SmartSDR for MAC No Panadapter on 6400 Firmware 3.3.22.10471

Hi MIke, did you get an answer to this issue? I've just tried to upgrade past 3.2.29, and I also have the same problem, tried all versions above 3.2.29 and get the same problem. ( No panadapter on 6300 ) but TX/PTT works. There is no Network traffic for Waterfall, RX Audio, and FFT in the Network Stats box...

Same problem in the upgrading of firmware to 3.4. I guess I will downgrade back to 3.2, I know that will work. I wish this would be resolved

Looks like I'm in the same predicament. I just updated my 6400 to firmware 3.4.23 and now have a solid grey panadapter. SDR for Mac seems to "see" the 6400 (e.g., I can access the Flex-6400 settings) but there is no activity. The same situation exists with SDR for iOS on my iPhone.

I'm working through suggestions with the help desk, but so far no joy. I'm also awaiting a reply from Marcus.

This may be off-topic, but might I expect the same difficulties with updating the PGXL firmware? I'm especially concerned about using an "old" utility with the new firmware.

Emmett

Have you guys reached out to Marcus the developer of the Mac version? If you got to Settings->Information and Support -> Click on 'Contact the Developer' and let him know what is going on? In my experience he is very responsive. If you go through this method to contact him it gives him version information and all that will help him. I know I've had weird issues in the past and he had me reset the settings in smartsdr for mac and it cleared he issues right up.

I am using the latest version with no issues on my Macs with a 6400 and 6400M.

73, Michael, AA5SH

I have contacted Marcus and he is recommending that I revert to version 3.2.39 until this issue is resolved. He also indicated that Flex is working on an updated firmware version (with the implication that the new version would address this issue).

Having said that, Ken is suggesting that I try to reinstall the latest version one more time; so I'm going to give that a try before I take a step back.

73

I have experienced and documented this issue, and have submitted email to the developer. Sharing the details here in case it's helpful.

After purchasing SmartSDR for Mac and using it for a couple of days, the panadaptor is now solid gray and unresponsive.     

== What I have found == 

* The radio controls still work. I cannot drag the slice receiver or interact with the panadaptor in  any way, but if I expose the "slice details" panel, I can change frequency, and the radio does respond.

* I can open DAX and CAT on a Windows machine, and can connect to the SmartSDR instance running on the Mac, and it works fine.

* I can even continue to use WSJT-X on the Windows machine, controlling the SmartSDR instance on the Mac.

* I can open SmartSDR on Windows, and it works correctly, including the panadaptor. 

* The only thing that doesn't work is the panadaptor on the Mac.

== What I have tried ==

* Powering off the radio completely and back on. This had no effect.

* Logging into the Mac as a different user - the other user has the same problem, so it is not something in my user account settings.

* Completely reinstalling MacOS. This worked, but only for a couple of days, until the panadaptor once again failed.

== What I cannot do ==

* Downgrade the radio firmware, as some have suggested. Per release notes from Flexradio for this brand new 6400, the firmware cannot be downgraded.

== Versions ==

* SmartSDR for Mac: v2.4.8

* SmartSDR Data version 4.1.6

* Radio model: 6400 (May 2023)

* Radio firmware version 3.4.23

I'm stuck.

A few things to add here, in case it helps someone else.

First, my OS version is 13.4. I should have mentioned that previously.

Second: I was able to get the panadaptor on the Mac working again by resetting the radio to factory defaults, with no changes on the Mac, or to the radio's firmware (which remains 3.4.23). I don't know what, if any, of my radio configuration settings were at issue. If others with this issue are able to try that and report back, that would be useful info.

The Windows version of SmartSDR continued to work both before and after the radio reset.

Finally, another thing I learned, which wasn't germane to my issue but can nevertheless complicate troubleshooting, is that changes to the Mac firewall configuration apparently do not always take effect until reboot. I found that setting the firewall to "block all incoming connections" did not break radio communication immediately, but did break it after reboot. Similarly, turning off "block all incoming connections" (which allows SmartSDR.app to communicate) did not restore connectivity, until I rebooted.

The firewall configuration wasn't my problem, but its behavior certainly did confound the connection between cause and effect, so just thought I'd mention it.

[ Well, that's weird; my post vanished. Sorry if it reappears and this turns out to be a dupe. ]

I hadn't thought of the display gain; I'll check that next time, thank you.

I agree about trying a different machine, and I'm trying to arrange for that. (The VM is not involved in any of this ... I only mentioned it because it's the instance that does work reliably, albeit with a performance hit.)

Just wanted to summarize here for others (and for future me, if I forget and go looking for solutions to this problem again).

So far, I haven't had this problem since I discovered two things:

• The Mac's firewall must be configured to accept inbound connections to SmartSDR. I don't like this, and I think that's a poor architecture in this day and age, but it's the way it works for now. If that isn't allowed, the application won't work.
• Equally important: I have found that changes to the Mac's firewall exceptions will usually not take effect until I reboot the machine. This, in particular, has confounded troubleshooting this issue, because things will sometimes work fine until I reboot, and then break, or vice versa, and the cause is not obvious.

Resetting the radio client ID does occasionally seem necessary, but so far, not because of this particular problem.

Hope this helps.