Disable Transmit for Access Over Smartlink

Craig Gagner

Hi Flex Community,

I would like to share my flex 6300 with others over Smartlink but would like to disable transmit ability. Is there any way to do so temporarily at the hardware level (or softwate level)? The idea would be to do so to give folks opportunity to enjoy the Flex experience yet safeguard from mishaps as they gain familiarity with the operation.

Thank you Community.

73, Craig w7phg

KD0RC

Hi Craig, Multiple logins and varying permission levels have been discussed (and requested) here before. I think it would be great if Flex were to add these things to SmartLink. It would make Flex the ultimate club radio.

I do understand that a security system with multiple permissions gets complicated to operate and will likely create more help desk traffic. Perhaps a club-license version of SmartLink (at additional cost) is a possibility. The Flex is really the perfect choice for a club station, but it really needs this feature to work well in a club environment.

Craig Gagner

Thanks Len; I totally agree with you. At this time I am happy with their being no transmit at all, rendering the radio to behave in effect like the Flex 6700R (receive only).

Craig

KD0RC

Hi Craig, One way to accomplish that is to hang a couple of dummy loads on ANT1 and ANT2 and just use the RX port for the antenna. No sigs will escape!

Chris DL5NAM

Len, before i connect 2 dummy loads i never give my account to any others. Sorry ! Wrong answer, wrong solution !

What we ask, and that from begin of V3 - is: give us owner a chance to share as Admin our radio and config the permission what the "guest" can do. Should he only receive, or an restricted liz (..no 20m for DO liz in DL)

This function will be also a multiplier for FRS to get new customers.

The OS of F6000 can handle this, also the main server can handle "guest account". The F6 owner is admin and can give different rights.

My impression is - and i am really not alone - FRS do good sales, good service (Mike do a great job) but do not have any man power left to bring SSDR further. Commercial projects first - Ham's at ....

If you follow SSDR IOS from Marcus DL8MRE - he is a "One men show" and faster with bug fixing and innovations - and all updates AND bug fixing for free !

73 Chris

KD0RC

Chris, please don't say "wrong answer, wrong solution" when I was offering a suggestion to a specific question from Craig regarding receive-only.

If you read my previous comment in this thread, this would be obvious.

Mike-VA3MW

The request for such features is something we are well aware of and it showed up in early SmartLink testing.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris, SmartLink is no different than giving someone the keys to the hamshack in today's world. Hams for decades have had club stations that do not have 'operator' level controls. It is up to us, Elmers, to educate accordingly.

Ha Gei

Mid 2019, HAM RADIO Fair:

We :

We want a radio for the club , with all sorts of user levels ..

Flex Representative.

Oh, yes, this is all in the works, will soon be released

...

10 Other Questions :

Yes, this is all soon possible ...

2022 : If you want to sell a flex 6400 , you get people laughing at you...

Ask why...

Still the concept is best , no other remote solution outperforms it for reasonable price tag. But you have to stay with what you have .. by the way : Yaesu , Kenwood SAME SHAME ..

Sell Sell Sell .. no improvements.

The only good thing is that several people enhance usability ..like with frstack

Craig Gagner

Thanks for the replies: I am totally happy with my flex radios; I acquired them largely for what they are, not what they might be or will be. And to the support, top notch. I don't see the lack of the feature I ask about as a detriment, just thought if there is a tidy way to disable transmit that opens some opportunities for some folks that are a bit shut in right now.

All that said, is anybody interested in considering trading a Flex 6300 for a Flex 6700R?

Stan VA7NF

Our club has a 6600 with two purposes being:

A) A top end contesting station and

B) Available for general remote usage

What is missing in SmartLink is the element of limiting access and resources. At an administrative level where does the operating liability lie? With the club station or the signed on user who may have/have not a license and level of authorization. As previously stated, that question has existed since SmartLink availability.

Also missing is a method for non-standard (3rd party) control. That being control packets containing 3rd party control information between the Flex server side USB port and a client side 3rd party application that uses that information.

Mike-VA3MW

A simple solution is to use something like NodeRed to provide a level to the TX Inhibit line and control it via a user controlled web page.

If you have a non-licensed Ham, would it not make sense to give them access to something like an RTL dongle?

Or, you can send commands via the TCP/IP interface to disable transmit via an application that has user level control. It isn't complicated. There is a TX Inhibit command available.

I know we will eventually look at it, but there are hundreds of higher priority items at this time. If you need it urgently, leverage your club members for someone who can work with radio at a software level. I can't see us getting to something like this for some time, but I do not have visibility to software scheduling as it is fluid.

Your request isn't new. It came out during Alpha testing for SmartLink when SmartLink was first built.

Ron Koenig

The best and only real way to get what you are asking is with Direct IP Access. Like the MAC version has. Then we can actually have control of our radios, make front ends that allow levels of access, toggle users on and off (Only ones working the current contest have access) etc..

The current setup with Auth0 is a security nightmare... Sharing the master UN/PW is just Nuts ! Even my Coffee **** has user levels.

Craig Gagner

Thank you Ron for your insight.