TX stream shown but no power output

billspeedie

Just had my Flex 6500 stop outputting power but the TX stream in SSDR looks OK. Am using SSDR V2.10.1 with WSJT-X on FT8, calling the Clipperton guys on 10 meters. After repeated calls with no answer, I noticed that my MFJ tuner was not showing any power output. Everything worked at first but stopped at some point. Shut everything down, rebooted the PC and started up again. This time, after several FT8 cycles the RX stream stopped in mid cycle. Reboot again and the power output stops after several cycles.

Is something overheating in the radio? Never had anything like this before. Seems odd that the TX and RX failures occur at different times. Maybe Flex is telling me it's time to trade in for a new one...

Thanks for any suggestions,

Bill -- KA6T

Mike-VA3MW

I doubt it is the radio but a loss of the audio stream between WSJTX, Windows and the Radio.

You can simply test this by pressing TUNE on the radio and see if you have RF out. Let us know if you do. If the radio does not receive and audio stream from WSJT, there will be no RF transmitted.

Next time it happens, look at DAX and see if there is TX audio and also look at the Radio and see if there is TX Audio on the Level Meter.

Odds are a simple restart of WSJTX will recover the transmit audio stream.

billspeedie

Thanks for the response, Mike. I got back on the radio yesterday and again today, and everything is fine. Am still not sure what happened and hope it doesn't recur.

When the problem happened, I did restart WSJTX but that didn't fix it, so I shut down everything and rebooted the PC. Did that twice, in fact, and the problem would recur after a few FT8 cycles each time. That was why I thought it might be something in the radio overheating. Very strange.

Well, it's all good now and I can't argue with success, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope it was a one-time thing.

Thanks again for your good work here on the forum.

Bill, KA6T

Mr Radio

OM Bill,

I had the same problem after a new SSDR installation. Closing DAX and opening it solved the problem. Now everything works fine.

Tom

billspeedie

Mike,

Unfortunately, the problem is back today after making one contact on 10 meter FT8. I closed everything, rebooted and it still occurs. Pressing ""Tune" shows the spike on the SSDR screen but there's no output. Pressing "MOX" does not show the TX spike and of course, no output. The radio is receiving and FT8 signals are being decoded in WSJT. The TX icon in DAX is blue and it says streaming even with no output. This is all with only one slice active.

Strange that it happens today and that there was no problem when I was last on the air a couple days ago.

billspeedie

Back again. My error this time. Had one of the settings wrong after rebooting. Think I'll go hide under the bedcovers for a while for posting a nonproblem. Sorry for the bandwidth.

Bill

Mike-VA3MW

Next time it happens, stop, and take a breath. :)

Then, check the audio level meter in DAX and in SmartSDR while in Transmit.

Take a picture of it and share it with us here.