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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, September 24, 2010 9:34 AM
Posts: 5,
Visits: 8
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| Hi all. I have some reservations about the Firewire conector on the Flex3000. Mine was very loose and quite flimsy and kept falling out at the slightest movement of the radio. Eventually Sod's law prevailed and it was plugged in the wrong way round !!!!! This offered no resistance due to the flexing of the socket. I now have a blown 1394 port on my radio!!!!!!!!. I live in the UK so i am looking to get it repaired myself as Flex say wrong connections are not covered in the waranty. Has anyone experinced a similar problem?
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 5:46 PM
Posts: 11,
Visits: 28
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| Hi I also have the flex3000 and have noticed how weak the positioning of this connector is, why it was not recessed to give it a better mechanical support is beyond me. Good luck with getting yours fixed, are you sure the port is dead or is it just a faulty connector ?, if it is just the connector it is not a SM type and with a good eye and fine point solder tip you should be able to change it.
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Moderator
Group: Administrators
Last Login: Monday, June 20, 2011 6:07 PM
Posts: 618,
Visits: 1,447
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The physical connector design of the 1394a 6-pin interface is not the best engineered connector. It doesn't provide much friction or a mechanical mechanism for securing the cable. We can blame Apple for that one.
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Tim - W4TME
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 5:46 PM
Posts: 11,
Visits: 28
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| I agree there are not many options when using fire wire but it still would have been better to recess the socket a little to add some mechanical stability to such a poorly designed connector, my main PC has this and it does help substantially. For me I am still unable to get the Flex-3000 to work properly after two weeks on either of two laptops so I have to be somewhat careful as i am constantly unplugging the lead during my fault finding.
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, September 24, 2010 9:34 AM
Posts: 5,
Visits: 8
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| Hi guys I have investigated the problem wit the port and it is the PHY chip that has blown. They are 64 pin SMD and cost £3.75 . and require SMD soldering skills. If you are using a 4 pin FW cable this problem cannot happen as they have no power connections, only data, so no harm will occur if they are plugged in upside down. I am sure other people will get this problem . I will keep you informed. The moral of this story is to use only 4 pin connectors at the PC end and to be extra carefull when reseating a loose plug. This problem can also be caused by Hotpluging! 73 Bob
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, September 24, 2010 9:34 AM
Posts: 5,
Visits: 8
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| I disagree with the statement that apple are to blame for the poor Firewire connector. The mechanical specifications for the socket and the standard are IEEE specification. The mechanical specification calls for the cutout in the back plate to be the same shape as the socket. This will and does prevent the wrong insertion of the plug. Full specifications are available to IEEE members like me. Apple only holds the rights to the software as far as i know. Bob MW0PIC
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Friday, August 27, 2010 7:39 AM
Posts: 5,
Visits: 13
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| For me, the connector is rock solid. I use both the supplied 6x6 cable for the main shack computer and a 6x4 for the laptop, and neither of the 6 ends are loose on my F3k. 73 Simon M0BOX/G6BOX
Flex3000 vs K2 - tough choice, so I got both.
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