Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

SmartSDR for Mac: Why would RTTY Transmit Send Gibberish

KE8ROY891
KE8ROY891 Member ✭✭
edited January 12 in Third-Party Software

I have a Flex 6600 (latest firmware), and I am running the latest SmartSDR on Intel based MacBook Pro 2015 (yes getting a little older). Works great. When in RTTY, decoding works fine. When I send, the signal is odd sounding (my elmer tested this with me) and it bounces, instead of a consistent even signal. It almost sounds like it is hitting cut-off or something. The results are gibberish on the receiver end. I have checked the levels of audio and all appears to be fine but I am sure I am missing something.

Thanks for any help

73,

Britt. KE8ROY

Answers

  • Neil D Friedman N3DF
    Neil D Friedman N3DF Member ✭✭✭✭

    Running an obsolete Mac…not a great idea.

  • K3SF
    K3SF Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 12

    hi Brit

    ..lotta missing info needed to help debug

    screen shots of s/w setups help ...


    So for starters

    what Macos

    and

    what digital rtty program

    and

    are you running virtual machine windows with smartsdr

    or

    are you running macssdr (marcus s/w) usinf macos..


    Paul K3SF


    for example of screen shot


  • KE8ROY891
    KE8ROY891 Member ✭✭

    @K3SF Thanks for jumping in. I am running Marcus' software. Many of the settings required for windows side (at least that I am aware of) are internal to his setup. I have tried it with both Macros and manual mode.


    Screen shot above, hopefully provides info of current state. I have also attached a MOV file (download and rename the file ext. to MOV). This is a very short video of my transmission that my elmer did for me.

    Finally, I am sending a screen shot of my Network status. Wondering if this could be the issue.

    Thanks again for looking at this.

    Britt, KE8ROY

  • K3SF
    K3SF Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 12

    hi britt

    i looked at the video and audio sounds find ..like a regular rtty signal....the giberrish on the other side maybe due to inverted tones..may need to set invert on or off...depends how it is setup


    not uncommon to see in rtty ops with inverted signals

    the screen shots of s/w setups help too...

    your video shows every things fine...i was even able to hear it too and it sound fine to my ears


    your network stats seem ok too

    one side note ...make sure you have done a recent data update to macssdr

    even though you are on older mac, with the data updates it allows macssdr to keep running even with older macsos...at least for a while longer....

    FYI ..i run various macs ( macbookair M1, mac mini M1, mac mini intel.all on macos14.2.1 Sonoma..and few other minis with older with older macos which reside in my basement on my house network...i am able to run macssdr on macos catalina )...




    my flex radio is a 6600m...

    Paul K3SF

  • KE8ROY891
    KE8ROY891 Member ✭✭

    @K3SF Thanks very much. I'll look into your suggestions and I'll update the data. Great to know about your Macs. I am running Sonoma as well (just updated again today). Yes these older Macs run forever. They slow down a little but they keep going.

    If any of your suggestions work, or if I discover some other root cause, I'll repost and let you know.

    Thanks again, 73

    Britt, KE8ROY

  • K3SF
    K3SF Member ✭✭✭

    Hey Britt


    it is always good for the flex community when someone post what finally works..

    OH..i would be interested too ;p)

    Paul K3SF

  • KE8ROY891
    KE8ROY891 Member ✭✭

    @K3SF , and others interested in the resolution here. :)

    After many hours of research and 3 or 4 hypothesis and tests, I finally solved this.

    I have an older Mac. I have two 4k Dell monitors. I am not running 4k but running them at “near” 4k. The crazy thing is the MacBook pro will actually perform acceptably well rendering “near” 4k. SmartSDR runs fine. However the MacBook processor is nearly maxed out in this configuration. (SmartSDR is using greater than 100% of Processor time...not sure how that works but that is what it said) When the computer attempts to generate a signal for RTTY it can’t do it without pauses or skips, making the resulting RTTY unreadable.  It is minor, but it is enough. The answer is either a new computer or adjust the monitors. I unplugged one monitor and lowered the resolution on the other to just 1080p. Everything worked fine and I am able to consistently run RTTY. I am also looking at new Mac.  :)

    Thanks for the help here and I hope this helps someone else.

    73,

    Britt, KE8ROY 

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.