





K6OZY, Elmer
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Posted 3 years ago
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The large white relay nearest the camera has 3 leads that missed being soldered.
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
- 9153 Posts
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One can tell by the soldering it was manually completed. Be that as it may, the electrical connections do not really care about manual / machine soldered therefore I suggest touching these up.
Here they use bino-view microscope for this sort of work and verify all connections. In addition one can use JTAG testing to also verify shorts / opens on a PWB. Setting up the JTAG testing is not difficult but it can find problems in netlist before production as well as PWB mfg problems. If I may be so bold and *highly* recommend using JTAG testing.
_..--
Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
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Best,
Tim
- 656 Posts
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- 656 Posts
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Aside from the filters, is there a list of functionality available for this?
Tnx
Greg
- 495 Posts
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Thanks & 73,
Barry N1EU
- 656 Posts
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There should also be two BCD ouputs (one for each "radio") and possibly an icom CIV port so the system can be used with those amps as well. It may possibly be that the AMP1 and AMP2 ports can be software configurable for either BCD or RS232.
So it looks like this covers the amps but nothing for 2x6 or 2x? antenna switching.
- 41 Posts
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Barry N1EU
- 3040 Posts
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Maybe that was considered and rejected or, perhaps, not considered at all.
- 104 Posts
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- 50 Posts
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The only thing I want to be sure is that I ́m able to use different antennas for RX/TX 1 and RX/TX 2, as I ́m using monobanders that are switched automatically with a 2x6 Antenna Switch.
If I ́m not wrong, the 6300 and 6500 are actually only able to work with 1 antenna on RX mode at a time (when you have more than one slice opened, all of them RX from the same antenna), I ́m very curious of how this board will allow to use 2 different antennas for RX/TX.
I know there was more information about this board on the flex insider newsletter, but I was not subscribed (now I am!) so if someone can give more light to the 2 antenna functionality it will be more than welcome.
Is there a way to access old Flex Insider Newsletters, or can someone send me this newsletter again? ea2ot(at)yahoo.com
Thank you!
Jon, EA2OT
- 495 Posts
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Barry N1EU
- 495 Posts
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Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
- 1045 Posts
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- Simultaneous receive and transmit band-pass filtering. When you transmit on one band and receive on the other, both the transmitter and receiver will pass through a band-pass filter to ensure the best isolation between the TX/RX.
- Additional antenna input. When the box is hooked to an existing FLEX-6000, in "consumes" the ANT1 output of the radio and provides in return an ANT3 and ANT4 input. Form this point forward, this provides an extra antenna input
- Dual resonant antenna receive even on single SCU radios. The additional antenna ports (ANT3 & ANT4) are band filtered then combined when in receive and sent to the single SCU in the radio. This allows for two antenna reception on radios that have a single SCU.
- BCD band data output for two bands at the same time
- Two sets of keying, ALC and TXREQ (inhibit) that may be connected to two disparate amplifiers allowing each of the two bands being worked simultaneously to have an amplifier connected
- Transporter bypass to allow connection and use of a tranverter(s) when not operating in SO2R mode
- Software to support full SO2R operation with a single FLEX-6000 radio.
The objective of the SO2R box is to enable the many single-op contesters to become more competitive by enabling SO2R capability at a price point that is far lower than the current bar with other radios (more than 2x the cost of a single op station). So the other indirect benefit is that the requirement for an external box to control two radios is no longer required. For example, today if you used two radios for SO2R, you would need to plug your single microphone and paddles into a box that will switch them between two radios. For any sort of CW or voice keying you also needed to use this box to handle this capability. By providing SO2R capability in a single radio, none of this extra external equipment is required.
- 50 Posts
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This sounds really good! I will have lot of stuff to sell when this board will be available: 1 radio, 2 bandpass filter boxes, and one SO2R box!
I hope it will be available very soon. Lot of contesters I know are waiting for something like this from a long time ago, so I think FlexRadio will have lots of new customers when this board will come to life.
Keep up the good work guys.
Jon, EA2OT
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Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
- 1045 Posts
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Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
- 1045 Posts
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- 193 Posts
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Am really glad that flex are. Doing so much to help us contesters up our game on so2r so we can take full advantage of the superior rx filtering and bandscope etc which we already enjoy. I have tried so2r with my ft1000d and pro3 but found the microham mk2r+. So2r box too fiddly to set up for data work , and therefore am currently just using my 6500 in so2v mode with the second slice. Works well but. The so2r ability to search and pounce on one band whilst cqing on the run band is a major advantage. ( once you get over the learning curve!) so I am keen to get back on it .
As one of the few people in uk using flex 6000 radio for VHF and HF contesting I would be happy to volunteer to test the new unit when it's finalised
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Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
- 1045 Posts
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Some loggers / software have already switched. This is really a decision for the particular logger or other software team. The key benefits to switching are more precise control and the ability to see and do more things (you could measure power out, show panadapters, use more than two slices, etc). But we're recently updated CAT (due out in v1.6) to provide more functionality for contest loggers which will also enhance the integration and functionality. More than most, we certainly understand that every team working on software has to decide where to invest and the benefits of that investment and we respect that every team needs to make their own decision based on their priorities.
