TEF 6686 (2nd revision): How to install the 2.0 Beta Firmware

[@goranjovic3174]

Bravo ! You did fantastic very useful job! All explaned the best possibile my friend! Good luck to all DX ers with that fantastic version of beta firmware v 2.0 ! 😊❤ Thank you very much for such a nice video, all links and great precise explanation! Hats off ! 73s!

[@mutezone]

Thank you very much for the compliments. It did take me some time to put the instructions together properly. I also wanted to explain things for those that might not be tech saavy. Your feedback has been very helpful. Have a good weekend & 73s.

[@goranjovic3174]

@@mutezone thank you too my friend. Have a good weekend & 73s! 😎

[@davetheswl364]

Thanks for posting this. I’ve just ordered a second TEF to upgrade to v2

[@mutezone]

Your welcome.

[@DXPedro]

I’ve been keen to buy one of these. This video confirms my radio stalking ✌🏼📻

[@mutezone]

You will have no regrets getting this.

[@TheLordMarshal]

Very helpful, the Discord group name has changed to OpenRadio Community since original post. Managed to upgrade my TEF6686 silver model with no writing and 3 knobs from 1.21 to version 2.00.11. The only thing which caused me a headache was my TEF6686 didn't display a light to show connected to PC, suspect my light is faulty. Thank you so much

[@mutezone]

You're welcome & thank you for letting me know of the changes.

[@alekz1958]

Well done a great explanation for newbies wanting to update. You may want to consider doing an update of the tutorial as there was a recent mod to the update sequence although it is self explanatory but certainly may confuse some people with he extra steps cheers Alek

[@mutezone]

Thank you very much. What has changed then? I have not updated my TEF since this video.

[@mutezone]

Instructions (I still recommend watching the video) 1. Use a Windows PC, such as Windows 10 & Windows 11. Linux users may need to seek help elsewhere 2. Download & install WinRAR 3. Download & install Discord 4. Download & install the CH340 driver. (link in description). You must restart Windows after installing this driver! 5. Download the TEF 2.0 Beta Firmware on the TEF 6686 Discord group (link in description) 6. Get a good quality Type-A to Type-C USB cable 7. Get a thin screwdriver from a precision screwdriver kit 8. Connect the TEF 6686 to your PC with the USB cable 9. Make sure the TEF 6686 is switched off 10. Insert the thin screwdriver into the headphone socket to access & press the Boot Button 11. Switch on the TEF 6686 while still keeping the Boot Button pressed in with the screwdriver 12. The TEF 6686 will have a black display when switched on, this means it is in "Boot Mode" 13. Let go off the Boot Button & leave the TEF 6686 switched on in "Boot Mode", this is necessary for flashing to the 2.0 Beta Firmware 14. Extract the 2.0 Beta Firmware folder onto the Desktop 15. Double click on the file "flash" or "flash.bat" to begin flashing the TEF to 2.0 Beta Firmware 16. Wait for the flashing process to complete until you see the message "Press any key to continue..." 17. Go back to your TEF 6686, disconnect the USB cable & turn off the radio 18. Turn on the radio, you will get a message on screen to restart the radio. 19. Turn off the radio, then turn it on again. 20. The 2.0 Beta Firmware should now be successfully installed

[@giampaologalassi5726]

Hi, works with Windows 7 (with CH340) too. Thanks for the video!

[@mutezone]

Thanks for the information, glad it worked with you.

[@solojinglesradio1]

Thanks for this, have to mention that there is only for this kind of model of TEF 6686, I have another one (blue and white) and I have to open it to look for "boot" button, where other models like mine only have to enter on pc and change.

[@mutezone]

Your welcome. Yes, this is only for this model of TEF 6686 which is why I put in the title & mentioned in the video "2nd revision". Indeed, other models would need to be opened to access the boot button.

[@solojinglesradio1]

Thank you! I have auto boot mode without to be opened but I have this issue: A serial exception error occurred: Cannot configure port, something went wrong. Original message: PermissionError(13, 'Access denied.', None, 5) Note: This error originates from pySerial. It is likely not a problem with esptool, but with the hardware connection or drivers.@@mutezone

[@mutezone]

Try running in Administrator mode, or make sure Windows is giving you Administrator privileges.

