Re: [Flexradio] Automatic antenna selection amp keying with the Flex 5000
I'm interested in the same thing for my Flex-1500. Switching between transverters shouldn't require flopping manual switches. Someone was working on a board called the MOASU or mother of all switching units. I think it was someone associated with the grid pirates, but I may be confused. I tried to order one of these from the group that was making them but if I remember right the batch of boards was stuck in storage somewhere and unaccessible. If I remember correctly some engineering was required to make it all work but it at least did handle a large amount of IF RF lines and key lines. I'm currently looking at using the Elecraft KRC2 Band Decoder to control two of the six position top ten band switches. This only takes care of six positions for both the RF and key lines and while it isn't very elegant my hope is that it will work, be slightly turn-key, and easily usable for all of my VHF+ transverters. Please do let us know what you find to solve this issue. I'd love to have a working solution that allowed easy band runs from 6m to 24g. Thanks, Eric, KR0VER At 01:04 PM 1/22/2013, John Swink wrote: I have a Flex 5000 + RX2 + ATU + VU and am using four 4-position manual coax switches to select from 13 antennas covering 160 meters to 70 centimeters. I would like to replace these manual switches with some electrically operated switches that will allow selection of the proper antenna and key the required amp as the band is changed on the Flex. The antenna form in PSDR does not have the capacity to handle the number of combinations I require. I seem to recall that someone once made a board or boards that in conjunction with Flexwire and DDUtil provided more options. I have searched the Knowledge Center without success. Since the Flexradio Wiki is not operating, I was unable to search it. Does anyone know if those boards are still available, who supplied them and the instructions for setting up and operating them? Thanks. John, N8WNA ___ 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 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] Flex 1500 with 2m transverter
I've used the Flex-1500 with almost every transverter DEMI makes, from 6m to 10G while VHF+ roving in the ARRL VHF+ contests. If there are any negatives, it'd be the same for any other SDR. Dependance on the health of the laptop while roving is a prerequisite that I didn't have with a turnkey knob IF rig. You may also have to adjust to the reduced bandscope width. The intentionally weak RF of the XVTR/COM port is great for low power IF use and helps me save my batteries while driving amps off the transverters. The low power also insures I'm not harming the transverters as I'm madly flipping bands. The ability to lock all the transverters and the 1500 to the same common 10Mhz reference signal makes band changes spot on, which reduces the need to tweak the big knob to bring the QSO on frequency. (One issue I used to have was the bandscope audio going dead and not returning, if the 1500 lost power with pSDR still running. This appears to have since been fixed, and now all I have to do is reboot pSDR and cycle the 1500. Thanks to whoever fixed that one!!!) I really like the flex-1500 as a weak signal IF. It's all good. If mine got fried, I'd order another pretty much without question. Thanks, kr0ver/r At 12:20 PM 9/11/2012, Terry Maurice wrote: I am considering purchasing a Flex 1500 to use with my Kuhne TR 144 H +40 transverter for 2m weak signal work. I would appreciate comments from anyone who has had experience with using the Flex 1500 with transverters as to whether or not this is a feasible weak signal system. What are the positives and the negatives of such a combination? I presently have a Flex 5000A with the VU5K module installed, but this module does not allow the connection of other 2m or 70cm transverters. Thanks Terry -- *VE3XTM* EN93un May the propagation be with you. ___ 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 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] FLEX 1500 Power Output Observations
You are not alone!! I have noticed this behavior on my 1500 as well. I'm guessing there is an issue with the xverter power levels that isn't getting translated or set back the way it should when switching between xverter port and standard antenna port. My solution was to use the same port for all TX/RX and switch things externally between the transverters. You can also get a 28-50 xverter(I have several DEMIs) so the 1500 stays at 28mhz out the entire time. This is an additional layer/cost/complication, but you get the higher RX capabilities of the pre-amp in the transverter. There needs to be some additional work focused in this area before the 1500 is the killer xverter driver it's been billed as(I still LOVE my 1500). Until that gets sorted, I've set the 1500 to 28mhz in/out, at a single power level and I just leave it there. At 08:20 PM 6/13/2012, Ronald Bergantzel wrote: Hello !! I was wondering if anyone noticed the following changing power output conditions. After running 6 meters using the regular RF output port ,then switch VFOs , the power out on 2 meters(using XVRTR COM port )is lower UNTILL I CHANGE the RF output slider down and back to 100 (the RF power then stays at the normal setting until I change bands). I notice this occurs on both Power SDR versions - 2.02.2 and 2.3.5 but at varied amounts Has anyone else noticed this on their '1500 ? I have the XVRTR setting RF output set at 100 Is there any other setting that I am missing ?? Any suggestions would be appreciateed - 73s !! Ron KA0RYT ___ 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 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] Flex 1500 and DEMI transverter questions
