Re: [Flexradio] Radio has arrived - strange operation

[Willi Reppel]

Hi Jeff,   I had the same problems before using the parallel/USB adapter. Make sure that you can hear relay clicks from the black box when stepping through the preamp. from position off to high and back to off. Each step must be accompanied by a  relay click.   Willi ----- Original Message ----- From: ab7r To: Jeff Anderson ; FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2005 6:26 AM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Radio has arrived - strange operation Something similar happened to me only when using the parallel cable.  Sometimes when turning on the radio from standby my audio level would be very low as if not connected to anything.  I would have to click some band button 1 or 2 times before I would get anything.  After returning to the parallel/USB adapter it has NOT happened at all.   Greg AB7R   -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Jeff Anderson Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 6:20 PM To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Radio has arrived - strange operation Hi Eric,   I just got home from work and ran some additional tests...   The radio continues to drop into "very low level" receive mode even at half-an-hour following power-up.     Some things that can "randomly" cause it to drop into low-level mode:   1.  Changing the preamp gain (med to hight, low to med, hi to med...etc.).  This is my most consistent method of causing the failure. 2.  Clicking MOX on/off). 3.  Changing bands (60 meters to 40 meters, for example).   Changing bands (or clicking MOX on/off) can also cause the low-level to correct itself to the normal receive level.   It can occur on different bands (80, 60, and 40 meters were the bands I checked).   Clicking the ON/Standby button twice (or any number of times) seems to have no effect.   My suspicion is that a band relay is incorrectly opening, due to...a yet-to-be-determined cause.   The Computer is still virgin - I don't even have it connected to the internet, yet.   And the only programs on it are those that were installed at FlexRadio.  Nothing is attached to the parallel port except for the radio.   - Jeff   -----Original Message----- From: Eric Wachsmann - FlexRadio [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 10:01 AM To: 'Jeff Anderson'; FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: RE: [Flexradio] Radio has arrived - strange operation Jeff,   As I recall your radio had a Dell configured with it.  We have seen the issue you described after a fresh reboot.  It seems to happen a few times and then it stops even on my production machine here.  We are not sure what causes this, but it seems like some kind of a startup situation here.  If you are seeing it past that, then it would make me wonder about other possible software interactions with the parallel port.   What other software have you loaded on the machine since it arrived?  Anything that would be polling the parallel port?  This can cause problems with our hardware as polling certain pins could prompt the radio to think it is receiving control data (thus flipping relays).  This would typically result in the receiver dropping out without any interaction from the user (seemingly random).   More info may be needed to figure out exactly what is happening.  Does it always happen on the same band?  Does going to another band always clear it up?  Does clicking the On/Standby button twice clear it up?  You can use the schematics on the private download page to trace the filter switches on the RFE, and the BPF boards.     Eric Wachsmann FlexRadio Systems     -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jeff Anderson Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 11:51 AM To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] Radio has arrived - strange operation   I received my SDR over the weekend and finally got it up and running Monday (advice to Flex-Radio:  please include DC Power cable *and* a female-to-female stereo adapter when shipping the radio.  This will save an unanticipated trip to the store and much grumbling).   Very cool radio and I'm having lots of fun playing with it and programming my ShufflePro.  However, I am experiencing an annoying problem.   Sometimes, as I step through the bands (typically I go from 40, through 60, to 80 meters, and vice-versa), the radio suddenly goes deaf (signals become very very weak).  I'll need to cycle through the bands a number of times before the signals return to their normal levels.  Very frustrating, especially when it happens a number of times throughout the evening.   My guess is that there's something flakey in the band-switching relays (flakey contacts or poor drive to a relay or incorrect relay decoding), but  I wanted to check if there were any known software bugs which might cause this problem.   If it's a problem with the relays - is there some way I can determine which one?  Which relays are turned on at what times?   Thanks!   - Jeff, WA6AHL   _______________________________________________ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz