Popping on All Flex radios.

As far as i heard, or read in other threads, this seems to be related to the current Server issues. I will probably give it a try tonight. I did not like to talk last time due to mid heavy covid infection. Since about Feb. I never get anything else than "Perfect Audio" reports , so i also curious on this.

There was a similar issue with Audio distortions some month long from mid 22 to early 23 and this dissapeared after an update. Cant remeber what version issued , and which cured.

Harry DL9NDW

Tom, are you and the other people you are talking about, all using SmartLink? Or, is the popping that you were hearing on direct ,local connections to your radio? I have heard popping occasionally on my 6600M. But, I put it off to something local cycling on and off.

James

WD5GWY

I have been noticing this popping as well. It has become very noticeable after upgrading to 2.10.0. Same symptoms as reported by the OP in this tread. Rebooting everything does not help. Other stations tell me it sounds like a loose microphone cable. I also notice it on FT8 transmit and receive. On transmit it causes a short spike in output power.

My station consists of 6600, PGXL, TGXL, and AGXL. All software is current except I haven't tried 10.1 yet. I do not use Smartlink.

Flex- Once you get the Smartlink issues resolved Please look into this popping issue. After running a local net this weekend I am seriously thinking about dragging my old FT1000 out of the closet and using it! (Don't really want to do this, hi).

While you are at it, please fix the VOX function. Mine hasn't ever worked like it should.

73, Mark K5XH

Greetings - I run only FT8 now and I've seen the popping (I call hiccupping) on my Flex 6400. See attached spectrum picture where the popping shows up as a wide spectrum burst. I thought there might be an intermittent connection in my antenna/transmission lines, but this happens even transmitting into a dummy load.

FT8 is resilient, and I am still making contacts, but I don't like running the radio if it's generating this kind of noise across the band!

I'm watching this thread closely hoping for some tips to fixing this problem!

Many thanks to anyone who can supply more info ...

73 to all -- Dave, N7DK, david@leeper.com

I've been following this thread and I've never experienced the popping on any band or mode reported by posters. Maybe its the way I'm set up.

1. very fast W11 with 12th gen I5, 16G DDR4, 1T M2 SSD - DPC's - never felt the need to check, using 8-10% of CPU.
2. Direct ethernet to computer - no network connection to 6400 - link is solid green.
3. Latest SSDR 3.5.9
4. Mostly CW op QSK

Pretty bare bones.

Right now I'm hearing what could be called popping but its lightning and goes away without antenna.

I have to believe the bare bones config has been tried and others still have the popping, maybe.

A few clarifications on Clicking (Tx) and Popping (Rx).

The Flex radio registers with the SmartLink server. It does not matter if you have the radio currently registered or have never had it registered. Under normal operation, there is a 3 packet exchange every 30 seconds between the radio and the SmartLink server. The packet exchange can be viewed with Wireshark. This exchange includes the IP of the Flex radio. (You can contact me off-net if you want the set-up details.)

The “Radio IP registration always active” was also confirmed by Flex. Ticket SMART-9754 will address this issue and there is the intent to provide an option where the radio would not try to register. Users who want to use their radio only in local mode could use this, minimizing complexity and reducing SmartLink traffic. I think this option would be a good enhancement and benefit both local users (simplicity) and remote users (less SmartLink traffic).

(FYI: My mic audio and speaker audio go directly in/out of the back of the radio and do not travel over my local network.)

Radio on a release prior to v3.5.9:

If your radio is NOT running v3.5.9 and tries to register with SmartLink (v3.5.9), a long exchange of roughly 21 packets takes place every 5 seconds associated with attempted registration. About half the time this caused Rx audio popping on my 6600. I usually have to turn up the volume to hear it. Additionally, another group of 25 packet exchanges (many RST’s) seems to occur every 50 seconds. This exchange does not seem to cause any Rx audio issues.

During the initial SmartLink issue (Sept 4 and 5) when the security certificate had expired, there was extensive TX audio clicking on SSB. We had this on multiple Flex radios and I also received similar reports from other users. I also observed this behavior in the fall of 2022 when there was a problem with SmartLink. Disconnecting from the Internet caused it to immediately cease. I suspect CW and FT8 would also have had issues.

