When has Flexradio needed justification for anything? They have a cult of Flexboy lemmings who will spin, make excuses and defend them no matter what.

Releasing SmartSdr without a Panafall would be like a Jap Radio manufacturer releasing a radio with analog readout, promising that they would upgrade the radio to Digital Readout within a year.....

FWIW you can read all about this fiasco on the Flexradio  reflectors.

Stan K9IUQ

There will be NO Panafall on the 6000 series Smart SDR software. Unless you want to wait for a year or so. Flexradio CEO Mr. Youngblood promised the panafall will be released before the 1 year Free software window. Since Flexradio's past track record on delivering promises is very poor, one has to wonder what else is going to be missing in SmartSdr?

Cmon Flexradio, The Panafall is the major advantage of owning a Flexradio. You are going to make early adopters wait up to a year to get the Panafall? What a way to run a business. Yet more promises.

Stan K9IUQ

I have been a ham for 52 years and have owned way more radios than you have ever dreamed about. I never wasted my time on substandard QRP rigs like the 1500.

Before I got rid of the Flex 5K I did a side by side test of RX performance against my TS-590s. I could detect no performance differences. The TS-590s has RX performance equal to any 5K. This actually surprised me. The highly touted and ballyhooed Flexradio "Brick Filters" were no better than the Kenwoods. In fact I liked the Kenwood filtering better because of the simple and easy way to adjust the filters.

Keep promoting your puny 1500, few here on eham believe Flex Fanboys any more.

Stan K9IUQ

Bingo! Most (but not all) Flexers all have the same traits. When they can not spin facts they start calling names. Several posters here are quite good at belittling those they do not agree with. If you can not attack the message then go after the messenger which is a very common practice with the Flexers.

I do NOT hate Flexers, indeed I respect Flex owners who are honest and discuss the pro/cons of a Flexradio without contradicting known facts. You and NI0Z are 2 good examples of Flex owners who look at Flexradios without hysteria and religious like fervor.

Stan K9IUQ

You do not seem to understand the focus problem,it has nothing to do with running PSDR in the background or prioritys.

I will make this as simple as I can as most of the posters seem not to contest and do not understand this focus problem.

To run a contest on a Flexradio you need to run at least 2 programs at once. PSDR and a Contest logger. You need PSDR to change bands and operate the Flexradio. The logger logs your contacts. Here is the problem. In the heat of battle it is very easy to forget which window is active-PSDR or Logger. Say you have the PSDR window active but think the logger window is active for commands. You send a logger command but instead it goes to PSDR since it's window is active. All of a sudden the Flexradio changes Band and suddenly you are transmitting 40 meter RF into your 20 meter beam. At legal limit. This is quite thrilling and guaranteed to make you wish you had a K-3.

It is quite easy to lose focus of which window is active when using PSDR and a logger. The only way around this that I know of is to run PSDR on a dedicated computer and the logger on a different computer.

Stan K9IUQ

What you mean is you are using a Trial version refusing to pay the $25 for the efforts of the programmer. Cheap Cheap Ham and IMO not honest.

If I use software I pay for it. I do not try to cheat the programmers outta $$ nor will I get a free copy from a "friend" Imagine that.

Stan K9IUQ

A personal opinion by an admitted NON-Contester.

Prettiness not considered in Contest loggers, speed and reliability along with easy of use are top prioritys.

I answered your question. And you try to spin my answer. Serious contesters use serious Contest software. N1MM is serious contest software, HRD is laughable as contest software. N1MM is arguably the Standard for contest loggers.

Stan K9IUQ

Of course you conveniently omitted this info in your original post, insinuating that no extras are needed for digital ops.

VAC is written by a Russian ham and Flexradio relies on his software for the digital modes. NO VAC and no Flexradio digital modes. IMO Flexradio should have put this VAC functionality into PSDR. However as everyone knows Flexradio does not spend any more effort than they have to.

Providing Truthful Information about Flexradios and irritating Flexers with the Truth since 2010. No need to call anyone names, truth speaks for itself.