Not sure if all of this is RIGHT but here's what I've been doing. I have used the 1500 to power my DEMI transverters using both the xvtr/c and the main antenna. The transverters I ordered directly from DEMI, pre-configured for the flex 1500 xverter/c port ,were setup by them (DEMI) to handle +10dbm which works fine with the 1500 xverter/c port. Using this setup I am getting full power out from the transverters, which seems to indicate that the setup is correct. Make sure you set the transverter power level to 100% on both the xverter tab, and the main page. I've had one page/setting not impact the other for whatever reason. You may have to open up the transverter and tweak the TX pot for full output, they seem to come conservatively low from the factory. I have also, in the past, used the 5W main antenna port to drive transverters that weren't yet configured to run at lower IF levels. The transverter functions work fine on the 5W port since the antenna settings are independent of the xverter settings. Setup your xverter maths correctly under the xverters tab, then select the main antenna using the antenna settings. I've used this configuration to drive both DEMI 222 and 6m xverters at 5W. I've since stopped doing this, because the xverters are just eating up this extra power with attenuation and this seemed like a waste of power, which is something I try to limit, running 10 bands mobile. I've done this using the transverter conversions, but worst case, you can always set the 1500 to 10M and do the math in your head. (28.1 == 222.1) Just turn the big knob till you hear 222 calling freq. (I'll agree seeing 222.1 is the way to go.) Good luck, kr0ver At 01:15 PM 4/29/2012, WM3M wrote: Is the max output power on the Flex 1500 XVTX/C antenna port approximately one (1) mw? I have a Flex 1500,with PowerSDR 2.3.5 and a DEMI 222/28 transverter set up for 5 watt input. I assume there is no way to increase this output to work with the my DEMI as it is currently configured? Also, as best I can tell, the transverter functions on the 1500 and PSDR only work using the transverter antenna ports? I could use the 5 watt 1500 antenna port but not be able to use the transverter conversions. Emory WM3M ___ ___ 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] 1500 bandscope flatline and no audio
PSDR 2.2.3 or 2.1.5 on a 32 bit windows XP HP laptop. Launch PSDR, it finds the flex-1500 ok, and appears to start ok. When I press the start button, I get a flatlined bandscope and no audio.. Any ideas how to resolve this? I've run repair.bat from the 32bit driver directory without result. Having this happen @ home is bad, having it happen while out roving is catastrophic. Since this seems to occur on a semi-regular basis, I could use a reliable fix. Thanks, kr0ver ___ 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] 222 MHz Optimum Setup
I have the older DEMI 222-28 and the newer unit. I can confirm that the newer unit is quicker to stabilize on frequency and seems to have better sensitivity. I'm driving mine with at 1500 via the xverter port. So far so good. Two more transverters to go and I'll have an all DEMI 10 band rover driven by the 1500. After that, I'm going to work on getting the 10M ref locked LO into as many of them as I can so band switches are spot on frequency. I can't wait to get rid of the 910h and be all SDR from 6m to 24g. The only real quirk I've had to work around is getting the attenuator pads back out of all the transverters when I moved from the Yaesu 817 IF to the low power xverter port on the 1500. I've also had to disconnect the 10M lo from the 1500 because of a birdie I can hear at 144.200 with it connected. I haven't yet worked out if this is a flaw in my LO, the DEMI 10-4 LO splitter I'm using or the way I have all the transverters interfaced. Disconnecting the LO from the 1500 fixed it for now, so I'll solve that issue later. For now the built-in LO in the 1500 appears to be stable enough it's not a big concern. Eric - kr0ver At 11:38 AM 1/19/2012, Lloyd Berg N9LB wrote: Hi Mike! I've been running the DEMI 222-28 25w transverter (2010 version) for about 2 years. Rig is the FLEX-5000, using the transverter ports into a dual 1-of-6 RF switch. It works well. I use it with a M2 222-10EZ antenna at 60 feet. I also have new version DEMI transverters for other bands, incl 902 and 1296, all are performing well. People tell me that the new version DEMI transverter frequency stability is greatly improved and the sensitivity and resistance to strong signal overload is also substantially better than with the earlier models. 73 Lloyd - N9LB Message: 8 Date: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:52:25 + From: Mike Valentine m...@valentine1.com To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] 222 MHz Optimum Setup Message-ID: 4b23f631d60e34478769fd89ac3a35c830009...@vr-ex2010.valentine1.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi all, What do the VHF/UHF Flexers consider the optimum way to use a FLEX-5000 on 222 MHz? Anyone know how the 2010 version of DEMI 222-28HP compares to the previous version? Is the DB6NT TR 222 H still available? What else is out there? Connection configuration quirks? Thanks in advance, Mike - W8MM ___ 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 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] Roving w/ the flex-1500 (likes 1 issue)