Radio on v3.5.9:

If your radio is on v3.5.9, a simple exchange of 3 packets takes place every 30 seconds. No Rx popping is observed. However, I have randomly seen an exchange of 18 packets occurring every 10 seconds. When this happens, the Rx popping starts.  Perhaps this is related to Server congestion as it seems to be occurring less frequently.

I suggest users do one of the following:

1.      Upgrade to v3.5.9 so a valid certificate exchange can take place.

2.       If you prefer to stay on an older version, connect the radio to your PC with a direct cable between the PC and the radio. When connecting this way, the radio will not attempt to connect to SmartLink. I have not observed Tx Clicking or Rx popping in this configuration where the radio does not have connectivity to the Internet.  When I have problems, I drop back to this configuration and my Tx and RX issues immediately stop.

Interesting Erik.

When I filter on the SmartLink IP (a 23. addr), I see the 3 packet sequence. Another user that has SmartLink sees the same 3 packet sequence. Although I had my radio reqistered at one time, I have deregistered it in SmartSDR (confirmed with the PTT) and the screen indicates radio is not registered.

What devise are you using to monitor the traffic for SmartLInk?

I have watched my 6600M using Wireshark and have only seen the radio ping the update server on startup. ( I don't use SmartLink) Afterwards, there is no activity outside my home network and then, only if I am running SmartSDR on a pc attached to my network. The only popping ( as some have reported) was atmospheric noise related to thunderstorms. I have disconnected my antenna and attached the coax to a dummy load. Again, no popping at all for hours at a time. I can disconnect the radio from my home network and run it standalone and still no popping or any indication that it is trying to connect to SmartLink or any outside network.

I believe that if you have registered to SmartLink, and not updated to the latest version of SmartSDR, that it will cause problems not only locally, but to the SmartLink Authentication servers. I updated to v3.5.9 simply to keep my radio up to date. ( and hopefully a hidden gem in the mix as well) But, overall, my experience has been positive with this update.

I believe it would help everyone if Flex Radio were to give a better explanation of how SmartLink and the radio's interact ( as well as the update servers) and how often the radio does attempt to check for updates and for SmartLink users, how often and when does the radio actually try to connect to the SmartLink server. In my way of thinking, SmartLink shouldn't be pinged by the radio until the user attempts a connection. ( logging in)

I can see the reason for the update ping on startup. But, anything else doesn't make sense to me.

James

WD5GWY

We MUST be given an option to 100% disable SmartLink. For those of us who run locally only (has to be most users) there should be ZERO contact with Flex (other than perhaps an update check, which we should be able to disable as well).

There is absolutely no need for the radio to phone home EVER if operated locally. This became especially evident when this network issue (the expired cert) causes issues with radios used only locally. This is a design flaw that is simple rectify by disable any and all remote contact for radios used locally.

You can run your 6600M completely standalone without any internet connection at all.

You can even connect it to a local network with no internet connection and it will function without any problems. The radio does not depend on having an internet connection. If it tries to ping the update server and doesn't get a response or doesn't detect a connection to the internet, it will bypass the check for updates and continue to bootup and operate without any problems. I know guys who only connect their 6000 series radios to the internet when someone tells them there's a new version of SmartSDR out.

James

WD5GWY

If you update to the latest version of SmartSDR and use SmartLink, it will work. Updating to the latest version and then rolling back to a previous version puts you right back to having problems with SmartLink as the Certificates on the radio and the SmartLink Authentication servers no longer match. You have to use the latest version of SmartSDR in order for SmartLink to work properly. Rolling back is not an option to use SmartLink.

If people are doing that, then they are causing the problems they are experiencing. Not, SmartLink or Flex Radio.

James

WD5GWY

It's surprising that you should have to log in to sign out of SmartLink. Is there not a selection where you aren't automatically logged/signed in all the time till you log out and signout? I would think once you log out you would be signed out until you go to connect to SmartLink again.

I guess it's like a web browser remembering your username and password once you first save it. Time saving till a new version of the browser comes along.

James

WD5GWY