Re: [Flexradio] Radio has arrived - strange operation

[Eric Wachsmann - FlexRadio]

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