Hello all, I went roving this weekend during the September ARRL VHF contest using the flex-1500 and PSDR v2.1.5. First off, the flex1500 is so valuable for spotting adjacent QSOs and locating other off frequency stations. I used the flex1500 on both 6m and 222 using a M2 222 transverter. The ability to pick stations out of the background noise is amazing, and the external pre-amps I have add almost nothing to the 1500s already great RX. (This may just mean the external pre-amps are just crap.) In any case, I'm working towards using the flex1500 as an IF for all the transverters I have but I need an intermediate transverter for 2M (On order from DEMI.) All of the good things aside, I have a pretty critical issue with using the flex1500 while roving. If the power hiccups/fails during a rove, I pretty much have to reboot my laptop to regain control of PSDR. As you may know, stable power during a rove isn't a given and I really need to not be rebooting the laptop and loosing my ability to log contacts on other radios, using Roverlog, during a contest. Time is of the essence during the contest and the DX station may QSY by the time I'm done rebooting. Can somebody please look into replicating and resolving this issue? I'm sure it's not a common occurrence in the shack or in the lab bench, but rovers are always switching batteries, starting/stopping the alternator and/or having some fuse blow. If I use the STOP function in PSDR first, then shut it down, then power off the flex1500, then make power changes, and restart software things tend to work better. I don't often have the time to do this while roving with 10 bands in 6+ grids. To replicate, run PSDR, start and verify you are seeing RF on the panadapter. Then, yank the power from the flex1500 and watch PSDR hang with a frozen panadapter. No amount of task manager, End program or End process tree helps here. It's a full shutdown sometimes requiring a hard reset. I'm using an HP desktop replacement laptop(read, no shortage of CPU/RAM/disk) with Windows XP fully patched. I've seen the same, and/or worse behavior under Windows7 64 bit as well. I may have to dedicate a smaller battery to the flex1500 itself, but the software/drivers/OS really should handle a power loss event better than this. If you need more info on how to replicate, please let me know. In order to throw out my other IF rig and use the SDR on all 10 bands I really need this issue resolved. (I really want to use the 1500 for all 10 VHF+ bands!) Thanks, kr0ver ___ 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] Flex 1500 Transverter Operation
Tim, Thanks for the quick reply. I have to say that the performance I saw on 6M has me really wanting to use this as my IF rig for EVERYTHING! The ability to spot adjacent activity in the contest was a huge benefit. I'll be eagerly awaiting this fix. Thanks, Eric kr0ver At 06:04 AM 1/23/2011, Tim Ellison wrote: Sounds like a bug. I'll submit the behavior listed below as a bug report. -Tim -Original Message- From: flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz [mailto:flexradio-boun...@flex-radio.biz] On Behalf Of Eric Watkins Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:13 AM To: Tom; flexradio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Flex 1500 Transverter Operation I have observed this same operation. As a result I had to just use the PA output on the 1500 for 6M during the contest. If I switched to xvtr/com the power out went to zero. Reboot/restart of SDR was the only cure for me as well. Also using 2.0.16 on 64bit win7. SDR worked just fine on 6M as long as I didn't switch off to the XVTR port. I really need this functionality to work if I'm going to use the SDR to drive the xverter stack. GL kr0ver/r At 07:47 PM 1/22/2011, Tom wrote: I am sitting here running the VHF contest on top of a mountain in Alabama. I have been running the Flex-1500 for most of the evening driving an Elecraft 2M transverter. The transverter is being driven through the XVTX/COM for both transmit and receive. I have the key line coming out of the Flex going to the transverter and the transverter keys the amplifier. I switched over to listening on 6M for a little bit to see how it compares with my other radio and when I went back to 2M I tried to call a station. Everything keyed, the PowerSDR software showed modulation, but nothing was coming out of the transverter. I tried stopping and starting the software ... didn't work. Shutdown the software and the radio, brought it back up and everything is working fine now (I did not reboot the computer). Not sure where the output was going to but it wasn't going into the transverter. OS - WinXP SP3, AMD Athlon dual processor 3800, 3G Ram, PowerSDR 2.0.16. At the time, the other software running was N3FJP logging program. Not using any CAT functionality or VAC SW. Tom WB8COX ___ 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 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 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] Flex 1500 Transverter Operation
I have observed this same operation. As a result I had to just use the PA output on the 1500 for 6M during the contest. If I switched to xvtr/com the power out went to zero. Reboot/restart of SDR was the only cure for me as well. Also using 2.0.16 on 64bit win7. SDR worked just fine on 6M as long as I didn't switch off to the XVTR port. I really need this functionality to work if I'm going to use the SDR to drive the xverter stack. GL kr0ver/r At 07:47 PM 1/22/2011, Tom wrote: I am sitting here running the VHF contest on top of a mountain in Alabama. I have been running the Flex-1500 for most of the evening driving an Elecraft 2M transverter. The transverter is being driven through the XVTX/COM for both transmit and receive. I have the key line coming out of the Flex going to the transverter and the transverter keys the amplifier. I switched over to listening on 6M for a little bit to see how it compares with my other radio and when I went back to 2M I tried to call a station. Everything keyed, the PowerSDR software showed modulation, but nothing was coming out of the transverter. I tried stopping and starting the software ... didn't work. Shutdown the software and the radio, brought it back up and everything is working fine now (I did not reboot the computer). Not sure where the output was going to but it wasn't going into the transverter. OS - WinXP SP3, AMD Athlon dual processor 3800, 3G Ram, PowerSDR 2.0.16. At the time, the other software running was N3FJP logging program. Not using any CAT functionality or VAC SW. Tom WB8COX ___ 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 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/
