will decode FT8 signals just fine and TX no problem. But after a while, if I change bands I get no decodes. Now I can see / hear the signals booming in, I can also see the green WSJTX bar moving up and down with at least a signal level of 60 or more on the left hand side, but I will NEVER decode a signal again forever unless I restart SmartSDR. I have tried resetting WSJTX makes no difference. I haven't tried just turning DAX on and off, but if I restart SmartSDR, decoding will be as normal the moment the radio is back up. I also have the issue on occasion where WSJTX wont TX. Restarting WSJTX always fixes that 1st time every time. de Adam VK2PW

Alan

Same here, but I simply cycle DAX RX and TX buttons, off/on, to restore the decodes. Then good for another four hours or so.

Alan

WA9WUD