PGXL Intermittent Reconnect Issue (FYI – my fix)

Dewey WØYWW · March 2023

My Flex setup consists of a Flex-6700 & -6600 (using latest 3.x firmware), Maestro, TGXL tuner, PGXL amp, and 4O3A 8x2 Antenna Genius switch. For several years, I’ve experienced following momentary PGXL message that appears on both front panel screen and PC app: “Reconnecting…”. The disconnect/reconnect time only takes a few seconds, and has resulted in CW or SSB QSO interruptions only a few times. It almost always occurs when PGXL is idling in either standby or operate mode, and occurs randomly about every 10-20 minutes. None of my other Flex equipment appears to experience this issue. I use the Maestro (not PC) for SSDR with my mic, keyer, speakers, & headphone connected directly to Flex radios -- only connections to Maestro are network cable and power.

All Flex-associated-equipment network connections (including PC), were connected to a Flex-dedicated Gigabit ethernet switch, which connects to a tp-link AX11000K router. Network latency values, shown on Maestro, are very low (typically 1ms). Swapping cables, ethernet switch, and router (all Gigabit-speed types), did not resolve the issue. I also added pairs of DX Engineering ISO PLUS RF Filters to each network cable, and changed to shielded network cables. Also tried using various tp-link, Linksys, and Netgear Gigabit ethernet switches, with 8 or 16-ports. All these actions neither reduced or eliminated PGXL reconnects.

The FIX: I changed the Flex-dedicated ethernet switch to a slower speed model. I now use a tp-link TL-SF1016DS(V4) unmanaged 10/100 ethernet switch ($49 from B&H Photo). Now, the TGXL, PGXL, & Antenna Genius PC apps are no longer fussy about the order in which they are powered-ON and they respond faster. Sorry so long winded... hope this might help someone.

KD0RC · March 2023

Thanks for posting this Dewey. There has been a lot of discussion about drops in the gigabit switches. Your experience corroborates what Mike, VA3MW has been saying for some time.

Sergey KN7K · March 2023

I do have "reconnect" messages as well. I do not believe everyone has to replace the 1GB network switches, but PGXL FW should be "refined" to work with 1GB switches.

Sergey

marklow · April 26

We are experiencing the same issues with TG and PG but only when connecting remotely via SmartLink Link. Locally everything including the AG works normally. Since I seldomly operate remotely, I did not know there was an issue until my cousin who operatér remotely told me he could not connect to TG or PG yesterday. I checked the ip addresses on both and realized the router assigned different addresses which didn’t effect local connections because TG and PG are setup for DHCP. But it did effect the port forwarding settings in the router assigned different addresses they both still the old addresses. I updated them to the new addresses and now he can connect but they are both randomly disconnecting and reconnecting every 30 seconds or so and the TG sometimes just sticks in reconnecting condition. I added everything FLEX to reserved addresses now. The ANTENNA Genius was just added last week so its address still matched the original router DHCP assignments. I may power everything down and reset the router and Ethernet switch and see if that helps, and maybe use different ports for TG and PG.

Mike-VA3MW · April 28

Random network disconnects are almost always a communication layer issue, and simply changing your IP address won’t fix it. Think of it like static on a phone line — even if you dial a different number, the noise on the line is still there.

Unfortunately, the internet (and even home networks) aren't like hardwired, dedicated phone lines anymore. The internet speeds up, slows down, and sometimes drops packets of information.

If a UDP packet gets dropped, it’s just gone — no retry, no apology. UDP is used for Audio and the waterfall and panadapter.
TCP packets, on the other hand, will try to retransmit if they get lost, which is more reliable but slower.
In applications like remote radio operation (especially with real-time audio like SmartLink), UDP is often preferred because speed matters more than perfection. That’s why network instability can cause random drops you’ll notice right away. TCP is used for command and control like VFO, etc.

In my own experience, the problem often isn’t the radio, the computer, or the software — it’s the network hardware, particularly switches, routers, or firewalls. It sounds like something is 'flapping' given that it is every 30 seconds or so.

I personally went through this same exact headache. I eventually solved it by upgrading my network gear:

Router/Firewall: I replaced mine with a Netgate SG-1100 running pfSense.
Switch: I swapped in a TP-Link TL-SG1024DE managed switch.

The beauty of a managed switch is that it lets you see port errors like packet loss, collisions, or bad cable connections.
For example, I could clearly see that Ports 1 and 2 were showing lots of errors — while Ports 21 and 22 (where my FlexRadio equipment is connected) were clean after I manually set them to 100Mbps Full Duplex.

Hard-coding the radio ports to 100M Full Duplex avoids auto-negotiation problems, which can sometimes cause micro-outages that really mess up streaming audio/data.

Sorry, I wish I had a better answer. You might need some help from a networking specialist to sort it out.

PGXL Intermittent Reconnect Issue (FYI – my fix)

Welcome!

Comments

Leave a Comment

Welcome!

Quick Links

Categories