The Straw Man -  a new one for me

LMAO
Stan K9IUQ

You fail to mention that to use the Flexradios on Digital you must use a not free program called VAC aka Virtual Audio Cable. The Flexradios do not support Digital modes without this program. Also depending on your computer and Digital software you may also need Virtual Serial Ports Emulator (VSPE) which cost $$ for the  64 bit version.

Stan  K9IUQ

It is obvious that you do not contest. Try using the most popular contesting program N1MM  (Free) and the Flexradio in a contest.

You will quickly find out what losing focus is all about and also you will understand why any serious contester shuns the Flexradios like the Plague..

Stan K9IUQ

Flexradio has made many mistakes. None are acknowledged by the Flexers. They just ignore the complaints and say "hey my Flexradio is trouble free." Flexradio's biggest mistake is lying and not telling the truth. From cw problems to delivery dates on the 6700 they constantly do not tell the truth. Perhaps this rubs off on the True Believers who constantly try to defend Flexradio.

Stan K9IUQ

Fortunately I still own the K9IUQ "All Things Flexrradio BS Translator". So I am going to use the translator on some of these recent quotes so that all hams can understand what is going on in the Flexer World.

Note the first quote has the word Demo. This is a key word in the Flex Translator. It means "not intended for commercial release".


How did you get my translator?  


Translated:Hams are getting sick and tired of the same old excuses (ok SK is a new one) and are cancelling orders.


Yep it has been really keen to give $1-2K of MY money to Flexradio for a year. Yep, I remain keen with that $$ in Flexradios pocket.Might be a while more in time but hey they already got my big deposit and I have nothing to show for it except for some really keen and exciting Demos.


As any Flexer can tell you these are really keen words for a Flexer. on order, looking forward to it


Translated: Give it up Steve. Well known Flexers are already getting real world sense and dumping pre-orders.

The Anan boat is moving seemingly faster right now. The Flexradio boat is still at the dock waiting for Passengers with $$.

This Translation is brought to you by K9IUQ - Well Known EX- Flexer

Stan K9IUQ

You may want to make sure that the duplicates are not coming from the xmitting station. A few years ago I owned a Flexradio 5K. At the time this radio was known to produce xmitting spurs on 160/80 mtrs. When I got it I first tested at low power it by listening in another RX, Sure enough my CW signal was on several freqs within the same band I was xmitting on. I then fired up the amp and running 1500 watts checked the results on RBN. Sure enough my signal had multiple freq reports, in fact the spur strength was almost as good as the fundamental signal reports.

As is well known in this SDR forum I complained repeatedly about the spur problem here on eham and on the Flex reflectors. I also had discussions with Flexradio. For my efforts I got banned from the Flex reflectors because of my constant complaining. Finally Flexradio offered to fix my radio with a hardware Fix. This was the first customer radio they did the spur fix on. It worked. They kept this fix quiet for 6 months until I decided to sell my Flex 5K. I advertised it as having the "coveted 160/80 mtr spur fix.) That day Flexradio announced that the spur fix was available to current owners and would be implemented in subsequent production radios.

I suspect not all radios were not sent in for the Fix. Not everyone works 160/80 mtr CW. Anyone buying a used Flexradio 5K should make sure the Radio has the spur fix before purchase. I would guess any Flexradio 5K from when it was first released (2008) thru about early 2011 may not have the spur Fix. My Flex 5K had the spur mod done Sept-Oct 2010.

I sold my Flex 5K on 3-8-2011. I just looked up the eham Ad and this is what I put in the ad "Also has the coveted 160/80 mtr spur elimination Factory Modification. Do Not Buy ANY 5K without this modification."

Since I am a 160/80 cw enthusiast I did note when I had the FLexradio 5k that I would sometimes RX multiple signals on different freqs from one call. On the Flexradio Pan-adapter this is very easy to spot. I just assumed that these multiple sigs were from other Flexers that did not have the spur fix.
 
