Flex Customer Service

Trucker

I just wanted to comment on FRS's Help Desk a bit. I had an odd problem crop up a few days ago with my 6600M. I powered it up, ( power supply had been on continuously ) and after the initial boot up, it appeared as though everything was going fine. Except, the radio came up in WIDE mode and was a full 14Mhz wide ! No slice receiver was present and no antenna selection at all. Nothing seemed to work right either. So, I did a full reset.

The radio came up just fine. I had to leave for a while. Came back home and started to use the radio. The VFO froze up as well as the display. (panadapter and waterfall ) I waited a bit and then the Power Button started flashing RED. Two flashes and then a pause and two flashes again. Repeated several times. Then, all at once the panadapter and waterfall disappeared.

I had a popup message that said, " Radio Disconnected, waiting for radio" along with a countdown timer on the popup. Once the timer got to zero, the radio rebooted. The radio came up to the version chooser and then the power button started flashing Red again. But, this time only one flash every couple of seconds. Then, it froze up again. I turned the radio off. And after a few minutes the power supply. I waited several minutes and turned the power supply back on. Waited a few more minutes and booted the radio up. It came up fine. And has been working fine ever since. I got to wondering if this was an SD card failure in the making. So, I contacted FRS's Help Desk. Ken responded the next day. I went thru a couple of procedures he suggested and nothing really different happened. (everything was still working fine) Ken finally decided after finding out that I have had this radio since it was introduced an that it has had every version of SmartSDR on it, that probably the SD card was starting to fail. So, to head that off, he sent me a new SD card. I got it a couple of hours ago in the mail. ( USPS had it in the Fort Worth center for two days!!) I followed the detailed instructions Ken sent me and exchanged the SD card. Now the radio seems a bit snappier if that's possible!! I just wanted to share my Help Desk experience with others. In all the time I have had the 6600M I have had only one other problem. And it was my fault. I was a long haul truck driver. (now retired) and a few years ago, I left home and did not do as I had always done and disconnected my radio from the antenna and power supply while I was out. I got home and found the radio would boot up. But, no power out at all. I ended up sending the radio to Austin and in less than 10 days I had my radio back with a rebuilt PA.

So, just saying all this that customer service with FRS is first rate. And really the hardware is as well. Especially if you don't abuse it!!!

James

WD5GWY

Ted VE3TRQ

I concur - Flex support is outstanding, and quick. I, too, had some strange problems with my 6600M, eventually ending up in a bad SD card. Replacing it fixed everything for quite a while, until I again had what appeared to be another SD card failure. Because this was the second instance, and I had not run the versions that could corrupt the card, Tim dug further, and suggested I should send in the radio. I just happened to have a second SD card because of an earlier shipping problem, so I swapped that one in so I could do some more troubleshooting. Seems the problems occurred mostly on transmit, so Tim suggested an RF problem was likely to blame. That seemed reasonable, so more testing on my part.

Eventually got a single under-voltage error, and upon investigation, found my Astron 35M was flaky and cutting out occasionally. Changed PS, end of story, no more failures. Although Flex did not solve the problem, they got me to look deeper than just another failed SD card.

Lou KI5FTY

I too want to say thanks for the fine service and support. Every interaction I have had with the Service and Support teams have been first rate. Quick, efficient and friendly! Thanks @Ken Wells, Jose Valdez, @Tim - W4TME, Toby @N5SIM and the entire team.

Mark Griffin

I sent them an email on Monday Evening. I heard from them yesterday and got the information they requested yesterday about 4:45 PM. It is now approaching 24 hours and haven't heard a word since.

I have a 6400M that I've had since 9/2/21 and it failed on 9/6/21. Four days and I have a radio that won't even boot up for me. Perhaps I don't rate high on their totem pole. Or because they suspect it's the SD Card they can drag their feetl. Needless you can't prove to me that the Help Desk or service is that great.

Mark Griffin, KB3Z

Mike-VA3MW

Thanks James

I passed on your message to the entire company.

Thanks for taking the time to write up your experience. Service / Support is a mentally draining job at times and if you have ever done it, you know what I mean. Your kind words make it worthwhile for those in the trenches who just love to help people.

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