Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Buddy has a home

Hi all. Buddy made it to North Carolina just fine and he is working FLAWLESSLY.

I haven't been blogging too much recently since I was doing testing and I really can't chronicle all of the stuff that goes on during the beta test phase for numerous reasons. I hope you all understand that this type of testing is a closed process to ensure we get things fine tuned quickly as possible.

I had Buddy on the air last Sunday during the FlexNet on 20m. Dudley (WA5QPZ) and John (W5GI) were also using FLEX-3000s.

We have been testing a new algorithm for controlling the cooling fans based on temperature. The fans ramp up in rotational speed as the PA gets hotter during TX and ramps down quickly during RX until the threshold temperature is reached, at which point the fans are at their lowest rotational speed. This new feature is working great now.

Also there has been a lot of work on the integrated ATU and it is work great too. My antenna are not that out of resonance, so I can't sat what the max matching range is like, but it is fast and quite when it is matching impedance loads.

I am currently getting Buddy and "The Big Guy" (FLEX-5000 +RX2) ready for the Raleigh Hamfest. I will have both of them there at the FlexRadio Systems booth. I need to get a new Firewire card for the Shuttle XPC computer I'll be using. Buddy will be connected to an Intel Atom PC. A really cool low cost PC.

If you are near Raleigh (NC) this Saturday, stop by the hamfest
http://rars.org/hamfest/

Until later....

3 comments:

  1. Tim could you please post some details of the Shuttle computer such as model, processor, etc?

    Jim - K4ECP

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  2. Hi Tim,

    Thanks for the info at RARSFEST.
    I have ordered a 3000.

    Look forward to a 3000 to 3000 qso with you.

    Pete - AG7C

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Tim

    Are you using an Atom laptop or an ITX mobo? If laptop, which one? 73 Steve

    ReplyDelete