Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

TX1 Antenna Relay Hanging

W4EY
W4EY Member
edited June 2018 in SmartSDR for Windows
Problem just started, I have been running this setup for over three months with no problems. However, this TX1 Relay hanging problem started this week, when I switch from xmit to receive running Digital, the radio will stop xmit, with No RF shown on power meter. The FLEX but does not switch the antenna back to receiving. If I bump the Auto Antenna Tuner button the relay will switch/Jump and the FLEX switches back to normal receiving. I am running the Latest SmartSDR beta with DAX, COM4 is CAT, COM5 Shared, COM6 Dedicated and COM7 RTS for PTT. Radio RX/TX switching seems to work correctly in CW. If I operate Fldigi on Digital/RTTY configured with DAX and PTT, the TX1 relay will occasionally hang up. The panadapter signal trace showing the receive signal disappears when the relay hangs. After bumping the Auto Tuner Button it completes the switching and returns to normal receive.

Comments

  • Al_NN4ZZ
    Al_NN4ZZ Member ✭✭✭
    edited June 2018
    Bill, I have also noticed this on my 6700 recently on CW (the only mode I operate). Occasionally when I stop keying, the radio goes back into receive but there is no signal (or the signal is dramatically reduced). I noticed I can correct it by cycling the MOX button button a few times. I would describe it as acting like a dirty contact on the relay that is switching between TX and RX. (although it may be something else) It happens infrequently and initially I shut down the radio to correct it . After some experimentation I found it could be corrected by cycling the MOX button. Sometimes it takes a few cycles of the MOX button to correct. This has only been happening since V1.0.24 but that may be a coincidence. In all cases I have been using only ANT 1. Hopefully it is not a problem with hot switching a relay and burning the contacts. Regards, Al / NN4ZZ
  • W4EY
    W4EY Member
    edited November 2016
    AL: I have not noticed it on CW. I have run both latest versions of HRD DM-780 and Fldigi. The sticking relay will stick in both modes. Also, I have noticed it since the latest Beta version was installed on the FLEX. Before I sent the problem to FLEX, I uninstalled all FLEX Software (SmartSDR, SmartCAT) from my computer. Resetting the FLEX back to factory settings and reload of the software did not appear to correct the sticking relay. The antenna relay switches but it appears as you said. Dirty contacts due to the Antenna not getting connected for receiving. 73, Bill W4EY
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited March 2017
    This behavior has been entered into our bug tracker for further investigation. Thanks for the reports Bill and Al.
  • Dave-N9CHM
    Dave-N9CHM Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    This happened to me a few times tonight, SSB 75M using 1.1 version. Only using 1 panadapter and 1 slice. Signal trace showing RX signals disappears and the relay (TX1-driving Alpha 374A) RX would not come back until I bumped the VOX again.
    73, Dave

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.