Understanding a 6600, SSDR for Mac Firmware upgrade

Andrew - G0RVM

Before attempting to update the firmware on my 6600 (not M) to the latest V3.x series I wish to fully understand what is required and involved for my situation. I'm hoping someone can clarify.

My radio has firmware 2.7.6. Sometime after purchasing the radio I ditched Windows and moved to Mac and now use SSDR for Mac (2.2.16). That software lets me install firmware updates and I can see firmware 3.2.39.3374 in the list of updates available for download.

I understand I need to purchase a v3 license however.

Q1) To obtain a v3 firmware license do I purchase the latest Windows V3 SSDR or is there a firmware only option?

Q2) Assuming the answer to Q1 is 'yes', do I then use SSDR for Mac to install the latest V3 firmware? If so, how does the radio / SSDR for Mac know that I own a license? Or is it that the firmware update can only be done from SSDR for Windows? If so, I don't see why SSDR for Mac has a firmware update capability.

Perhaps I'm missing something here?

Thanks,

Andrew

G0RVM

K3SF

Hi andrew

The license you are buying with V 3 is for the radio itself and not for MAC nor a PC

Macssdr should lead you thru the process.

and

Macssdr will do the firmware update to the radio when done.

note

Macssdr runs all versions of version 3's

from the Macssdr manual

PLEASE NOTE: The App runs with any FlexRadio firmware version 1,2 or 3. Different to SmartSDR for Windows, there is no need for a special App version for a certain Radio firmware version.

Paul K3SF

Andrew - G0RVM

Thanks for the info Paul. As I hadn't heard anything on here for a little while I raised a ticket and the official message from Flex was:

"You cannot upgrade the SmartSDR license to v3 using a Mac. You must use SmartSDR for Windows or a Maestro. SmartSDR for Mac can not upgrade the SmartSDR license because it is not a software product provided by FlexRadio systems; it is developed by a third-party developer."

So I purchased SSDR for Windows which of course was bundled with the V3 firmware license. Of course you could equally say that Flex bundle SSDR for Windows with a V3 firmware license. :-)

So, from a Flexradio perspective SSDR for Mac cannot be used to upgrade a license despite having functionality to download and install different firmware versions. I can't tell for sure whether that's true or Flex taking a parochial view. What I can say, however, was that having to go through the trouble of setting up a Windows 10 virtual machine on my iMac just to do a firmware update was a significant annoyance especially when SSDR for Windows kept reporting that my 6600 was not connected to the Internet. Something I put down to SSDR for Windows being run inside a virtual machine. It did eventually, decide it was Internet connected and succeed tho.

My takeaway from doing the update is that what is/is not required to do a firmware update needs to be much better documented and publicised especially by Flex and perhaps other software vendors. I write that because I only raised this with flex, no other vendors.

Andrew

G0RVM

K3SF

Hi Andrew

You can always contact Marcus ,the developer of Macssdr and get his understanding of these upgrades.

Marcus is very responsive to emails...

I have a 6600M it is able to do the upgrades...

However, it did tell me to login to flex site to complete the payment part of the transaction for upgrading.

so i 'assumed' macssdr would direct you the same way...

my mistaken assumption it appears.. sorry

Paul K3SF