PowerSDR KE9NS v2.8

Using my 2m/70cm Dual band vertical ant, I am able to listen to local NOAA Weather radio channels (5K FM), using the VU5K module in my Flex-5000. The VU5K was clearly not designed to receive outside the standard 2m/70cm ham bands. It receives up to the NOAA weather channels at 162Mhz, but the receiv...

TURF is the country in which you are licensed. Changing the TURF of your Radio will allow you to Transmit on bands allowed by your Country. MARS allows the radio to transmit outside the normal TURF allows bands. You need to be licensed to transmit outside the standard HAM license for your Country. T...

Using my 2m/70cm Dual band vertical ant, I am able to listen in on the GMRS band (5k FM) using the VU5K module in my Flex-5000. The VU5K was clearly not designed to receive outside the standard 70cm ham band. It receives up to the GMRS band, but the receiver performance is poor this far from the sta...

I would first go to the folder: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\PowerSDR v2.8.0\ and remove all the files with your radios serial# in the file name (should be 5 files) If that does not work, I would crack open the Flex-3000 and see if you can spot anything? I have reference photos of...

I think for ARM based Apple computers(i.e. M3 cpu) can use "Parallels" for Windows, but I dont know if "Parallels" is compatible with FireWire?
"BootCamp" which I had used for years, is only for Intel x86 CPUs

Darrin

Some laptops will come with a Thunderbolt port, OR a USB-C USB4.0 that is Thunderbolt 3 compatible. Apple (no longer in production) made a Thunderbolt 2 to 1394 FireWire adapter. You can get a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter cable. For USB-C Thunderbolt, you would need to get an adapter to Th...

Laptops will sometimes have an ExpressCard slot (which is just a PCIe slot in a special format)
StarTech.com has a 1394 FireWire card for the ExpressCard slot.
I have personally tested this on my Flex-5000 at 192khz and it works great. (see my website for details)

Darrin

The mini-PCIe slot is usually found in laptops and mini PCs. StarTech.com makes a 1394 FireWire Card for mini-PCIe slots. I have personally tested this and it works great with my Flex-5000 at 192khz SR (see my website for details) This card can also be used in a M.2 slot if you get an adapter (M.2 t...

Modern laptops, and mini PCs will all come with 1 or more M.2 slots. The Slot is either configured for high speed Sata SSD (usually the slot that stands proud of the PCB) OR is the (lower to the PCB) PCIe slot. You will sometimes find a WiFi and/or BlueTooth card in this slot. I dont know of any M.2...

I also noticed that its now hard to find that Apple product as well. If the inside of your laptop has a mini-PCIe slot, you can find a FireWire card for it. I know this works because I actually did this with a Windows x86 tablet and a Flex-5000. Newer laptops will somtimes have a mPCIe slot with a w...

Update: Transmitting on my Flex-5000 into a Dummy load, and using my SDRPlay RSP1A Receiver appears to confirm that 8m transmits fine with no harmonics visible on the Panadapter. The signal looks clean. Not sure if your really need a separate LPF for 8m or not now?

Darrin

Update: Transmitting on my Flex-5000 into a Dummy load, and using my SDRPlay RSP1A Receiver appears to confirm that 4m transmits. However... When you first PTT, you can see harmonics across the Panadapter, but then the signal instantly gets better, but you can still see a little bit of a upper and l...

Usually if everything else is fine, but no waterfall, then shut down, reboot your PC and cycle power to your radio.
That will usually reset the waterfall.

If you find that the CPU% or Temp value is messed up, there is a different procedure.

Darrin

It sure sounds like an RF issue, but I am surprised your seeing this at low power. For you or anyone experiencing RF issues, this is my setup: Go to either my QRZ.com page, OR my ke9ns.com home page (where you can scroll a panoramic photo of my shack) My PC is behind the Left most Monitor. Audio rac...

Joe, Go to my website and click on the Digital modes link on the left side. Then scroll down to WSJT-X. It shows how I setup for FT8 or FT4, as well as using JTAlert. It shows how to run 2 instances of WSJT-x at the same time, on a Flex-5000RX2, but you can just setup for the the normal 1instance (l...

I assume the Max number of CW Decoders is a setting to limit the CPU loading on a busy band (like during a contest), but I was thinking that maybe you had it set to a very low number or 0 I am glad you got it working, but I am not sure why it was not working before? Also interesting that you can set...

Settings->Misc

It sure looks like it should decode. I just did a test. I used another radio to transmit CW on 6m into a dummy load at less than a 1 watt. So the received CW signal on my Flex-5000 was around -100dB with my noise floor at around -125dB CW Skimmer worked perfectly on 6m I am scratching my head on thi...

Apple used to make a Thunderbolt2 to FireWire Adapter. But PowerSDR only runs under Windows. I assume your M3 (Arm based CPU) can probably run a Windows11 emulator? So you would need to purchase a Thunderbolt3/4 to Thunderbolt2 adapter, as well as a Thunderbolt2 to FireWire (see the FireWire link on...

Those settings look good to me.
Very strange.

Next time 6m opens up for me I will test it out.
I have used FT8 on 6m many times before with no issues, but I have never used the CW Skimmer on 6m.