ATU DEFECT

I know this is not what you want, but I always use an external tuner with all  my  radios, mostly because the tuning range is so much greater than the internal ones. With the 6400, click the tune button in SSDR, and the MFJ 929 is ready to go.

Let's not lose sight that a 2020 purchase of a Flex-6300 is a second hand purchase, so Mike M0XMX's particular purchase could have issues developed under the previous owner(s) beyond the ATU's regular issues.  There is a Help Ticket process to dig into that aspect.  (Just because there is an ongoing development to improve doesn't mean that is the ONLY reason a particular ATU might be off the mark.)

Sorting out the Flex-6000 series internal tuner and bringing to market the 4o3a Antenna Genius external tuner, along will fully integrating into SmartSDR the related controls, would take the Flex-6000 station option to a new level.  Hoping FRS can move us forward to this unified idea.

As a work-around many hams have been using external tuners or spending a bit of time digging into & correcting why their antenna setup messes with the internal setup.  

I've done both, and usually solider-on with the internal ATU when running barefoot.  QRO is a different story, as you should bypass the internal and hopefully if your antennas & feedlines are well laid out avoid using an external coupler.

At the time of my writing the "official" price differential between certified used Flex-6300 without ATU and with the ATU is $200 (UKP £161) so the marketplace already places an appropriate value on the internal tuner.  I've ordered all my Flex-6000s with ATUs for utility when barefoot and future marketability.  

I am certain Mike M0XMX will find his 6300 a great upgrade to the radio he replaced making his multi-band cobweb and dipole sing, and we will be hearing his Midlands based station dominating on the air!

73

Steve
K9ZW

Blog:  http://k9zw.wordpress.com  

Mike, what version of SSDR are you running?

Howard

Mike, have you considered reverting to V2.49 until the fix is released or is there a V3 feature more important to you than the ATU fix?   

Howard

Has anyone tried 2.4.10 to see if the ATU bug is not present? 2.4.10 supposedly has the SC Card fix in it.

Thanks Don,

I may try to down grade my software from 3.1.12 to 2.4.10 after I put my antennas back up when this storm on the gulf passes through.

Thanks,

Dave

K5OZ

Unfortunate

I've had a 6400M since 1/23/2020.

I posted "Matching a Mazzoni Stealth Ant?" on 5/1/2020 noting the same problem. (https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/7996309/matching-a-mazzoni-stealth-ant).

"Often I have to iterate on (2) [clicking the ATU button] several times and get either very high or <1.5 VSWR (as measured on the Flex). It's like rolling dice! :-) But eventually I get to a very low VSWR."

So is it a h-ware or s-ware problem (or both)?

I was thinking of buying a 6400 (headless -- without the attached Maestro). I noticed 2 things:
1) The optional ATU module is out of stock for the 6400 series.
2) The ATU appears to be built into the 6600 and above.
(https://www.flexradio.com/comparison/)
Did I get that right?

Having said that, I've since moved on to using:
1) A stealthy, off center dipole I built in in my attic (HOA. 40, 20, 10 and 6m) and ...
2) An equally stealthy outdoor Alpha Antenna 34ft, sloping J-Pole (80 thru 6m).

Both look good on my analyzer and both tune up better than the loop did. Occasionally I'll have to click the ATU as many as 6 times to get it to converge. But once it's saved in memory or better yet in a profile, that seems to be the end of it. I'm eventually going to call sales about the advantages of the 6600 vs the 6400.

73, Tom KE2KQ