Manuals, Repair, Technical info, Folder locations, Turf/Mars

For Flex-1500, Flex-3000, Flex-5000

See the very end for TURF and MARS info.

Click on images (below) to enlarge

Use the manuals below at your own risk!


click to download KE9NS Flex-5000 Radio Owners Manual v2.8
Note: You can use most of the features listed in this manual in both the Flex-1500 and 3000 as well.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your having 60m Band issues

The TURF Region set for your Flex Radio will determine if 60m is available for Transmit. Your Radios TURF region appears on the top line of the PowerSDR console screen.
Your Radios TURF region can be changed from within PowerSDR v2.8

If after you have updated PowerSDR to 2.8.0 and your Flex Radio is Turfed to "Europe" or some area that now has 60m Transmit but you have trouble transmitting, you can download a text file containing an example of values you should find in your Radio's Database file.
Click on the button for your radio: Flex-1500, Flex-3000, Flex-5000
These are the 60m calibration from my Flex radios.

You can search your radio's database file (folder: %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\PowerSDR v2.8.0\)
Open up your database file: database_RevQ_F5K_1234-5678.xml (but with your serial number) and see if any of these are missing or corrupted as compared to my database (found in 1 of the 3 files above).

If your 60m values appear to be missing or incorrect, use the calibration values from my text file to modify your database file.
Now if you are satisfied that you have modified your database file values, and didn't mess anything up, you can save these new 60m values to the Flex-1500 EEPROM by opening up PowerSDR and hitting SHIFT + CTRL + C keys
Then click on the "Save Calibration values to EEPROM" to update your Flex radio using your current database file as the source.
(WARNING: You could make things worse if your database file calibration is not correct and you perform the step above.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flex-1500 section

click to download FLEX-1500_Owners_Manual_v2.0

click to download FLEX-1500 Service Manual

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flex-3000 section

Click to download FLEX-3000_Owners_Manual_v2.0

Click to download Flex-3000 NPA schematic

Click to download Flex-3000 NTRX schematic

Overall photos of the Flex-3000 PCB

Left: Flex-3000 FireWire section Close-Up, Right: Flex-3000 FireWire, CPU, RX/TX LPF & BPFs

Left: Flex-3000 Close-Up of RX/TX BPF & LPF section, Right: Flex-3000 Close-Up MW LPF (RX/TX)

Left: Flex-3000 Close-Up CPU section, Right: Close-Up PA, filter, ATU board

Bringing a Flex-3000 back from the dead:
Flex-3000 EEPROM replacement PDF (by Michael - DL2FW)
I would think that this should work for the Flex-5000as well.

NOTE: Flex-3000 puts out full power on 630m (but you must use an external 630m LPF capable of RX and 100watts TX)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flex-5000 section

click to download FLEX-5000_Owners_Manual_v2.8

click to download my ke9ns Flex-5000 database file.
If you setup->import this database file it will start you off exactly as I have my Flex-5000 setup. Your Flex-5000 will automatically download its own EEPROM calibrations (replacing my Flex-5000 calibrations) as soon as you import my file. NOTE: I use the balanced Mic input on the back of the radio.

click to download FireWire connection check EEPROM tool instructions

click to download FLEX-5000 ATU-100 Service Manual

click to download FLEX-5000 ATU Installation Guide
The above instal guide is only for the 52B

ATU-100 pc-0050 (52B) ---and---- ATU-200pc v1.1(LDG)

click to download FLEX-5000 Service Manual

Flex-5000 with 2nd Receiver and VU5K option (below)
(Note the extra cabling and boards, and the engineering change to 160m and 80m LPF)

Flex-5000 with 2nd Receiver but no vu5k (below)
(Note the engineering change for the 160m LPF)

(Left) HPA100 PC-0019RevB Assy 28
(Center) Main HTRX with 2nd Receiver module stacked above.
(Right) PC-0054 160m 7 pole LC BPF board on HTRX board installed (This ECO was to reduce spurs from the original 4 pole 160m PI LPF, but this prevents 630m operation on a Flex-5000)

NOTE: All Flex-3000 units can transmit on 630m (100watts) because the Flex-3000 uses a MW LPF (Flex-5000 does not have a MW filter) which the Flex-5000 originally just used the 160m LPF, but and ECO changed 160m to a BPF which blocks anything below 160m

Flex-5000 HTRX board (2nd RX board removed). Put back a 160m LPF to allow using 630m band.

