Thanks Gene, that's what I suspected and was looking for some validation.

Lol, I have to laugh because today I was one of those Flex Radios that suddenly disappeared off the air in the middle of a mini pile I had created.

We lost power here!  Not the Flex's fault or a faulty PC.  Strange, no weather here right now either!

Too bad, was having fun!

Thanks again Gene, I will have a direct comparison some day with the KX3 gets here probably late this year or next depending on how long it takes for them to catchup!  My noise floor is fairly decent and sits between -120Db and -135db on the Flex Panadaptor.  It was pretty bad when I first set things up as -110 used to be a good day and -100 was normal.  I think there may be a few more things I can do to try and get it down more before I am just dealing with what it will be in a busy suburb neighborhood.

Thanks Gene,

I agree, you are a radio math wizard then!  That's exactly part of what I was looking for, the 140DB seemed to high!

Can you comment what does that means for a few shack noise example noise floors?

Let's take a few such as the following

Noise floor sits at -135db
Noise floor sits at -130db
Noise floor sits at -125db
Noise floor sits at -120db
Noise floor sits at -115db

I avoided S Units for this discussion and realize there would be assumptions tied to this since I think it's somewhat theoretical in discussion.

The interest here is if there is a correlation of the Best obtainable noise floor and ones shack and the capability of a radios receiver specs.  So for example, if the best noise floor I can achieve is only -115db is a radio with say 120db going to be any better for me than one with say 115?

Thanks for your patience!

I simply disagree. 

In the end me,  not even a 1 year ham, got the Flex radio to work well, and work pretty darn well at that.  It really didn't even take a month.

I didnt quit on it because I ran into a few obstacles and blame everything flex radio.  I was able to quickly sort through myths and facts.  Fact is the radio is above average and the software bundelwd with it is functional, but is only average and has a few bugs.

I don't give flex a pass for making things difficult either, so it ain't about that.  I have said many times already here and on my website that they should change how they operate.  I did know however what I got into though when I bought the rig and got past the challenges as many others have with some help and simple observation and creativity.

Anyone else that wants to make these radios work, can very easily now if they want to.  At this point since we know what needs to be done its not even difficult.  It cost about $20 dollars in ferrites if you buy them full price and a little ingenuity and patience.  Per your own argument, the PC has nothing to do with it or can be had cheaper than you can build it.  That's your view btw, not mine as I believe you get equal or less than what you pay for most times and the buyer is always to be aware.  Every once and a while a good deal can be had with patience.  The fact remains that you bought one, even wrote a review about how you loved it and then something went wrong and you did a 180.  I'd love to know what caused all this commotion.

They are just machines made by very imperfect people.  I think your a very very smart man Stan, just think something about your Flex radio experience got the best of you and you won't stand for anyone saying they like their Flex radio, struggles or no struggles. Maybe it's because the solution is so cheap and easy in the end.  And forget the fact that the solution to 90% or more of the issues costs less than $20.  Just $20 and a little patience.  That's all Stan.

Forget the fact that I am a computing professional and have over 20 years experience with them as well.  I don't think so little of your ham experience and it's great when you share great stuff with us.  When we loose objectivity though we loose credibility.  The message I seem to get from you is there isn't even 1 good thing about flex radios except that you no longer own one.  That about right?  Emotions seem to rule the climate here.  Again, they are all just radios.  There are so many more important things in life!

There are likely few pro Flex radio people here because a few people don't want them here and will not tolerate them.  Pretty simple, like I said, it appears to be Anti Flex radio forum held under siege by a few.   The few have no problem when I tell the bad, but beware the person that has one good thing to say, you will be chastised and hounded until they go away.  That's why the credibility of those few slips, no objectivity.

I can begin to tell you the good and bad of many other current radios on the market, including the Flex rigs.  That's objectivity.

Just ignore me if you don't like what I have to say, I plan on doing the same for you.

Sorry!

Peace and 73 to you!

