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The features list says that antenna switching is part of 1.0. Doesn't work for me.

K2CM
K2CM Member ✭✭
edited September 2019 in SmartSDR for Windows
Have two slices open. Want Ant-1 on first slice, Ant-2 on 2nd slice. How do I do it?

Answers

  • George KF2T
    George KF2T Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2019
    Running a 6500 or 6700? Antenna selection goes to the SCU ("receiver" board). Since the 6500 only has one, only one antenna at a time may be used. Hope that helps.
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited March 2017
    As George said, this is only applicable for the FLEX-6700 as the FLEX-6500 has only one SCU. Put antenna 1 on ANT-1 and antenna 2 on ANT-2 Open two panadapters In panadater 1, put both Slice A and the panadapter on ANT-1 (SCU1) Create a 2nd panadapter and slice B in it. In panadater 2, put both Slice B and the panadapter on ANT-2 (SCU2) With the following configuration, both the panadapter and it associated slice receiver are on separate SCUs.
  • K2CM
    K2CM Member ✭✭
    edited September 2019
    One slice open. Change antenna 1 to antenna 2. Doesn't change.
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    Are you changing the antenna for both RX and TX? It works on my 6700
  • K2CM
    K2CM Member ✭✭
    edited September 2019
    Found the issue. At the top of the freq/filter box, there are antenna selections that you can click on. These do nothing. Clicking on the ANT selection on the side of the screen does switch the antenna correctly. I was clicking on the ANT selection in the filter box which shows a different antenna; but, does nothing.
  • K2CM
    K2CM Member ✭✭
    edited September 2019
    Note that when clicking on the "ANT" button from 1 to 2, the filter box still shows ANT 1. I believe that this should follow the ANT selection.
  • George KF2T
    George KF2T Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Those selectors allow switching the RX antenna (blue) and TX antenna (red) separately. They work on my 6500 with SSDR 1.0. You may not always hear a relay click, but I do believe there is switching happening. You can verify transmit by checking the SWR in both settings. Good luck!
  • Andrew VK5CV
    Andrew VK5CV Member ✭✭
    edited February 2017
    On my 6500 with 2 antennas connected the Ant switch on the side bar only changes the RX antenna. I need to select the TX antenna in the slice flag red menu. Sometimes I do like to use different antennas on RX and TX but I would like the default to be the same one.
  • Scott - K7DSH
    Scott - K7DSH Member
    edited March 2017
    Tim, maybe you can tell me what's happening on my 6700. Two panadapters open and one slice on each on different bands. One slice receiving on ANT1 and the other on ANT2. The slice with the active TX looks and sounds normal. The other slice seems extra quiet. When the TX is switched to the other slice the signal strength jumps up 3 or 4 S units. The other slice drops 3 or 4 S units. Switching back and forth makes them go up and down. Sometimes when changing the TX ANT these same results happen. The most disappointing thing is that eventually the radio become unresponsive. The audio is heard on the last frequency but moving the slider or trying any other function changes nothing. The audio of the last frequency is till heard. After shutting down smartsdr the audio is still heard. When trying to start smartsdr again it says the connection was lost. Shutting down the 6700 and starting over is the only thing that works. Any ideas what's happening? Windows 7 AMD 8-core CPU CPU usage seldom goes over 5% Smart SDR 1.0
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    Got it. Can anyone else confirm this behavior?
  • Scott - K7DSH
    Scott - K7DSH Member
    edited November 2014
    Just trying something else. One panadapter open with one slice. Both receiver and tx ant are ANT2. Sounds great, sound normal. Changing the TX ant from ANT2 to ANT1 the S-units drop 5 units. The floor drops from -96 to -120.
  • K2CM
    K2CM Member ✭✭
    edited September 2019
    It still is not clear to me as to what is happening. Can someone supply a chart describing the combinations of both antenna selections? If the sidebar selection is for receive, shouldn't it say receive? If the filter box selection is for transmit, shouldn't it say transmit selection? Am I the only one who is uncertain of what happens with the selections? To switch a slice from one antenna yo another, do I have to perform two selections?
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    We have made some improvements in the antenna switching that will be in the next release of SmartSDR. It is possible that a maintenance release will be forthcoming before SmartSDR v1.1 so can you wait until it comes out to see if it corrects some of the issues you are experiencing?
  • K2CM
    K2CM Member ✭✭
    edited November 2016
    Yup can wait, no problem.
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    Thank you
  • Scott - K7DSH
    Scott - K7DSH Member
    edited November 2014
    Tim, I wouldn't mind waiting for the maintenance release to see if it resolved these issues. How soon are you expecting this release? I'm really concerned about my radio becoming unresponsive so often. Losing connection between radio and computer. It occurs even when connected directly to the computer. Any ideas about this? Any connection to the antenna switching problems? I'll play around with it more so I can explain it better.
  • Scott - K7DSH
    Scott - K7DSH Member
    edited March 2017
    Tim, The problems still persist with v1.0.5. I don't know if this was the maintenance release that you were talking about. Is there anyone with a 6700 that can duplicate this behavior?
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    Scott, thanks for waiting to test with SmartSDR v1.0.5. It is time to open a HelpDesk ticket (http://helpdesk.flexradio.com) so we can investigate this issue with you one-on-one

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