[@solojinglesradio1]

When I do it they say to me that esptool.exe is not recognised as a command intern or extern, clicking on flash and later as admin mode, esptool does not nothing when i put it on admin mode@@mutezone

[@mutezone]

Try a different 2.0 Beta version, maybe the esptool.exe for the one you are trying to install may have a few errors.

[@mikebloodworth9258]

I noticed we now have TEF6686_ESP32 v 2.00.11 Easter edition avail to download off the Accord site. It's a real pain having to manually type in 80+ memory channels every time an upgrade is applied for v2.00.xx This short fall has prevented me upgrading. You would think a simple read command for each v 2.00.xx channel memory block addressing would be avail followed by a write channels back for current version at a new address. A simple batch file could accomplish this if Memory block addresses for various versions published.

[@cb-tech]

Congratulations on your channel, very well explained. Can you please tell me how long the radio needs to charge? Got mine today. There was only a note in Chinese. The radio is just like yours. I wanted to charge it. Does the green LED have to go out, or how do I know when the battery is full? Thank you and best regards, Chris

[@mutezone]

Thank you very much for the compliments. Using the USB port on my PC to charge the radio, maybe 2 hours from almost empty to full. A smartphone charger may be faster but I prefer charging via a PC port just to be on the safe side. I have not checked if the green LED has to go out when full. Regards, John.

[@cb-tech]

Thank you for your quick reply. Unfortunately I couldn't find any information about it on the internet. It's strange... I was just thinking, maybe my battery is already charged. Because it glows green... I'll play around with it tomorrow and use up the battery. Let's see what it looks like then. Everything is fine so far. Thank you again.

[@thelibyandxer]

Question, how I can go back to original firmware? I have a backup made and would like to go back.

[@mutezone]

It should be able to be flashed back to the backup you made. If that does not work, then ask on the TEF Discord group.

[@thelibyandxer]

@@mutezone With which program?

[@mutezone]

Don't know. The firmwares I have used for the TEF have a "flash" bat file that automatically starts the flashing process. Again, best ask on the Discord group.

[@thelibyandxer]

Thanks@@mutezone

[@FrozenDoberman]

My TEF6686 tuner uses the original v1.18 firmware. The tuner is already very RF sensitive, and selective. For users that are already satisfied with v1.18 overall performance, it may not be worth upgrading to 2.0 Beta. Was there any discernible improvement to selectivity, and RF sensitivity when upgrading to 2.0 Beta? In metro / city environments, the overall ambient man-made and atmospheric noise is already sufficiently high that lower tuner RF noise dB figures doesn't translate to discernible improved SNR.

[@mutezone]

You are right, if you are happy with the Firmware on your TEF 6686 then there is no need to change. The 2.0 Beta just adds a few features that improve on 1.18, such as a better battery meter display, more RDS data etc... The RF sensitivity & selectivity between 1.18 & 2.0 Beta seems the same, but I cannot confirm this as I would need two TEFs to compare.

[@FrozenDoberman]

Thank you. Definitely certain TEF6686 users would not have the confidence or technical experience for upgrading between the factory supplied 1.18 and any higher number firmware version. The risk factor is higher for them. The TEF6686 sensitivity and selectivity will likely be very similar because of the DSP chip specifications. My 1.18 TEF6686 tuner is connected to a roof-top 8-element Triax H FM Yagi. Meteor and aircraft scatter is heard everyday, which demonstrates already very high sensitivity. RDS is not widely used in Australia like it is in Europe; hence why 1.18 suffices for now. It appears that certain Asian countries do not use RDS.

[@seinsein7113]

thanks a lot!

[@mutezone]

You're welcome!

[@HyperDX]

Great tutorial! Can I paste it into official project's wiki? 73

[@mutezone]

Thank you very much. Yes of course you can. 73.

[@arjanbolhuis6333]

This update also applies to my tef6686 from AliExpress software v1.18 Tuner: tef6686 Lithio 102. patch: v102. and can it be done with the supplied UCB cable or is it for charging?

[@mutezone]

You will have to find out yourself if the USB cable allows data transmission other than charging.