Interlock preventing transmission on 60 meter CW

w3ua

I was using my flex on 60 meter band for FT8 for awhile, and it worked fine. Today I tried to work J51A, but the flex didn't let me transmit on the frequency other guys were calling. I believe the 60 meter band was recently expanded, but flex firmware (even with the latest version 4.1.5) doesn't support the new allocation. How can it be fixed ASAP?

Thanks, W3UA

VE7ATJ_Don

Hi W3UA… if you are trying to use the new frequencies on 60m just granted by the FCC, you'll have to wait for the 4.2.x update. The changes to the TURF file for US hams is included in this upcoming release.

w3ua

Ouch. How long would be the wait? The German team may leave J5 by then… Why can't they release a standalone updated TURF file?

VE7ATJ_Don

I suspect the difficulty is reaching ALL the US hams who have Flex rigs :-).. It may also be that TURF files are only for changing the 'default' behaviour of the rig (Defaulting to US regs of course) — hence, those of us in other jurisdictions (countries) needing a differnt TURF file when our privileges change.

Mike intimated 4.2.x should be out soon.

w3ua

They don't need to reach all hams, IMHO they just need to make the current TURF files available immediately after the regulation changes, not several months later. It's up to the user, if he wants a new TURF file, but the company should keep their radios up to date. Inability to transmit into a legitimate band segment is a critical bug, which should be fixed ASAP, because it affects the usability of the radio. Flexradio is not a free product, and even the firmware upgrades are not free, so the paying customers deserve attention. Providing quick fixes should be a good practice. Of course, there are complex cases, which require complex troubleshooting and comprehensive bug fixing, and they may take weeks to be completed. But simple change of configuration with enabled band edges is not one of these. So, for the moment I'm disconnecting my flex and replacing it with Icom 7760, which does not have that problem.

John KB4DU

In addition, check the TX bandwidth in use. It's easy so create an out-of-band situation.

K4QXX

This really stinks that Flex hasn't updated the Turf file for the new frequencies on 60. I have missed out on two new countries (including the CY0S depediton tonight) because I can't transmit. US has had the new frequencies since December.

Burch

K4QXX