Stan, I own a Flex radio and have figured it all out, of course I am going to talk about the flex and how to solve problems.  When you pay your dues and get it working there's not much to dislike really.  Of course, I don't have as demanding expectations as many here so perhaps my opinion shouldnt count.  And, let's just say for a moment I was pro flex, what is exactly does that mean?  Should I be relegated to some lesser stature because I come to a fourm titled SDR and talk positively about any particular SDR.  Only Kenwood fans opinions should matter, or Elecraft opinions, or Yaesu opinions?  Why is one SDR brand radio owner different than another or respected more than another?  Or for that matter even a non SDR owner.

The 6700 series radios and hype thus far intrigues me, but I am interested in real opinions and the other side of the hype.  It's why I come here as well.  I value people who provide the other side of the coin and talk about it as well.  You can usually see who sits at the extremes and who are the in betweens.

Yes, if you look hard at what's in the commercial PC you buy or are willing to change some things on it, you can do pretty well. 

Building you own PC apples to apples is about the same cost for the same stuff.  Commercial PCs tend to use lesser processors like Celerons, or AMD chips.  When we build them we tend to buy better stuff.  You can build dirt cheap PCs as well.  You pretty much get what you pay for and it pretty much performs like what you paid for it.  Don't get me wrong, I have an HP in the house, 2 dells,1 acer, 3 macs and two home builds.  I rely on only my Mac and my home built stuff for the important stuff.  The Mac was the best of them all until I loaded Lion on it.  Apple has some work to do on it.

So Stan, what's your thoughts now on the 6700 radios?  I am talking about the specs and not the cost and the company.  I already know how you feel on those topics.

So Gene, I have see you are quite the SDR wizard, what's your take on what the real dynamic range numbers are going to be on the 6k series and what it will mean for the users assuming they build it stable?  Will the average shack even be able to leverage it and make it worth while?

Ok, about the computer, most commercial PC's stink for applications like this.  Easiest way to get it right is to build one yourself.  That's why I stopped buying commercial PC's because they usually don't remain very stable when you use them for IO intensive applications. 

Gaming machines are made for high intensity video and moderate IO.  Servers are made for intensive CPU and IO usage.  Your average home PC or business PC are not made for that stuff.

Even when you build them yourself, one should stick to good motherboard manufacturers.  I have learned to use Intel and Tyan motherboards and I seldom see issues.  ASUS is not bad but not great either.

Again, I get that people feel they shouldn't have to have a super PC to run their radio.  And there are probably some people that just run Power SDR and the radio and do just fine.

Other than Bertha having server grade parts she is about half of what you just listed power wise because she's three years old.  But, she's running the latest 64bit OS and multiple programs now and stable as a rock.  It's not luck, it's good components.

About the computer for the 6k series of radios, probably won't need something as special since the computing will be done in the radio and greatly reduce the IO to the computer as well.

Interesting Flex 6K discussion on this thread.

http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/OT-Dayton-New-Equipment-Show-td7556083.html

While not so new, I did happen to notice this radio is for sale now, it probably has been for a few months.  Any way, here it is, it's like the Excalibur Pro, but a much larger frequency range.

WinRadio Excelisior
http://www.winradio.com/home/g39ddce.htm

YouTube video, not sure it really shows you anything g significant though.
http://www.winradio.com/home/g39ddce.htm

EHamnews review here
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/10398

Yaesu UK site has the initial brochure for themes FTDX 3000 available for viewing and download.  It's a single Reciever radio with FT 5000 performance and a 9mhz IF out on the back.

Interesting radio with no apparent second Reciever option.  I guess one could always add an SDR to it and have the best of both worlds.

New QSR has an article showing how to use a filter interface to create a Panadaptor for an analog radio.  Bit of a different approach, interesting reading.  You can access your QST digitally by signing into the ARRL website if your a member.

Well, more info on the Yaesu FT-DX 3000 out today.  Just one Reciever but supposed FT-5000 Specs and performance on it.  IF out on the back.  No price yet.  Might make a nice for a nice make shift SDR with a RF Space NetSDR and software to lock the and or split the VFOs. 

Yaesu UK has the brochure if your interested.

Thanks for adding to the tips.

Here's a link to their cables, do you remember which one you ordered?

http://www.granitedigital.com/firewire1394diagnosticcables.aspx

I figured since I have put some work into getting. My Flex 5000A to work that I would start a thread here to help other users.  Why here in a seemingly anti flex radio forum.  Well, I am guessing there are more flex users here that people realize and that some come here when they can't get answers elsewhere or get sour on their ownership of these radios.

