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.

Do any Firewire-USB Adapters Work with Flex-3000 ?

Bill
Bill Member
edited December 2019 in FLEX Series (Legacy) Radios
I have a Dell Inspiron 17 R SE notebook computer. With all its high-end options, it does not have a firewire port. Is there any firewire-usb adapter that will work with the Flex-3000?

Answers

  • K9DUR
    K9DUR Member ✭✭
    edited January 2017
    No. Firewire was chosen over USB for the interface because USB does not have the data throughput speed required. A USB-to-Firewire adapter is still only a USB port and not fast enough to handle the data transfer between the radio & the PC.
  • Bill
    Bill Member
    edited August 2013
    Thanks for the quick reply, Ray. That's what I feared. So much for my $1,600 laptop ! I guess I'm relegated, for now, to the Flex-1500 team. Bill W3WJ
  • Richard G7EIX
    Richard G7EIX Member ✭✭
    edited March 2015
    **EDITED* due to me noticing you have a Dell Inspiron 17 R Unfortunately you do not have laptop with a card slot... so yes, the 1500 is the highest you can go (or a 6500/6700) :-) A large amount of laptops have ExpressCard slots for which you can buy a 1394 adapter that should allow you to use the 3000. Some older laptops may have a PCMCIA slot, which again you can also obtain a 1394 card for.
  • David, KE5RV
    David, KE5RV Member
    edited March 2015
    This same situation applies to me as well. Has anyone in this community tried this using an ExpressCard adaptor?
  • K9DUR
    K9DUR Member ✭✭
    edited January 2017
    When I do club presentations or run a booth at a local hamfest, I use my laptop and/or my wife's laptop, both of which ExpressCard slots. The 3000 & 5000 both work quite well with an ExpressCard firewire adapter. 73, Ray, K9DUR
  • Richard G7EIX
    Richard G7EIX Member ✭✭
    edited March 2015
    Yes. I have two different ones and they both work great with the Flex 5000.
  • David, KE5RV
    David, KE5RV Member
    edited March 2015
    Richard and Ray, thanks so much for the quick replies. I'll order an ExpressCard adaptor and see if my laptop recognizes it. My 2 year old company-issued laptop has a Firewire port but my new HP laptop doesn't. In fact, I don't see any new laptops on the market that do. I guess that is a fading technology in the Windows world. Thanks again! 73, David, KE5RV
  • Richard G7EIX
    Richard G7EIX Member ✭✭
    edited March 2015
    Unfortunately its a dying technology, so the manufacturers are moving away (already have in 99% of cases) and adopted USB3 and Thunderbolt as alternatives. Hopefully you will have good results with the card. I have a SIIG and a Sonnet (USB2.0/1394 Combo) - both work great and both have the Texas Instruments Chipset.
  • Richard G7EIX
    Richard G7EIX Member ✭✭
    edited March 2015
    In case anyone is interested in the Sonnet - here is the link. http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fwusbexpresscard34.html

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.