Thanks for the great update Howard. I'm really excited now. 73 Wayne K4ELO
On Sun, Apr 21, 2013, at 06:28 PM, Dr. Howard S. White wrote: > I have posted a video of the Visalia DX Convention with the First Public > Demonstration of the Flex 6700 > > http://youtu.be/vLXjL6hoIYg > > Not too much about the Convention but mostly the radio in operation... > > The Flex 6700 radio was definitely working but clearly it was a beta test > unit. > > I did manage to crash the software at least once and many features are > yet to be fully operational. > > For the uninitiated... the radio software is now a simple browse that > does NOT need a major computer system > All the processing is now done inside the radio with its own computer > power... > it should even ultimately be able to run on your iPad or other simple > device... > > Interestingly it was interfaced directly to N1MM Contest Logger, a > SteppIR DB-18 and an Alpha 9500 so it clearly was set up for contesting. > While I am not the contest Ultra Maven... I personally found the clean > simple interface much more intuitive for contesting than my Flex 5000 > as you really never need to have your hands leave the logger keyboard. I > can see where the Flex will finally be more than competitive, if not > excel the K3 for contests. > > In spite of the limitations of the beta test software, the receiver > performance was astounding. > It appeared that the radio was hearing down to -142dBm (or about S0 - > 15db or almost 2 ½ S Units below S0) > BUT what was more astounding was that they introduced DSP gain into the > system so that it could hear down to -149 dBm or about the phase noise > levels. I am not sure how to measure down to those levels as the thermal > noise in my test equipment is higher than that. (The figures are > un-calibrated- we will see what Sherwood says) > > Adjacent Channel rejection appeared be out of the world....you could > totally block an S9+40db signal 100Hz away..... > This would be especially important in multi-stations.... AND you do not > Need to use any Roofing Filters > > Of course it was really cool to be able to listen to several slices of > the band at the same time and easily jump from band to band without > losing any information. > They had 4 spectral operational but could only receive on 2 slices... (It > will be 8 slices in the final model) > > > Real World Performance... > Several times we had Armchair copy in QSO's with Hams who had could > barely copy our signals due to their poor antennas and outdated equipment > We definitely could easily copy the very weak DX Stations... > > Although I am not a CW Operator .. The CW ops I talked to said it was > full QSK with no delays whatsoever... > > > Delivery > Flex said they hoped to ship production units within 30 days (maybe by > Dayton anyone?) however I am skeptical that they can get everything 100% > by then as clearly there is still a lot of software to get right. I > suspect that in order to meet that tight schedule, they will ship the > first units with a reduced feature set. The good thing about a SDR is > that you can easily upgrade in a matter of seconds. > > Bottom Line: > When I read the specs and placed my order at Dayton 2012, I knew that > this was going to be the radio that will set the bar for the next > standard in Ham Radio > > However, I was personally astounded by the performance which even in Beta > far exceeded my expectations. > > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Howard S. White Ph.D. P. Eng., VE3GFW/K6 ex-AE6SM KY6LA > Website: www.ky6la.com<http://www.ky6la.com/> > "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" > "Ham Antennas Save Lives - Katrina, 2003 & 2007 San Diego Fires, 911" > > _______________________________________________ > 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 innovation and other > technical SDR topics. _______________________________________________ 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 innovation and other technical SDR topics.
