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Radio ethernet intermittent

Daniel AA4HV
Daniel AA4HV Member ✭✭
in FLEX-6000 Signature Series
Hi, I have been running a 6600M, PGXL and TGXL for near a year. I have an ethernet cable run from my "radio room" to the rack with all the equipment in another room. All equipment hooked up to an ethernet switch at the rack. TONS of ferrites and grounding. This has worked well near a year. Yesterday, when I tried to transmit, the connection to the radio is lost. The audio has been cutting out occasionally. I did notice lately, during startup of SmartSDR for windows, the ethernet data graph at the bottom of the screen starts at red, slowly goes to yellow and then green about 60-90 seconds later. I also notice the "blinking lights" on the ethernet jack on the radio are not blinking, like they do on the switch, PGXL and TGXL. Just one solid yellow light. They used to all blink. I have tried the "white"power button reset with no change. Sounds like the ethernet in the radio needs some kind of reboot or replacement.
ANY help is greatly appreciated. 73

Answers

  • Ted VE3TRQ
    Ted VE3TRQ Member ✭✭✭

    First thing to do is check the cables / ports that go from the switch to the radio. Cables and connections do go bad. Just on spec, replace the radio cable with another known good one. Next thing is to change to another port on the switch for the radio (assuming you have spares).

    Good luck, and remember, GB Ethernet is pretty well radio on a wire :-)

  • Daniel AA4HV
    Daniel AA4HV Member ✭✭
    Thanks for the info Ted. I have swapped out all cables, used different switch connections, replaced the switch and used different connections on it, tried a laptop with a short cable direct to the radio.....all with the same results. I was testing more, and everything works until I try to transmit. The software window for the 6600M freezes for a couple seconds, then resumes operation with the data graph at red, slowly increasing to yellow then green after 60-90 seconds.
  • KD0RC
    KD0RC Member, Super Elmer Moderator

    Hi Daniel, You may be getting RF into the radio from a different point. Try disconnecting things one at a time to see if you can identify where the RF is getting in. For a while, I had RF coming in on the cable connecting my paddles to the rig. I unplugged them and it instantly got better. I originally had a mix 43 ferrite on that line and replaced it with a mix 31. All better now!

  • Daniel AA4HV
    Daniel AA4HV Member ✭✭
    Thanks Len, I have not had any problems with RF even running the PGXL wide open digital and voice. I did think RF, so I set the power to 0 (zero) with the same results. As soon as I hit the ATU (set to zero) or tap the MOX, it errors. This is a tricky one. I was hoping someone might have a way of resetting the internal ethernet board or if there is a diagnostic for it.
  • KD0RC
    KD0RC Member, Super Elmer Moderator

    Hi Daniel, I think I would submit a help desk ticket at this point. Flex support staff are really knowledgeable about network issues.

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