Re: [Flexradio] Dual RX with VU5K
Tim, If the RX1 tap is not in the RF signal path why do I hear the public safety channels on RX2 when RX2 is set to 10 meters and RX1 is set to 2 meters and the Receiver 2 antenna selection is set to RX1 Tap? This is associated with the problem reported on 9/6/2011 12-16-11 on Ticket #509 / DE662. Thanks - Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
[Flexradio] RX2 CAT Control When Using CW Skimmer
I would like to use CW Skimmer on the 5000A with RX2 / VFO B. I have VAC2 set up to send RX2 audio to CWS but the band data showing up on CWS is for RX1 / VFO A. Click / Tune is changing the RX1 / VFO A. I am using DDUtil between the radio and CWS. Is there a way to set up the CAT control to CWS for RX2 / VFO B so the RX2 band data shows up on CWS and the Click / Tune will control RX2 / VFO B? Thank you- Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
Re: [Flexradio] RX2 CAT Control When Using CW Skimmer
Steve - I set up Skimmer for the DDUtil RCP / CWS port and that works. Thanks very much Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
[Flexradio] Flex 5000 VU module
I have the same problem. As I understand the low RF power output of the Flex 5000A VU module is a known defect associated with trouble ticket DE725 / SW Defect #703. Jerry _ [Flexradio] Flex 5000 VU module toddp12 Fri, 10 Aug 2012 17:18:12 -0700 I just purchased a 5000a with VU module, on 144 mhz FM output is 42watts this is into a dummy load with Bird Meter, on SSB output only 15-20 watts. Anyone else had this problem? Thanks Todd N4QWZ ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions
Gerald - Thank you for the reply, and thanks for the information on the helical filters. Here are the specific issues I was referring to: 5/27/12 Ticket #1430: The peak position data on the right side, below the panadaptor is not reading correctly. This happens when RX2 is turned on. When RX2 is off, peak position data reads correctly on RX1. This was identified as a possible bug in PSDR 2.3.5 4/25/12 Ticket #1258: VU5K 2 meter and 70 cm transmit output power is low at around 45 watts. This was turned in as software defect #703. 4/24/12 Ticket #1258: Squelch does not function on RX2 when tuned to 2 meters FM. Can't turn squelch on and off. 9/6/2011 - 12-16-11 Ticket #509 : When I have RX1 set to 2 meters (any Frequency) and RX2 set for 10M at 29.070 I am receiving a Denver, Colorado public safety FM station on RX2 ( This issue was determined to be a probable software defect, transferred to the engineering group and logged as DE662. 12-16-11 Ticket #509: During the discussion of the apparent intermod problem on RX1-2M / RX2-10M it was discovered and confirmed that the display on the console regarding the antenna configuration don't sync up and is a known bug. __ I miss the old bug tracker page on the Flexradio website. Is there any chance of seeing that return? I want to say that the technical staff on the Help Desk at FlexRadio are the absolute best. They are extremely knowledgeable of the SDR products, always go out of their way to assist and are quick to sort out the pertinent details to get to the core of a problem. I very much appreciate the assistance you have provided to me - Thank You. Jerry From: ger...@flex-radio.com [mailto:ger...@flex-radio.com] On Behalf Of Gerald Youngblood Sent: Monday, June 04, 2012 7:52 AM To: Jerry Coufal Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Hi Jerry, See notes below. Gerald Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR President and CEO FlexRadio Systems(TM) Email: ger...@flexradio.com Web: www.flexradio.com http://www.flex-radio.com/ Tune In Excitement (TM) PowerSDR(TM) is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems On Sat, Jun 2, 2012 at 8:46 PM, Jerry Coufal jerr...@comcast.net wrote: Gerald - Thanks for the response. I fully understand at some point all products, ham radio or otherwise will cease to be made. My disappointment is the VU5K is on the short end of the cycle which I believe will impact the incentive, and rightfully so, of Flexradio to work out all of the issues with the existing VU5K modules. I do appreciate your commitment to the on- going support of the VU5K but also realize it may not be practical to continue support for long. I am a capitalist down to the core, and understand the good, the bad and the ugly that goes along with it. With regard to the intermod on the VU5K 2 meter band, I guess I didn't understand that an external front end filter was required. I failed to glean that information from all the online and offline documentation as well as from the Help Desk support ticket requests I have submitted. There are always trade offs in design. In order to achieve a 1 dB NF for weak signal work on 2m, it is necessary to eliminate band pass filtering on the preamplifier input and to run high gain through the system. This makes the front end more susceptible to overload from out of band signals. A band pass filter on the input will get rid of these problems at the cost of noise figure. Can we anticipate some fixes in upcoming PSDR releases in 2012 for some of the apparent software issues associated with the VU5K? Can you detail the issues you are referring to? I am really interested to know specifically which components in the VU5K module are obsolete with no follow on replacements. Is this something that Flexradio can share with us? The sole source helical filters have become extremely difficult to get and we have had yield problems with the ones we have gotten. There is no alternate source. Thanks very much - it is fun to get to communicate with the top guy. Always glad to talk. 73, Gerald Jerry From: ger...