Another Thousand QSOs – 51000 logged and counting

February 28th 2024 hit another thousand-round logged QSO number, 51K this time.

I have been pondering how many QSOs I would log if I didn’t have the remote capability of FlexRadio’s SmartLink (or another way to remote to my station) and guess it would be perhaps 15% as many QSOs, if not even less.

Much is physical access issues with my hamshack, including times where I am working remote from my work computer or from an iPad.  Also would include the times where I was disinclined to walk out to the hamshack – whether sloth or weather – and therefore wouldn’t have access to the bands.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Halikey – USB PTT/CW Dongle for SmartSDR

Saw this discussion at the FlexRadio community: https://community.flexradio.com/discussion/8029744/halikey-remote-ptt-fob-and-cw-for-mac/

The little device certain looks very useful.

HaliKey is a small USB device that connects morse code paddles, or a physical PTT switch, to a computer. This allows you to use physical controls when operating your radio remotely.

Ordered some from: https://electronics.halibut.com/product/halikey/

They are on backorder when I ordered, so it may be a while until I have them in-hand to try out.

73

Steve
K9ZW

FlexRadio SmartLink Upgrade Outage – Tuesday, October 3rd, at 3 PM CDT, 2000Z

Posted remotely while traveling.

Received from FlexRadio:

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We would like to inform you of an important upgrade to our SmartLink servers that will enhance your FlexRadio experience.

On Tuesday, October 3rd, at 3 PM CDT, 2000Z, we will be performing maintenance on our SmartLink servers.

During this upgrade, SmartLink will be temporarily unavailable for up to 4 hours. Should things go well, we expect this time to be much shorter.

We understand the importance of SmartLink to our users, and we’re excited to share that we are replacing our servers with a new, more robust system.

Should there be any change in the schedule or some other important news, we will communicate via: FlexRadio Community, FaceBook Enthusiasts Group, and X (formally known as Twitter) from @FlexRadioSystem.

Our engineering teams have been hard at work since the SmartLink outage was first reported, and this upgrade represents a significant step forward. Moving to a new server is a positive step forward as it ensures greater reliability and performance, providing our users with a smoother and more dependable SmartLink experience. This upgrade reflects our commitment to constantly improving our services to meet our customers’ needs.

To ensure its reliability, we’ve been testing the new server intensely with our team internally and recently expanded the testing to our Alpha Team. This new server is optimized for faster response times and will seamlessly scale to accommodate user load, providing you with a better SmartLink experience.

To take advantage of these changes and ensure SmartLink’s correct operation, update your FLEX-6000 radio to SmartSDR v3.5.9 (or v2.10.1 if licensed for v2).

It is highly recommended that you update to these latest versions even if you are not a SmartLink user to take advantage of many internal performance improvements.

SmartSDR v2.10.1
SmartSDR v3.5.9

If you have already upgraded your FlexRadio to v2.10.1 or v3.5.9, no further action is required on your part as the server transition will happen transparently during the scheduled maintenance.

We value your trust in FlexRadio, and we apologize for any inconvenience this maintenance window may cause.

Please mark the date and time in your calendar and we appreciate your understanding as we continue to enhance our services.

Thank you for being a part of our FlexRadio community. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

FlexRadio Systems
512-535-4713
FlexRadio HelpDesk

—
73

Steve
K9ZW

What a Complex World We Live In – FlexRadio 9-11 2023 Outage

On 9-11 2023 FlexRadio’s SmartLink took a hard dump. Suddenly many operators worldwide lost connectivity to their remote FlexRadio Stations.

I am not going to address the specifics of what came off the rails, as FlexRadio has done a series of public posts explaining some of what I fathomed was the underlying issue.

Rather it is another reminder that we have created a world with layers-upon-layers of technology built up to do simple tasks like “communication.”

In many cases as “users” we have no idea what has been “baked into the cake” to provide us functionality.

Among us the network/technology clever deeply understand the jargon and the components. When discussions appeal to words like “Tier Two,” “ZeroTier” or “SoftEther” I am sure a lot of us glaze-over.

For me, I just want to make QSOs, and not bumble about in networking complexities.

So far I have 2 of my 3 Flex-6700s updated to the latest SmartSDR Windows 3.5.9 software and working. The third one is turned off at my Island QTH, so I haven’t tried to update it yet.

(Note – Updating SmartSDR is inclusive of the updates need to regain SmartLink functionality.  While separate labels they are largely integrated at the user endpoints in SmartSDR.)

