The FlexRadio method of Station Integration

Mike-VA3MW

I did this presentation at IDXC just recently on how easy it can be to do complete station integration. Or, as I call it, the death of the RS232 port.

https://youtu.be/L9SpDhcOaVo

KD0RC

Your comments on RS-232 vs ethernet are spot-on Mike. I was very surprised at the ease of interfacing the Flex 6000 series radios using the TCP/IP API. When I first considered a homebrew "knobs and buttons" box to interface to my 6400, I REALLY wanted it to be over USB or RS-232 (comfort factor...).

Once I dug in and found that other hams had made Flex libraries available (Arduino, Node Red, etc), I realized how much better it would be to put my little gizmo on ethernet instead of RS-232. I had zero (really, absolutely zero) coding experience with any network protocols when I decided to tackle my project. The SmartSDR Wiki coupled with an Arduino library of Flex functions gave me the info and foundation I needed to make this thing (TeensyMaestro) a success.

Robryan

In watching some video’s (flex radio ) it appears that running programs on the local computer is best when you are remote. My question is If I set up a mac Mini with smartSDR for mac at my home with a 6400, then when on the road from a motel or other run apple remote desktop from my remote location is that a better solution than having smartSDR for mac on my 14in Macbook pro over the internet using the 6400.

David Decoons, wo2x

Why would it be better to run programs on computer at radio side instead of at remote operating side? It uses more bandwidth to run a VPN or Remote Desktop software than SmartSDR CAT and DAX.

Dave wo2x

John WA7UAR

I had to finally use a PC at the radio side to run all my digital applications because running them on my remote side incurred too much latency on my current version 3.2.39

Now I routinely run only my client controls (SmartSDR for Windows or Mac or Maestro) on my remote side and this works well for me.

Ken (at Flex support) wrote up a useful guide that explains how to set this up:

https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/8026255/using-digital-programs-on-a-windows-computer-with-slices-controlled-by-another-client-device-such-a

David Decoons, wo2x

I’ve run FT8 remote with PC at operating position without issues. I do it running my friend’s station in Hawaii.

Guess it depends on Internet connection at each end but running CAT, DAX, SmartSDR, WSJT-X and AC Log runs fine for me remote on Dell XPS15 i7 laptop with 16 GB ram and NVME SSD. AC Log does logging to my One Drive in cloud so can be shared with home station.

One Drive syncs to home PC automatically.

Don’t forget computer running WSJT-X needs a program to keep time accurate such as Dimension 4, otherwise you will experience issues.