Thanks for your offer to help with testing, Steve!
- 193 Posts
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- 193 Posts
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Also, as I contest on 6m and 4m (via tvtr port) is it possible to plug two different 6m yagis ( with some distance between them and facing say NE and SE ) into the so2r box ports 3 and 4 , so I can receive in two directions at same time? And then choose which antenna to tx on ?
If the box is not quite in final version is it possible to enable tx onto both port 3 and 4 at the same time so I could split the tx on 6m equally between the two ports and feed two amps , one on each antenna , to two different directions at same time , and (ideally) choose to rx just 3 or just 4 or one in each ear as I currently do with so2v? That would really be the icing on the cake for me as it would replicate what we currently have to do with external relays and two radios in VHF field day on 2 4 and 6m . To be competitive on VHF in uk you really need to be able to feed tx into two antennas or stacks with an amp on both and then rx on both antennas with the ability to switch rx so both ears are on one stack or the other once it's been established which direction the caller is calling from, currently we use a lot of external. Audio switching with two operators to achieve this with two traditional radios. If flex can make this possible with the so2r box and software enhancements in ssdr it will be a major advantage and selling point to VHF and UHF. Contesters ..
Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
- 1045 Posts
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In band SO2R is all about the separation between the antennas and the isolation in the radio. I recommend using ANTx for one and XVTR or RXA/B for the other antenna port as the isolation is ~50dB higher. The best thing to do is just try it at 1W and see what kind of levels you have in the receiver with your setup. The radio is calibrated at 1W so you should be able to calculate the isolation easily knowing that your power output is very close to +30dBm.
Also, as I contest on 6m and 4m (via tvtr port) is it possible to plug two different 6m yagis ( with some distance between them and facing say NE and SE ) into the so2r box ports 3 and 4 , so I can receive in two directions at same time? And then choose which antenna to tx on ?
You could do this on a FLEX-6700, but on a 6500 and 6300 you cannot predict the phase difference in time of arrival of the signal to different antennas. This will depend on multipath and the direction of travel (which antenna gets hit first and how long in advance). You could easily end up with a net gain on one signal while cancelling out the signal right next to it and you would never know it. In other words, the same signal on the two antennas could hit the combiner 180-degrees out of phase and exactly cancel out before it gets to the receiver.
If the box is not quite in final version is it possible to enable tx onto both port 3 and 4 at the same time so I could split the tx on 6m equally between the two ports and feed two amps , one on each antenna , to two different directions at same time , and (ideally) choose to rx just 3 or just 4 or one in each ear as I currently do with so2v?
This is beyond the scope of what we will be doing with this box. I really think it would be better to have to phase coherent transmitters that you can drive independently to alter the polarization.
- 104 Posts
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On the two 6m antenna query i can understand your point if they were receiving the same signal but if they are two sharpish 7 ele long boom yagis facing ne and se from my position here on west coast of Wales, i would not usually hear a signal from se on the ne facing yagi and visa versa - so in that situation with new port 3 and 4 could i not hear both directions in full duplex and one to left ear and one to right?
Since my upgrade from 6300 to 6500 I now have the option of trying in band so2r on 4m with the 10m if tvtr feeding one yagi for tx and the second yagi on port a for listening and search and pounce to fill my n1mmplus bandmap on the second yagi in a different direction. I havnt had time to test this yet but will line up different beacons on both antenns in different directions to see if it works in fdx mode.
On the 6700 i can see the upgrade to that would enable me on 6m or hf to rx on two different antennas for diversity on a and b port with the two scu. Diversity is a facility which may lead me to sell the 6500 and buy a new 6700. Is it possible with the 6700 for the tx drive to be equally split between the two ports or does the physical design inside prevent this ever being allowed ? - in which case i would need to split the tx from a single port via an external system as we currently do on vhf fd.
I appreciate your time in answering these queries as it helps me decide whether the new box is the way to go or an upgrade to 6700.
Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
- 1045 Posts
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There is no built-in mechanism to split the RF output across two antennas in the FLEX-6700.
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Dual resonant antenna receive even on single SCU radios. The additional antenna ports (ANT3 & ANT4) are band filtered then combined when in receive and sent to the single SCU in the radio. This allows for two antenna reception on radios that have a single SCUI suspect this is a stretch, but could this potentially allow stereo diversity reception (listening to one signal simultaneously through two antennas) on a single SCU radio?
Barry N1EU
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Steve - N5AC, VP Engineering / CTO
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Dave
K1DLM
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Thank you very much
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Ria - N2RJ, Elmer
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Chris Tate - N6WM, Elmer
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Chris Tate - N6WM, Elmer
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Ria - N2RJ, Elmer
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Ria - N2RJ, Elmer
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