It's funny, when we have conversations like this inside the company, since we are all hams we think about what we would want or what would be neat to have first. We dream just like you were doing and then we all stop ourselves and say: OK, now could we actually sell this to someone else and what would it cost to do it? There are so many good ideas of neat things that can be done -- some from internal sources and some from external. If only someone could give us 48 hours in a day to do them all ;-)
Steve On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 5:13 PM, Rick McClelland, AA5S <[email protected]>wrote: > > Hi, Steve; > > Thank you for responding to my note, that really wasn't necessary since I > was just speculating/dreaming about something really groovy to do with the > 6700 series radios. Furthermore, presuming that this point isn't already > obvious, my thoughts about combining a 6700 and 6700R for improved receive > performance were completely without a technical basis for understanding how > such a combination would be made possible. > > However, it seems from your response that there may be, at least at some > point in the future, a possibility of this becoming reality. I'm pretty > confident the receive performance of a stand-alone 6700 would meet the > needs of most amateurs (case in point, my Flex 1500 seems to be suiting my > needs just fine.) I was thinking of this from the view of a stake-holder > in the company, wouldn't it be groovy if instead of selling a single radio > to the high-end amateur, Flex could sell two or four? That would have to > be a positive outcome for all involved, including those of us still > happily puttering around with 'legacy' radios. > > Rick > On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 8:00 AM, Stephen Hicks, N5AC > <[email protected]>wrote: > >> Rick, >> >> There are many forms of combining signals for better reception. In the >> 6700(R), the two SCUs are completely synchronized (ALL LOs are >> synchronous). This is not a trivial assertion -- there are very few radios >> that can make this assertion and no other commercially available amateur >> radios. This gives rise to some exceptionally easy combining that gives >> immediate benefits in terms of sensitivity and dynamic range. >> >> The 6000 series also has an optional GPS module that is designed to help >> in the synchronization of receivers that are or are not next to each other. >> Combining signals that are generated with a separate LO/sampling clock, >> that have not been synchronized is a harder problem. The GPS makes this >> easier, but also allows us to send signals across the Internet and combine >> signals knowing both where and when they originated. The benefits from >> this will come later as the software is developed. >> >> Incidentally, our CDRX-3200 is a blade-architecture receiver that can >> synchronize 32 receivers. It also costs in the mid-five-figures. The cost >> of developing and build a blade-architecture system is significantly more >> than what we came up with in the 6000-series. We did consider a blade >> system, but every time we added up all the connectors, separate PCBs, >> hardware and sheet metal we would realize that the ME's in the office were >> getting more than their fair share of the product cost. We want product >> cost to stay in the EE/SW side of the house. And we wanted the radio to be >> as affordable as we could make it. ;-) >> >> Steve >> >> Stephen Hicks, N5AC, AAR6AM >> VP Engineering >> FlexRadio Systems™ >> 4616 W Howard Ln Ste 1-150 >> Austin, TX 78728 >> Phone: 512-535-4713 x205 >> Email: [email protected] >> Web: www.flexradio.com >> >> >> >> *Tune In Excitement™* >> PowerSDR™ is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 8:50 AM, Rick McClelland, AA5S < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Well, we can ignore that part of my posting (it was 2 am, after all), I'm >>> curious as to whether there would be any real, tangible benefit to >>> lashing >>> together a 6700 and a 6700R? This is certainly within the reach >>> (economically) of a fair number of hams. >>> >>> >>> On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 2:13 AM, Dan Parsons <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> > You just described what they already make for the government :) >>> > >>> > >>> > Dan >>> > >>> > On Aug 3, 2012, at 1:08 AM, "Rick McClelland, AA5S" < >>> [email protected]> >>> > wrote: >>> > >>> > > I notice in the Flex 6700 brochure: >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > Each of the two Spectral Capture Units allows simultaneous reception >>> from >>> > > their own respective antenna or the two can be optimally combined to >>> > > deliver increased dynamic range. In addition, dual SCUs provide the >>> > > capability for diversity reception, >>> > > >>> > > beam steering, noise mitigation, and multi-antenna monitoring. >>> > > >>> > > >>> > > If we can combine two SCUs for increased dynamic range or diversity >>> > > reception, etc., how about combining a Flex 6700 with a Flex 6700R >>> such >>> > > that a single client utilizes four SCUs, two optimized for dynamic >>> range >>> > > and two for diversity reception? Of course if we can do that, let's >>> > ditch >>> > > the 6700 form factor altogether and put two SCUs in a half height >>> blade >>> > and >>> > > the same with a 500w transmitter module and stuff these into a HP >>> c7000 >>> > > series enclosure. We could have sixteen 500w transmitter modules >>> and 96 >>> > > SCUs in a single rack for the ultimate 8kw transceiver. >>> > > >>> > > Just a thought, I guess I should stop dreaming and get back to bed. >>> > > >>> > > -- >>> > > Rick McClelland, AA5S >>> > > Fort Collins, CO >>> > > _______________________________________________ >>> > > Flexedge mailing list >>> > > [email protected] >>> > > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >>> > > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It >>> is >>> > used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >>> > experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >>> > >>> > _______________________________________________ >>> > Flexedge mailing list >>> > [email protected] >>> > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >>> > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >>> > used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >>> > experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >>> > >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Rick McClelland, AA5S >>> Fort Collins, CO >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Flexedge mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >>> This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >>> used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >>> experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >>> >> >> > > > -- > Rick McClelland, AA5S > Fort Collins, CO > _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software.