@flex-radio.com [mailto:ger...@flex-radio.com] On Behalf Of Gerald Youngblood Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2012 6:55 PM To: Jerry Coufal Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Jerry, We will continue to support and repair the VU5K along with all our products so long as it is practical to do so. How long is that? I simply can't predict. We are still repairing the SDR-1000 that started production in 2003 and ended production in 2007. There are some parts in that radio that are no longer available but I am not aware of any we couldn't repair so far. Also, the SDR-1000 was able to benefit from the unique Tracking Notch Filters in PowerSDR that came out last year, which was 4 years after end
[Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions
Can FlexRadio tell us what component(s) is / are obsolete without viable replacement(s)? Hopefully this will not happen to the Deep Impact 6700 radios after 15 months of production. I'm a gambler and I don't like to lose, but sometimes I do. Thanks Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions
Neal: It does matter to me. I am curious. We all know what happens to discontinued products all too often sooner than later. Mike: What do you think the quantity of a large number of spares would be? Thanks Jerry ___ Flex stated that they are not going to make new VU5K assemblies past a final build, but they will keep a large number of spares available. So you already have the assurance that you are asking for. And I would also like to point out that the worlds of electronics manufacturing and machine equipment are very different. My company (automotive electronics) struggles mightily to maintain component continuity; we are constantly testing so-called drop-in replacements and tweaking designs to adjust to the reality of the components available. Unless you are in the industry, you probably do not have visibility in to how short the life-cycle of particular components can be. Silicon manufacturers compete fiercely, and are constantly churning components. There are certainly long-lived components available, but it's almost impossible to build a modern high-performance ANYTHING out of a bunch of reference parts. Mike Alexander - N8MSA amsct...@comcast.net - Original Message - From: Francisco Viegener f...@viegener.com To: Neal Campbell nealk...@me.com, Jerry Coufal jerr...@comcast.net Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 4:57:59 PM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions In my opinion, Flex need to assure to his customers a long time life of all o his product because it is part of his marketing strategy selling SDR products. A Part that cannot be available must be replaced by another, better that the new one, this is always possible, maybe it cost some money but it is possible. I have CNC machines in our factory and at least during 10 years of their life we can get replacement parts for electronic control of them. I think that the 5000A is still less than 10 years old . Anyway I am sure flex will do his best to give us support for this nice transceiver for a long time, so I am not worry at all. Francisco lu3eec Argentina -Mensaje original- De: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] En nombre de Neal Campbell Enviado el: sábado, 02 de junio de 2012 05:18 p.m. Para: Jerry Coufal CC: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Asunto: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Does it really matter which part it is? They have bought a bunch so they can continue to do repairs well into the future as well as sell one last batch. They have announced they are discontinuing the product so a detailed list really doesn't accomplish much. As my wife says, it is what it is (??) 73 Neal On Jun 2, 2012, at 2:13 PM, Jerry Coufal wrote: Can FlexRadio tell us what component(s) is / are obsolete without viable replacement(s)? Hopefully this will not happen to the Deep Impact 6700 radios after 15 months of production. I'm a gambler and I don't like to lose, but sometimes I do. Thanks Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions
Mike: Good explanation - Thank you I agree with you, intuitively this makes sense. The VU5K is now history. A sunk cost for the current owners. I suspect it won't be cost effective to repair if it did fail. It was a gamble that didn't pay out, but it's not the end of the world at $1.2k. You point out an inherent risk, short supply life of components, for newer faster moving technologies. This kind of problem could occur with many products including the follow on series 6000. For this kind of stuff I guess I just expect more of a lifetime than a couple of years. It is disappointing because the VU5K never did work correctly from day one so I haven't really used it much. There are a number of issues, like I hear more public safety channels in the 2 meter band than I hear ham radio operations. I always suspected this is more due to software boogers in the PSDR integration than with the hardware and felt these problems would be resolved with time. Now that it is being discontinued I have a whole lot less confidence of resolutions. I guess I view the VU5k analogous to the Spruce Goose. When these kinds of things occur it is hard to walk away without doing a little PM'ing. Jerry Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions amsctalx Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:55:00 -0700 Large is relative to the number of devices in the field. It's also dependent on the individual parts. It's rare for small-signal devices to fail; high-current devices will fail more often due to junction erosion, insulation failure, etc. And I can't stress enough that it's virtually impossible to design exclusively around the expected supply life of components. Silicon companies provide advisories and roadmaps, but still will discontinue (or substantially change) a component on very short notice. My company had two high-volume components, a USB transceiver and a regulator, discontinued with NO drop-in replacement within the space of a year. And these were popular components that we alone consumed tens of thousands of per year. We had to ration products and almost ran out while redesigning and qualifying replacements. Look...I am not reflexively defending Flex; I'm not a fan-boy and would be the first to call B.S. if I thought it was appropriate. But again...I do this for a living and it's getting harder every day to write and execute a product plan that takes into account the shrinking life-cycle of many critical components . Mike Alexander - N8MSA amsct...@comcast.net - Original Message - From: Robert Costa, KB6QXM kb6...@yahoo.com To: Jerry Coufal jerr...@comcast.net, flexradio@flex-radio.biz Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2012 6:18:07 PM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions A large number of spares depends on how many units have been sold and the MTBF of the identified spare parts, especially the critical parts that have been discontinued. Not a simple remove and replace, the future of the VU5k will take someone to troubleshoot the problems down to the component level. Oh joy! I just wish that Flex would have designed around the long lead time parts. They did not, so the ones that own the VU5k will have to deal with the circumstance and hope that their module does not fail. 73, Robert KB6QXM Ham Radio Open Conversation Yahoo group owner/moderator - Reply message - From: Jerry Coufal jerr...@comcast.net To: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Date: Sat, Jun 2, 2012 3:00 pm Neal: It does matter to me. I am curious. We all know what happens to discontinued products all too often sooner than later. Mike: What do you think the quantity of a large number of spares would be? Thanks Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions
Gerald - Thanks for the response. I fully understand at some point all products, ham radio or otherwise will cease to be made. My disappointment is the VU5K is on the short end of the cycle which I believe will impact the incentive, and rightfully so, of Flexradio to work out all of the issues with the existing VU5K modules. I do appreciate your commitment to the on- going support of the VU5K but also realize it may not be practical to continue support for long. I am a capitalist down to the core, and understand the good, the bad and the ugly that goes along with it. With regard to the intermod on the VU5K 2 meter band, I guess I didn't understand that an external front end filter was required. I failed to glean that information from all the online and offline documentation as well as from the Help Desk support ticket requests I have submitted. Can we anticipate some fixes in upcoming PSDR releases in 2012 for some of the apparent software issues associated with the VU5K? I am really interested to know specifically which components in the VU5K module are obsolete with no follow on replacements. Is this something that Flexradio can share with us? Thanks very much - it is fun to get to communicate with the top guy. Jerry From: ger...@flex-radio.com [mailto:ger...