Stan K9IUQ

My Flexradio RFI problems manifested itself in a couple of areas.First off

I had owned my existing shack and antennas, ground system for 10 years before I invited the Flexradio 5K into my shack. Never did I have any RFI problem until the Flexradio. In that 10 years I had 2 Yaesu radios a Kenwood 2000 and 4 different Icom Radios. Most of these were $2K plus radios. None of them had any RFI problems. None. Before the Flex I did not even own a ferrite except the ones that were already formed on cables.

Enter the Flexradio 5K. The first RFI I noticed was xmit audio in the external powered speakers. Unlike other radios, Flexradio cut corners and does NOT provide a speaker amplifier in their radios. You must provide an external speaker and amplifier. The first speakers I used was an  old pair I had laying around. Terrible xmit audio thru them.  I perused the Flex Reflectors and found that everyone recommended a pair of powered Bose speakers available at Sam's Club for under $100. I bought them. The RFI with them was about the same and I hated the RX audio. Even after putting ferrites on ALL the Bose speaker cords (both ends) the RFI persisted. I got my $$ refunded.

I then went to BB and demoed and looked at every powered speaker they had in stock. I bought a pair of M-Audio powered speakers at $100. With ferrites this speaker setup worked perfectly. No more RFI from xmit audio and they sounded and looked much better than the Bose speakers.

Next I was getting SSB audio reports of "stuttering"SSB audio. This was at the 100 watt level, no amp on.These reports came from different bands and antennas  - but not always. Sometimes the Flex worked without issue. Sometimes it stuttered. Once I started getting in pileups and using my Ameritron Al-1500 that changed. RFI in stuttering SSB xmit audio happened almost all the time. It is interesting to note I never had any RFI problems with CW even at high levels of RF power.

I tried about everything to rid myself of the dreaded Flex Stuttering audio. Ferrites on everything including my German Shepherds tail.  Also I tried at least 4 or 5 different microphones fully ferrited.

After a couple of months I finally got rid of the stuttering SSB audio. If this was the only problem I experienced with the Flex 5K I would probably still own it. Alas. the Flex 5K had many other warts - things I could not and would not live with. I got rid of the Flex 5 K after only 11 months, the shortest time I have ever owned a radio. I took a big $$$ loss, it was worth every penny of loss to get rid it.

Stan K9IUQ






 

Typical fantasy thinking from a Flexradio owner. Flexradio enthusiasts are prone to ignoring problems and denying them at every opportunity. If that does not work then they put the blame on the operator, computer, shack etc.

The fact is any radio controlled by a computer is going be RFI prone. Steps have to be taken to minimize these problems. Running 5 watts on an Anemic Flexradio 1500 is not going to give anyone problems - it just is not enough power to cause problems.

However if you are an operator that values his hamradio time and runs 1500 watts AKA legal limit your experiences are going to be different. I can only relate my own experience with Flexradio RFI problems which have been well documented here on the eham SDR forum. Every word I have been written has been the truth.

I am not a newbie ham, I have been hamming for 52 years and have experienced all kinds of different radios. Flexradio has been one on my few disappointments. I overcame all my RFI problems with the Flexradio 5K. It took much effort and $$$ to do so but I was successful.I tried 3 different computers - all recent manufacture and with steel cases bonded to the ground system. The RFI symptoms occurred on all the computers. Only after spending $100 plus for quality ferrites and the best Firewire cable that $$$ could buy were my problems abated.

I never believed the fault was entirely the radio. My RFI problems were caused by the computer - radio relationship. Many Flexers thought that I did not have a proper ground. I had 4 long ground rods and perhaps around 150 radials in the ground thanks to my 160mtr and 40 mtr verticals. I also have a nice beam antenna and wire antennas. Everything was bonded together properly.

The RFI problem in Flexradios does exist and I was not a lone example. A little prudent internet Googling will find many others. Few are as vocal as I have been for fear of being attacked like I have been for telling the truth.

Stan K9IUQ