HRFIO SO2R PC-0021Rev D Assy 34

Click to download VU5K module Addendum

click to download FLEX-5000 VU Module Schematics

click to download FLEX-5000 RFIO Rev34A install guide

click to download FLEX-5000A Specifications

Click to download Flex-5000 PowerPoint Information

Click to download (Premliminary) Flex-5000 BITE Alignment & Diagnostics
This includes the hidden Production TRX /IO Test and Calibration screen

Flex 5000A Running Class A and Bias Adjustment

Flex-5000 TX_audio_stages

Flex-5000 old firmware_1.3.0.8.exe (if needed upgrade a very old unit)

Flex-5000 fan: 140mm (3-wire) PC fan:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SWR meter reading issue on the Flex-5000:
(Note the Flex-3000 has 1 SWR circuit so avoids issues, and the Flex-1500 does not have an SWR circuit built-in.)

The Flex-5000 has a built in SWR meter. Its circuit is located on the PA board and is electronically calibrated at the factory (using Powermaster external meter), and its SWR is displayed on the main PowerSDR screen TX meters.

But if you have the internal Tuner, the Tuner itself has its own SWR meter (see ATU photos above and look for T1). Its calibrated using the C1 vari-cap.

There is a small amount of coax between the 2 SWR meters inside the radio. The built-in Tuner uses its own SWR meter during the "ATU" tune process.

So depending on your antenna (i.e. how far from resonance) you may find the SWR meters read differently (with each piece of coax causing the SWR to be different at different locations along the coax.

And most likely any external SWR meter will read a different SWR since its even further before the tuner.

The SWR across the meters should be very close when running a resonant antenna, so if you find a large difference in this case, you may want to tweak the C1 vari-cap of the internal Tuner.

The internal Tuner SWR circuit (T1) has a vari-cap adjustment C1. That vari-cap may need a slight adjustment to get the built-in SWR meter to match. The Tuner is either built by Flex or LDG (my unit was an LDG) but there is only 1 vari-cap (C1) to adjust.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

click to download PowerSDR-CAT-Command-Reference-Guide

click to download PowerSDR ke9ns keyboard shortcuts

Flex-x000 EEPROM PROGRAMMER_2.1.0.0_(must be located in folder with PowerSDR itself

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Folders used by PowerSDR:

C:\Program Files (x86)\FlexRadio Systems\PowerSDR v2.8.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PowerSDR.exe itself
EEPROM.exe (for exporting / importing EEPROM data and reading/writing Radio data)
Turf.txt
LoTW_help.rtf
CATStructs.xml

C:\Program Files (x86)\FlexRadio Systems\PowerSDR\Documentation:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Owners_manual v2.8
PowerSDR TX Waterfall ID pdf
FlexControl quck start guide
VU5K manual addendume v1.1


C:\Program Files\FlexRadio
-----------------------------------------------------
FlexRadio.exe (Firewire) program

C:\ProgramData\FlexRadio Systems\FLEX Firmware\:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: PowerSDR normally automatically updates your radios firmware to the lastest
Tool.exe (manual firmware update tool)
Flex-1500 firmware folder
Flex-3000 firmware folder
Flex-5000 firmware folder
FlexControl firmware folder

C:\ProgramData\FlexRadio Systems\PowerSDR\:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FireWire Driver installer folder
Flex-1500 Driver installer folder
FlexControl Knob installer folder
Skins folder (sub folders containing skins)
powermaster.txt (calibration data for flex5000finaltestform)

Note: In WinXP C:\Documents and Settings\ became C:\ProgramData\ in WinVista. But PowerSDR ke9ns v2.8 will not work under WinXP or Vista

%userprofile%\Music\PowerSDR
---------------------------------------------------------
"Wave" audio recordings (not the QuickAudio) (in WAV format only)
"Memory" audio Recordings (in MP3 format only)

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
master.xml (powerSDR startup radio selector screen)
production (empty file needed if you want to calibrate the PA)
memory.xml (memory listing)
ATUdatabase.xml file (Flex-3000)
ATU.log file
DXMemory.xml (DX Spotter URL listings)

%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\FlexRadio Systems\PowerSDR v2.8.0\:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Database files (5) (example: database_RevQ_F5K_1211-3170.xml)
QuickAudio folder (standard large wav file recordings)
QuckAudioMP3 folder (MP3 files of all quick audio recordings)
QuckScreen (screen shot. click on camera) folder
SWR_PLOTS folder (see Scanner)
CustomScannerList folder (see Scanner)
TXWaterFall ID (BMP) image files
.log files (shutdown logs, error logs, atu log)
LoTW_LOG files (your log files) (see Spotter)
SWL.csv file and SWL2.csv (short wave listings)
FCCDATA.dat file (call sign database file) (see Spotter)
DXLOC.txt (country name and location listing) (see Spotter)
Continuum....csv data files
wisdom file (how fast your PC can perform DSP functions)