3.6.8 Working well

KD0RC

A bit early to celebrate, but so far SmartSDR V 3.6.8 is working well for me.

The split mode problem looks to be fixed. It transmits in the proper slice without any workarounds.

VOX looks solid, although I have not tested it on-air. I set my output to 1 Watt into a dummy load, opened a second panadapter, turned FDX on and listened to myself with VOX enabled. In my limited testing, I got no VOX dropouts or any bad behavior. I will give it a try on-air later today.

The ability to turn off multiFLEX works as expected.

First QSO today was on CW, and it behaved perfectly. I did the setup to cause failure under previous versions and it now works. (CW Delay=30, Speed=19). I have rarely had this issue, so I can't say too much until I get some longer CW QSOs in my log.

I wasn't having issues with RF Gain persistence, so not sure about that one. I probably just never hit the conditions that caused the issue. In any event, RF Gain looks good on all bands.

All of my third party software and hardware is working great.

I did a couple of cold starts of the radio and all is well there.

I will give it more of a shakedown today, but so far, this looks great!

Trucker

Same here. All seems to be working ok. I did notice that the AGC-T seems quite a bit hotter now. I had to drop it from my normal setting of 30 to 15 to get the background noise down to the same level as it was in 3.5.59.

Noise reduction doesn't have as much effect on background noise as previous versions,even at full setting.

The RF Gain slider on the M model is a continuous slider. But,it still just uses the same increments ( -8, 0,+8,+16 etc) as before ( it isn't actually a continuous progression of values) In SmartSDR on the pc, the RF Gain slider is the same as in previous versions of SmartSDR.

I don't do CW anymore. So, I cannot comment on that.

Otherwise, everything seems to be working and is stable.

James

WD5GWY

oh, no unannounced improvements that I can find.

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Can updating be done remotely? Is this update software only? No firmware update?

Greg

WK0B

KD0RC

Hi Greg, Flex always keeps the version on the radio and the version on the clients (SmartSDR, Maestro) the same. You can only run clients that match the radio.

I am not sure if you can update remotely without a computer at the remote site.

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TNX.

G

ka9ees

@picture

What I have read is Flex doesn't recommend updating remotely.

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It does not work. The software updates, but not the firmware in either the radio or the Maestro. So nothing worked. It was a real hassle getting 3.6.8 off and 3.5.9 back on. But with some help I was able to get everything working again. Lots of restarts. DAX proved to be the most problematic, but I eventually got it without having to reinstall DAX drivers one line at a time. Other than that, Flex is still the best remote setup for CW using a paddle IMHO.

I was looking forward to using 3.6.8 especially on CW. I will have to wait until April when I get home to update to 3.6.8. I hope it's worth the wait.

Greg

WK0B

Russ Ravella

I'm actually NOT seeing my RF Gain settings being remembered. I set it, change bands, change back again and the gain resorts back to default. Anybody else seeing that ?

Otherwise pretty great update; no problems installing and no new funny business that I can see. It's still early but I haven't seen any reported yet either.

Russ KR6W

K1UO Larry

Russ are you updating the profile after you set the gain settings?

Russ Ravella

Hi Larry,

No I’m not. Does the profile need to be updated each time the gain is changed? I would have thought it was a persistence setting ? And which profile ?

Thanks,

Russ KR6W

Mike-VA3MW

@picture

As part of the recommendations for long term remote operating, we have always said it is very beneficial to have a PC local to the radio for a variety of reasons. One of them is to allow you to update the radio remotely.

It is not possible to update the radio via SmartLink.

K1ESE

Mike -

How do you do a cold boot remotely with a separate computer? Holding in the ON/Off button isn't needed?

73,

John K1ESE

Rick_KJ5WO

I was able to update to v3.6.8 with no issues on a WIN11 machine following the instructions. The 6m tuning seems to work now. I would inadvertently hit the ATU button on the slice set to 6m on a resonant dipole and the the tuner wasn't able to come up with a solution. Now it goes to "Success Byp" right away without hunting.

Could someone explain RF Gain persistence? I'm not sure what that is or how to use it.

Otherwise all seems to work well!

73's Rick...KJ5WO

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For Mike-

I do have a PC host computer in my home shack connected via ethernet as is the 6600. But, I only use it to control my amp and rotor remotely. I do have SDR loaded on it. So, are you telling me I can update using that computer, and the Maestro will work here at my remote location?

Greg

Mike-VA3MW

Yes, that is correct. Just install SmartSDR on it and it will see the radio. Next, click update.

Russ Ravella

Hi Rick,

The RF preamplifier on each SCU can be set to various gain values. On lower frequency bands where the noise from the environment, including the atmosphere, is almost always greater than the radio's internal noise, using it to add gain isn't helpful. And since increasing that gain actually reduces dynamic range, it's best not to increase it.

On the other hand, on higher frequency bands it is often (but not always) the case that noise from your environment is actually less than the radio's internal noise. In that case, increasing gain can increase signal to noise ratio. There are videos on how to set the gain but what's going on is actually pretty obvious by just watching the noise level at various settings. As an aside, in general you always want to use the least gain possible to minimize the effect of reducing dynamic range. Though in my opinion people often worry a lot about dynamic range when it isn't actually an issue for them but that's another story.

So you can see that you may want the gain setting to be different for each band. You might even want to change it on a particular band as conditions change. Addressing the first case, you should set the gain in whatever way you think best per band and save all your Global profiles for that band with that setting as a starting point.

For the second case, Flex apparently intended to design the setting to also be "persistent" with panadapter selection (think "SCU") per band (see the attachment from the SSDR manual's persistent settings list). Persistence settings are those the radio remembers until you change them, even when you turn the radio off and on. So when you make other changes, that gain setting remains the same on a panadapter per band until you change it. And if you change bands and change the gain setting for the new band, you can change the band back again and the gain you had selected for that band is remembered - it is "persistent" - and reverts to the setting at which you left it.

This hasn't been happening and appears to be a bug. Flex seems to be saying in their v3.6.8 release notes that they fixed it and at least one person reported they're seeing that it IS fixed. My comment was that I'm NOT seeing it fixed. In my case, the setting is forgotten between bands and reverts to default no matter how I set it like it always did. I was hoping to hear what other people are seeing.

Hope that helps !

Russ KR6W

Flex SSDR Manual.png

David Decoons, wo2x

A cold boot is removing DC power for at least 30 seconds.

I use a DLI Web Switch Pro and use a Remote Plug and Play relay to **** down radio then shut off the AC to the power supply and wait 1 minute (6700) before powering back up

If using an M model then please follow the correct timing for power up and shut down of radio before removing DC power.

A factory reset requires holding a button while booting the radio.

Rick_KJ5WO

Thanks Russ!!! An awesome explanation. I'm still learning SDR radio's in general and SmartSDR.

Thanks for the Schooling!

Rick KJ5WO

Russ Ravella

Hi Rick,

Glad to help. It sounds kinda corny to say but it's really true that EVERYBODY is still learning so you're in good company. Don't let the "differentness" scare you off. It's all totally understandable and easy and obvious once you do. Just take your time and enjoy the ride of learning about it.

Russ KR6W

johnn1jm

My update went ok. I say ok because the update never finished after 10 minutes. I shut down the radio after 20 minutes and restarted and the update finished. So far so good. After all the radios I have tried, Flex is the best for me.

John N1JM