Does SmartSDR v3.3.32 resolve the software defect in v3.3.29 (Jitters/DAX distortion)

Gary Ashdown

Hi. I've read through the release notes for 3.3.32 but, they don't say whether the known issue of interrupts/DAX issues has been resolved. This problem is known as defect number: SMART-8823.

regards

Gary

VK4ABW

Frederic HB9CQK

Thank you very much for your answers Bill and Gary!

Bill: We have already done a support ticket. FlexRadio engineering has all our information regarding this issue.

Gary: Thank you for the info on the downgrade. Our issue appears mainly when using multiFLEX remotely. If I am operating alone on the remote site I get no Jitter/stutter on my transmit signal. However, I do get the widening on the receive signal that you are describing, resulting in no FT8 decodes.

We may try to downgrade to 3.2.39 and see if we can use multiFLEX again on the remote site. However, I will have a week off now with NO ACCESS to HAM Radio, HI.

Thanks again and 73, Frederic HB9CQK

Bill AB7AA

My 6700 experiences audio stutters only when operating two stations via Smartlink multiFLEX. When using only one station it will handle all eight audio channels but if I connect another station then each can only display a single spectrum and audio channel. It seems like this started with v3.2.29 but continues with v3.3.32.

Is this the same symptom that everyone else is experiencing or do I have an additional issue?

73, Bill

Russ Ravella

I've been having the same issue Bill describes since v3.3.29. I submitted a ticket at that time and was simply blown off by Dan in Flex support. I was just reading a post on the Flex Groups.io group by someone who was similarly blown off by Flex re/ this issue. By the way, there seem to be several other variations of this issue too. I was hoping when the "fix for the fix of the damage done by the previous fix, which itself was a fix of damage done by the previous fix ...." release finally came out, it would address this issue since its been widely reported but it didn't make the slightest difference.

I posted a question on this forum last week asking if Flex WAS going to address it and received an utterly incompetent (and that's putting it kindly) response from Flex's marketing guy that provided no information whatsoever (basically it went like this: the title of the post says "v3.3.32 didn't fix the issue" and the response was "try v3.3.32 to see if it fixed the issue")

I see no choice but to submit another ticket and try again today.

Good luck every body !

Russ KR6W

Gary Ashdown

Thanks for the responses guys. I did get a response to my ticket a few weeks ago and the helpdesk advised that the fault identified as (SMART-8823) was known and was on their 'hot list' to fix...hence this question on the community forum.

I did upgrade to v3.3.32 on my flex 6600 and it appears to be fine but I am not going to upgrade my 6700 until i know that the issue has been resolved.

I actually downgraded my 6700 to v3.2.39 and it actually fixed all the problems with v3.3.39, so I am staying on that version till whenever.

regards

Gary VK4ABW / VK8AW

Russ Ravella

After a couple of rounds with Flex support today I was able to at least get them to state they are working on this and intend to release a fix for it. Until now, I haven't been able to get them to even say they intended to fix it - just that they were "aware of it" and were "looking into it". They said it would be in a 3.4 dot release sometime in the future. At least it seems to argue against that they're going to decide it will require too much effort to fix and are going to simply ignore it (like they have the gigantic mountain of OTHER bugs in the software that have been there for years and years and years and ...). So there's that anyway.

Frederic HB9CQK

We (HB9RYZ, Wolfgang and myself HB9CQK, Frederic) have this DAX distortion / jittering /stuttering issue at our remote station on Mount Rigi usind a FLEX-6700. We are using multiFLEX. With the current version 3.3.32 we can no longer operate concurrently (meaning one OM is listening and the other is TX'ing). It was already reported to FlexRadio and we got the same answers as described earlier in this thread. As soon as both are logged in the stuttering on FT8 and the distortion on SSB get so bad that we get many "well meant comments" regarding our horrible audio quality. I am not sure but it seems to have become even worse with that last version.

Gary, VK4ABW: What exactly was the improvement after your downgrade to 3.3.29? We had to stop transmitting from our remote site due to this serious issue, so if we find some workaround until FlexRadio can fix this we would be grateful.

Thank you and 73,

Frederic HB9CQK, VK4CSP

Bill AB7AA

Hi Fredrick,

Please turn a support ticket to insure that Flex sees the numbers of us that are affected. I turned one in several days ago and they have yet to respond. I also think that the more data we provide the better idea they may get as to exactly where the problem is. To me it sounds like the audio is not being buffered enough, but I was never an audio programmer.

73,

Bill AB7AA

Gary Ashdown

Hi Fredrick,

Yes, downgrading my 6700 back to v3.2.39 which has resolved the jitters/dax distortion. I can now use all 8 slices with 8 decoders running again.

The easiest way to tell if your system suffers from the software issue (SMART-8823), is to open all slices on your flex, then turn on each DAX (one at time) and observe how wide the FT8 signals are on your waterfalls! if the width of FT8 gets wider as you open more DAX channels, then you are in the same boat as many of us.

I refuse to upgrade past v3.2.39 until Flex clearly states that their DAX software is fixed.

regards

Gary VK4ABW / VK8AW

KE8AKW

Yep I recently ran into this issue when trying to use Multiflex after upgrading from 3.2.39 to 3.3.32/33, It seems to have become a bug since 3.3.29. I submitted a ticket for it to report it as a bug, along with a video showing the issue. Not only does the audio stuttering happen in RX, but also TX if you listen to your monitored audio, making multiflex completely unusable. Therefore I downgraded back down to 3.2.39 as I refuse to have a broken feature in a $4000 radio. Ken from Flex told me its a known bug logged as SMART-8823 and it happens when more then a total of three slices are used between two users in multi-flex and that there is currently no ETA on when it will be fixed. I am not sure why Flex would not inform the community of major issues in their software that break major features of the radio like this, rather then just confusing everyone and having 100 people submit a helpdesk ticket for the same issue that could be addressed with just one community post. Honestly I would just recommend to everyone on here to stay on 3.2.39 for the time being and you will be fine.

thevideoguy

@KE8AKW I ran into the same issue and filed a ticket on October 14th. Ran out of ideas trying to troubleshoot the problem. Running my 6500 locally, limiting use to a few hours at a time, and only operating one slice at a time. I was told my issue is related to SMART-8823/8824.

I tried what you suggested, downgrading to 3.2.39 from 3.3.33 and did not find success. The transmit "burps" from DAX still occurring.

Agree that Flex should put out a statement on this; if hams aren't watching their transmit envelope while operating, they're likely contributing distorted signals (IMO this is QRM) without realizing it. My recent observation, look at 10m FT8 when it gets busy. You can spot the Flex users.

Karl

Could i please get a time frame on the fix for the DAX Stutter ? SMART-8823/8824. Bouvet is happening and i sure like to monitor all the slices available on the 6700 without the sound issues.

Thanks Karl.