[Amps] ALPHA 9500 BETA 3 DOA

[David Jordan]

Hi Folks,    

What APITA to get the Remote SFWR running... subjective experience of one or two...I've heard others have had no problems...maybe its just a rumor ;-)

The BETA 2 is really BETA 1.1  BETA 3 has fixes but no documentation to set expectations. BETA 3 may fix some things but it is broken so badly it would just boot up and crash. When BETA 3 didn't crash instantly it would not allow the user to set the COM port.  When you first boot after the download you are asked to set the COM port; that is your only chance to set the COM port. You can click on the feature in the tool bar; it looks like it takes the request but apparently doesn't. When you go back to the feature the port is set to 1 and always is set to 1.  So, no way to talk to the amp. Had to blow away all the files and reload BETA 2. 

The amount of data flowing between the amp and  server is minimal. Forcing the port speed to 115,200 doesn't make any sense... protocol appears to choke waiting for enough data to fill the packet for shipping; it just seems like the process times out or worse... reducing the buffer size helps but it not a cure for not choosing a more realistic port speed like 38,400bps or less. 

It appears the 9500 Remote interface is designed for PC control only and with 115,000bps you better plan on a very short connecting cable; the interface certainly doesn't appear to be optimzed for Internet remote use. The response time of theTS-480 remote software, now more than a decade old, depicts the RF peak power and SWR levels in near-real-time while the ALPHA 9500 dash board lags noticably by too many milli-seconds. 

Even with interface analyser to monitor the data transmissions between the server and amp the lack of documentation and hosed up software caused two IT guru's; who also have decades of ham radio experience using Internet remote, too many hours of tweaking to get the 9500 Remote sfwr working... maybe we needed a 15yr old to set it all up!

I'm looking forward to BETA 4... perhaps this one will fix what was broken in 2 and 3 and come with some documentation.  

It certainly is a challenge getting this dash board up and running... not nearly as much fun as putting up a new antenna ;-) or actually operating with this beautiful amplifier.  The hardware performance can only be described as a priceless experience. All the fun of the 87A without the quirks!

73,
Dave
wa3gin