I hope this thread like the others won't turn into a flame war and just offer help for those that want it.

Here are my three tips, myths, truths, whatever you want to call them.  They are merely based on my own experience and observations and changes I made through trial and error and the advice of others.

You need a better than average computer with a nice fast bus speed.  I recommend a 4 core 3ghz i7 intel based PC, 4-8gb of ram, built in FW on the MB if you can get it.  Yes, a PC like that costs more money.  Want to play Radio with a FireWire based SDR, my advice is just buy the better PC.

You need to put a ferrite on all audio related cables (mic, balanced audio in, audio out, headphones and audio out, ect) $20-30

Don't run your coax cables parallel to each other if you can avoid it and try to keep them am inch or two away from each other.  Despite shielding, coax cables leak and can can cause Unwanted self generated RFI.  Requires time and some thought and planning and lots of zip ties!

Put your flex radio alone and away at least a foot from your other radio equipment. Less opportunity for RFI to get into your radio this way.

If your PC is within 5 feet of your Flex Radio and running a wireless Internet connection, it may cause you RFI issues.  You can buy a wifi device that allows you to hook up an ethernet cable to it so you can run it to the hard wired jack on the back of your PC.  This will move the access
Point away from the computer and your radio and thus elliminate the interference. $29-39 on Amazon.com

The more electronics you have running the more issues you may have.

Good grounding can help lower your noise floor.  Lower noise floor equals more signals you can rake in.  Not unique for Flex Radios.

Look for unwanted signals on your Panadaptor that represent RFI and hunt them down and eliminate them.  Use a shortwave radio and see if they go away if you flip the power off to your house.  Keep in mind, this one is not just for Flex radios.  If you can hear it on a shortwave radio, you can probably hear it on any rig.  Get rid of it if you can.  I got rid of a bad lamp, bad cell phone charger, and turn off my ionic air purifiers when I ham now.  All were sources of nasty RFI and not unique to Flex radios.

That's what comes to mind right now and yes, that's a lot to think about and do to have and successfully run a Flex FW SDR.  No need to lament on it in this thread.  Flex should proactively communicate this in the manual to help users who run into issues.  

I run my Flex 5k on Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit right now.  It's working well.  I recently added an article to my website inspired in part by some of the conversation in this thread about Life on an SDR and the 5K.  I believe I have been fair in pointing out the good and the bad.

I am going to sum it up this way here.

You need a better than average PC to run a Flex 5000A, especially if you want to run cat software and all kinds of other things that computer oriented people like myself run.  I don't really know what quality of PC Flex had in their 5000c but I am guessing a user like myself would have quickly become unhappy trying to run everything I do.  This is a reallity of wanting to drive a Flex 5000 radio hard, you need a good PC that is not already inheritenly flakey and that has some horsepower under the hood.  Buying a cheap PC and thinking your going to have a good experience is not likely.

Being fair, you need to take certain RF precautions.  I as I have said only have three ferrites and they all are on audio devices.  The coax cables don't have any, I am only made sure that they for the most part are all 1 inch away from each other so they don't bleed into each other.  Last but not least, I also positioned my equipment so that A the amp was not near the radio, B that my audio equipment was not near the radio and C so that I could run the cables in such a way to have the spacing I referenced above.  

Being objective that is a lot of work and extra cost for a good PC and some ferrites that one might not have to do with another rig.

I also wrote an article on the site about choosing a PC for SDR radios if it's of any interest as well.  Link is below.

Now, whether that's worth it for people, my guess is that the answer is no for most Hams.  They don't want or need the hassle.  Flex would do well to simply state this stuff upfront and provide the three ferrites for users.  I am guessing they have a bench where they test and an industrial PC they use and so the woes of the common end user don't come into play for them in the lab.  A good lab setup also looks at distructive testing a d looks at the worse case scenarios as well as the optimal ones.

For us few, once you get it setup right, it's a blast to use!  I am not sure what it says about me, but I have enjoyed the challenge of figuring it all out and now operating the station now for the most part is a lot of fun. 

Found this, anyone use it?

http://www.w2swr.com/pdf/homebrew-buddipole.pdf