Harold, I think you're on the right track. It's probably something going on with the Firewire link. That's a high-speed digital link so it's pretty sensitive to disruptions. If the software/hardware drivers, on either end of the wire, aren't sophisticated enough to recover gracefully from a problem, lockups are a common result. (I used to do data communications hardware/software for a living)
If you've connected the radio and computer with a good short ground wire/braid, the problem may not be RF. I have a Flex-3000 running with just 100 watts. But I have observed the PSDR program lockup with the same symptoms - hit stop/start and everything's fine again. Then I noticed it was happening almost every time the compressor of the little refrigerator in my shack clicked on, keeping the beer and soda cold. Apparently the power spike of the sudden load was triggering the lockup. No RF involved. Moving the refrigerator to a separate circuit solved the problem. I bet your amp draws a bit of power....worth checking if that's the problem. If you can, hook up everything with a dummy load that the amp can handle, and retry the experiments. Or try plugging things into separate AC circuits to see if that helps. Good luck, 73, /Jack K3FIV On Sun, 2009-06-21 at 12:59 -0500, Harold Rosee wrote: > I started fresh today and decided to just hook the flex up to the Bencher > Skyhawk that I have never had a bit of a problem with. The skyhawk has no > traps and is flat across 10/15/20. > > > > I tried it on those 3 bands with 100 watts and it worked fine. I played for > a while and then decided to hook in the amp, tuner, and watt meter. > > You guessed it, it locks up again. When I say lock up it's just the program > irself. If I hit stop then start all is well until I transmit again. It's > hard to know if the eadio is locking up or the program in the computer. > Almost seems like the radio since I can still work the computer just fine. > > > > If that's the case, where in the radio? Through the firewire, speaker, mic > cord? I disconnected the speakers and hit the tune button, Stilled locked > up. I hooked them back up. Then took off the mic from the from panel. Hit > tune and still locks up. > > > > Of course I can't remive the firewire so it's either getting in there or the > antenna lead. I have never had a minutes trouble of any kind with this > antenna so I guess it's the firewire cable. I just think it's getting into > the radio and not the computer. I am tempted to go get another firewire > cable but want to see what other think based on my thought process. > > > > I know this is a problem getting the flex going. I have received too many > replies. Some very defensive of the flex and wanting to make sure I know > it's bot a flex problem. Please don't go down that road with me. That does > nothing to help me get my issue corrected. I have received many others saying > they have had the same problem and fixed it by various methods, others have > returned the units and gotten their money back. It's also funny that > everyone wants to make sure I don't mention their name here in case they want > to get another in the future. > > > > All that aside and back to MY problem do you think my thoughts about are > correct? Before I can fix the problem I need to know if it'k the radio or > the computer that the RF is getting into. If it were the computer I would > think it would lock it up and I would not be able to operate the probram as I > can. Remember hitting the stop and start makes the radio come alive again. > If you agree that it may be the radio then would the firewire cable be > suspect back on my explanation above. > > > > Thanks for any help. Please give me ideas that might help. I don't need to > hear it not a Flex issue. That really doesn't matter nor help me at all. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Harold > > WA5ZZT > _______________________________________________ > 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.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: > http://www.flex-radio.com/ > _______________________________________________ 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.flex-radio.com/ Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com/