My Flex-6600M has chosen this moment to puke, with my guess being that it needs a new SD-card. It gave me troubles before and all of the updating pushed it in to the three-red-flashes hard fault area. I’m opening a Help Ticket today to resolve it.

I haven’t attempted to update either Maestro yet. As little as I am finding myself using my Maestros, I should reconsider having them anyway.

My iPhone’s SmartSDR iOS updated, including updated databases. I haven’t check my copy of SmartSDR macOS on my iMac yet. Expect it will also need an update to work remotely.

Additionally this week is a HUGE update day for every sort of App, Browser and OS, as some mega-risky Zero-Day exploits were addressed.

Even my daily-driver asked to do a security update yesterday.

What an intricate web of layered technology we have woven!

73

Steve
K9ZW

SmartLink plays Dumb – Multiday Outage

Where did my SmartLink go?

I discovered early AM Monday September 26th that my radios were not working remotely.

They may have dropped off SmartLink over the weekend, as I had been travelling.

Head scratcher, hmm…

Did my usual checks – pings, reboots, cold reboots, router reboots, trying my backup SmartLink account and so on.

Radios could be seen on their respective LANs but remained mostly invisible to SmartLink.

All the radios claimed they were not configured for SmartLink anymore, and refused to be reregistered.

Interestingly the 6600M would sometime show up on a remote SmartSDR for Mac or SmartSDR for iPhone client, but could not be accessed.

So I opened a Help Desk ticket and was greeted with the usual script of new user orientated suggestions, which could have been helpful because like everyone I will forget stuff.

After comparing checklists, and allow FlexRadio access to my SmartLink account, we came to mutually agree something was hard broken.

Monday ended up without much suggestion of what the problem was, and the day basically faded to an end.

Tuesday the Help Desk ticket was escalated and I was told “Engineering is working on the [unnamed] problem.”

During the day Tuesday I found that my iPhone could no longer access SmartLink either.

On the third day I asked via the Help Desk Ticket “Any insight, updates or ETA to resolution?” and was told “We expect to have a status update later today. I’ll update the ticket once we know more.”

The issue will get resolved, but until it is my remote stations are only available from clients that [appear] local to the radio.

Hence time to brush off my Plan-B gear.

About six years ago I set up a pair of Raspberry Pi’s to act as a VPN Server and a Bridge.  https://k9zw.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/tunneling-a-vpn-for-maestro/

Thinking I should repurpose these Raspberry Pi’s for a  portable Plan-B option.

Remote Access software has also come a long ways, and I should revisit that for the stations that have a shack-pc at them.  Might be prudent to add a shack pc at the one K9ZW station that doesn’t have it now.

I am thinking the fancy router at the main QTH has VPN capabilities, so it is time to read the manual and get that feature configured.

73

Steve
K9ZW

Eight-Band Propagation Continues

It is fun to have some better band conditions. (21 JAN 22 starting at 1300 UTC)

Working FT8 remote to my home station (Flex-6700 to a ZeroFive Flagpole vertical antenna in this instance) I was in fairly quick order make exactly 8 QSOs, one per band, before I switched to working for DX on 17m:

KB9ZM EM57 1.840861 mhz (160m) FT8 Sent: +04 Rcvd: -02
N5IF EM11 3.574155 mhz (80m) FT8 Sent: -07 Rcvd: -21
AI2D FM29 7.074821 mhz (40m) FT8 Sent: +02 Rcvd: +10
W2AOC FN20 10.137057 mhz (30m) FT8 Sent: +12 Rcvd: +05
N3DNA FN20 14.074903 mhz (20m) FT8 Sent: +05 Rcvd: +19
KP4JRS FK68 18.100200 mhz (17m) FT8 Sent: +01 Rcvd: +00
F5ADE JN06 21.075078 mhz (15m) FT8 Sent: -08 Rcvd: -15
CO8LY FL20 24.916068 mhz (12m) FT8 Sent: +03 Rcvd: +03

The remote setup lets me run some QSOs when physically not at the home station, by basically adding an internet link from my home station to where I am actually at.

My current series of QSL cards allows me to indicate which physical station I am using and also indicate where I was when I made the contact.

One of the new QSL Card Designs

While I much prefer being in my shack to make SSB QSOs, these remote digital QSOs are miles better than not being on the air at all!

73

Steve
K9ZW