CAT startup issues with SmartSDR v3.9.19

Craig Willison

Wondering if anyone is seeing a CAT connect issue with the current version or before. 6600. Sometimes 3 setup tries is necessary for CAT connects. Only CAT issue. Sometimes will connect 1st attempt. Using Windows 11 and have a lot of extra horsepower under the hood…

Have all software up-to-date and also re-installed v3.9.19. AutoStart CAT and DAX selected. Thanks in advance for any insight.

Craig Willison

Screenshot 2025-08-07 114231.png

Al K0VM

Craig,

The 'Not Present, usually indicates the slice was not yet present in SSDR before CAT attempted to connect to the radio. May I suggest that you try closing SSDR CAT and then restart it (using the desktop icon) after SSDR and slice(s) are running.

AL, K0VM

Craig Willison

Thanks Al… I will give that a try and circle back as appropriate. 73, Craig

Craig Willison

Thanks again Al - delaying the CAT startup works just great! Do very much appreciate you helping me. 73, Craig

Jim Hight W5TUF

Yes. I also have seen the issue. SmartSDR CAT worked fine under v3.9.18 and failed under v3.9.19 and continues to fail under v3.10.10. I typically started SmartSDR CAT by starting DAX and CAT when starting SmartSDR. I unchecked the option to start CAT automatically and wrote a script that waited 5 seconds before starting SmartSDR CAT. I opened a case with Flex support (73484) and was told it was a problem with my PC and the case was closed. After troubleshooting on my own I discovered the work around. 73, Jim

Pawel SP7AH

I also noticed a problem with Cat after this update. This is happening sporadically, I have never had problems with Cat before. I use 6400 and Windows 10.

Craig Willison

To all: I have reported this issue to Flex and their software engineers are acknowledging a potential software defect. For tracking, Use SMART-11729. 73.

Mike-VA3MW

We had a meeting on this today and we are trying to figure out a way to recreate this in house, which is something we are not able to do.

Creating it in house is a critical part of the repair cycle. If you have any ideas on how we can recreate this, we would love to hear them. Many of us in house have tried to do this, but no luck so far. Right now the thought is that it is related to PC latency, but we want to hear other thoughts.

Rich M5RIC

I have also been getting the same issue, from what I can see it happens to me every time I restart the PC.

This being 2 CAT ports show as red and not present once I load Smart SDR, CAT and DAX.

If I close CAT via task manager and restart it, everything is fine.

I can't make it fail again until I restart the PC.

If I turn off CAT and DAX autostart and open them manually, it always works.

So is it something about CAT loading at the same as as Smart SDR?

Win 11 Pro and Smart SDR 3.10.10 on a 6600M. Though it was also happening on the 3.9.19

Eric-KE5DTO

Thanks for the additional info. This helps us know where to look.