@flex-radio.com] On Behalf Of Gerald Youngblood Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2012 6:55 PM To: Jerry Coufal Cc: flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions Jerry, We will continue to support and repair the VU5K along with all our products so long as it is practical to do so. How long is that? I simply can't predict. We are still repairing the SDR-1000 that started production in 2003 and ended production in 2007. There are some parts in that radio that are no longer available but I am not aware of any we couldn't repair so far. Also, the SDR-1000 was able to benefit from the unique Tracking Notch Filters in PowerSDR that came out last year, which was 4 years after end of manufactuing. That is pretty unusual for a 9 year old radio that is out of production. Everyone needs to understand that 100% of the products from all amateur radio vendors will cease to be made at some point in time. Some soon and some later. Component life cycles are turning faster than ever and it is utterly immpossible to plan. End of life of a critical component can happen with little more than a few months notice and you are forced to make a lifetime buy if even available. It is simply a fact of life in our business. On another note. The reason you are hearing public safety is that the VU5K is designed for very weak signal work. It has a 1 dB noise figure on 2m, which is achieved with high gain and a preamp without input preselection. If you put a bandpass filter on the front end it will cost you a little sensitivity but will get rid of the intermod. There are always tradeoffs like these. 73, Gerald On Saturday, June 2, 2012, Jerry Coufal wrote: Mike: Good explanation - Thank you I agree with you, intuitively this makes sense. The VU5K is now history. A sunk cost for the current owners. I suspect it won't be cost effective to repair if it did fail. It was a gamble that didn't pay out, but it's not the end of the world at $1.2k. You point out an inherent risk, short supply life of components, for newer faster moving technologies. This kind of problem could occur with many products including the follow on series 6000. For this kind of stuff I guess I just expect more of a lifetime than a couple of years. It is disappointing because the VU5K never did work correctly from day one so I haven't really used it much. There are a number of issues, like I hear more public safety channels in the 2 meter band than I hear ham radio operations. I always suspected this is more due to software boogers in the PSDR integration than with the hardware and felt these problems would be resolved with time. Now that it is being discontinued I have a whole lot less confidence of resolutions. I guess I view the VU5k analogous to the Spruce Goose. When these kinds of things occur it is hard to walk away without doing a little PM'ing. Jerry Re: [Flexradio] VU5K End of Production Notice Questions amsctalx Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:55:00 -0700 Large is relative to the number of devices in the field. It's also dependent on the individual parts. It's rare for small-signal devices to fail; high-current devices will fail more often due to junction erosion, insulation failure, etc. And I can't stress enough that it's virtually impossible to design exclusively around the expected supply life of components. Silicon companies provide advisories and roadmaps, but still will discontinue (or substantially change) a component on very short notice. My company had two high-volume components, a USB transceiver and a regulator, discontinued with NO drop-in replacement within the space of a year
[Flexradio] Game Changer
Deep Impact is ready for release? ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
[Flexradio] VAC 4.11 with PSDR Mono/Stereo
I installed VAC 4.11 and it works great. One thing I noticed when using VAC 4.11 with JT65-HF, I had to check the Mono/Stereo box in the PSDR VAC window to get both left and right audio inputs to the JT65-HF application (1.0.9.3). When using VAC 4.09 the Mono/Stereo box was always left unchecked but I still had both left and right audio inputs to JT65-HF. I don't understand why this changed but VAC 4.11 works great with JT65-HF when the Mono/Stereo box is checked. Jerry / WB0DEK ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
[Flexradio] KNB-FlexControl USB Tuning Knob / Contour ShuttlePro V2
What are the differences between the KNB-FlexControl USB Tuning Knob and the Contour ShuttlePro V2? Thanks very much Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
[Flexradio] RX1 audio gain and (DIGL/DIGU Mode) RX Gain
I have a 5000a (v2.0.22) and running FLDIGI with VAC in the DIGL/DIGU modes. The RX1 audio gain and the RX Gain (DIGL/DIGU Mode) controls interact when setting the level to FLDIGI. Is there a way to not have the RX1 audio gain control interact with the RX Gain control while the DIGL/DIGL modes are selected? Thanks very much Jerry ___ FlexRadio Systems Mailing List FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexradio%40flex-radio.biz/ Knowledge Base: http://kc.flexradio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flexradio.com/
