I own and still use my Flex 5000A, so I have earned a right to comment on how I feel about the flex radios.  So have many others here.  So if there is negativity, then Flex Radio systems has to own and address it, not its users.

The most obvious question I have is this, if users past and Present feel negatively about Flex Radio Systems and products, why shouldn't they be able to express their feelings here?

I have to laugh also while I am commenting, I recall people posting an applied imagination and game changer posts here, and I can't help but laugh at this because the applied imagination to me is more a statement about selling a radio that doesn't yet exist in any form of working state.  That would also be a game changer as well, selling imagination!  Oh wait, I guess fiction writers sell imagination as well, but at least there is a physical book you can go and buy and actually exists!  Yup, definitely a game changer!

All that said, I believe some day we will see the beginnings of a working radio.  They really should have had the software in a alpha or beta status before they ever made an announcement though.  Software like this has a proven track record of being difficult to develop, leave alone thinking it can be written in just three months.  Just look at how long it's taken power SDR to become stable and decent.

It will be December soon, last month of Q4 2012, no prototype on display yet.  Why shouldn't there be skeptics?   If your looking for the fan club it's definitely not located here, sorry about that chap!  The conversations tend to be more reality based here and people can find it abrasive, so I sympathize how bad realty might feel for the true fans when they come and read stuff here.

It's ok, just send flex some more money, they will comfort you while they slowly cobble the new radios together.  Maybe they can get the Receiver software written first and offer those to the folks that have made down payments.

So many better ways they could have approached all this!

Do you have yours running more than 100 watts yet?  If so, how long did it take?

Now, there is nothing anywhere that says you have to be electrical do it yourself to be a ham.  There are hams that also love to incorporate kit building, or even their own design and building into their hobby.

You just happen to enjoy doing both, and I might someday too when I don't have an extraordinarily busy life that even limits my radio time leave alone building stuff.

To each their own! 

It would be nice to hear more about where you currenty sit in your project, I seem to last recall you were still building.

The problem is power with the QS1R.  As a Reciever it would seem to be outstanding, for transmit thought there are hoops a person has to jump through.  The real point of my post was about the need for a solid exciter amp solution for these exceptional transceivers and not having too many hoops to jump through.  The KX3 has a nice receiver in it, but even at 10 watts running QRO requires more hoops to jump through. The ten Tec amp doesn't seem to be the answer for these radios yet.  Getting closer but still falls short in my humble and limited opinion.

If there were a nice solution, I'd have a QS1R already.  Hopefully 2013 will bring us the goods!

The quest for the newest best often ends in disappointment.  I am glad I have settled down now and don't have the bug so bad.

It's all in the level of the challenge for me, fun if its a stretch, a nightmare if what's desired is a near impossibility.

Time will sort out this market.  It goes back to the thread, to SDR or not to SDR. 

Perhaps someone will come up with something next year that will be Flex 6Kish at a reasonable cost with a reasonable level of effort to get results.

If the idea is not to have tons of virtual slices, one can have a lot of fun with the KX3.

What we really need for the experimenters is a really nice exciter amp solution.  Something that can take a few mili watts and give us a hundred what's out with a built in buffer and ability to daisy chain a legal limit amp off the back.  TenTec is getting closer, but we need a high quality answer to that.  Then all the experimenters have a viable outlet to play with.  Might be nice if it supported multiple radios as well, or even had the built in switching so one could hang multiple receive only SDRs.  Perhaps even multiple antennas as well.

Most of what you are looking for is in this article here including screen shots.

http://roaringstar.com/index.php/articles/66-kx3-nap3-lp-brige-dm780-setup

Hope this helps!

Also, thank Stan for his relentless stance with Flex for fixing lots of the issues, all done with no reward to him.

Flex is no better than the other manufacturers out there.. It's just reality.

Flex ownership cycle

First exposure to cool looking hype
The purchase ( either the users is thrilled or dismayed depending on what they expected )
The dismayed try to make it work, usually leads to returning in 30 days or selling it.
The thrilled users play and have a lot of fun, because they are playing as much computer guru as they are radio guru..
The fun and lusters fades as the users gets back to focused radio operation
The radio becomes more work than fun
They either buy the hype on the upgrade for the next better rig or sell
The cycle repeats until the users moves on.

Yes, I still have mine, it's still useable for what I do.  I honestly have more fun operating the KX3, but I also like new exciting challenges.

The next gen of radios may begin to obsolete radios like the flex line because they'll have knobs, displays and robust computer interface, kind of the direction the KX3 is headed, but we will get more serious base stations.  The K4 might be such a radio when it arrives on the scene.

Not that this will actually happen, but things like this can.  If Flex struggles to deliver 4Q and there is not even a working prototype early 1Q then people might start asking for their money back.  If Flex does not have money in reserve and hastily announced a new product that stunted old product sales, you could see them potentially going belly up and a lot of people not getting their deposits back.  These things are delicate, it just takes someone pulling the wrong brick from the bottom of the stack to make it topple.

Personally, I hope they deliver and stay alive and become something better!

What they took on software wise though was no small task!

Here is your ARRL review of the KX3.

http://www.arrl.org/files/file/protected/Group/Members/ProductReview/PROD%20REV%20December%202012.pdf

You'll need to sign in to access it.

You can look in my website and follow my little journey using the KX3 as a base station.  In summary the main disadvantages I see is that you'll have to buy a amp to run it more than 12 watts.  It adds to the cost.  On the flip side if you already run a computer in your shack then it's pretty much only the cost of a few cables to have a Panadaptor.

Between running my Flex 5000 and my KX3 as a base station, I see little difference other than the power issue.  If you get it as a base, you will want the roofing filter option.  The ATU really depends on whether you already have one, or want something for field use QRP.

There is the speaker issue as well.  I don't see that being fixed anytime soon.  Oddly enough I think it's not a speaker issue but rather an issue related to the audio dynamics of the KX3.

I don't use CW so I can't comment there.  Other digital modes work well, there is a slight frequency drift issue that they believe they will fix.  The drift issue my be more serious if you want to use CW.

The receiver for SSB and for Digital modes is quite excellent.  

Seriously, the primary intended use for this radio is QRP and not as a base station even though with thought, money and effort you can make it very functional as a base station.  The values I see of taking this route is you can buy those extra things a little at a time verses a larger upfront investment.

All that said, if you are really looking for a base station, have no care for a Panadaptor then the Kenwood would look to be a really nice value option.  Many here can help you on that one of you want more info.  Personally, in the sub 2000 range I would look at the Yaesu and Kenwood lines.  You may even consider finding a good clean used unit as you can get more radio for your money that way if your a thrifty shopper.

I have provided all of the above to help you sort through the compelling reasons why one would be tempted to look at the $900 price and dive in verses looking for a real base station rig.  If you do the math, here is what you end up paying.  Add the the build fee, $100, add the roofing filter, $129, a lot money for a mic, lets say $60 minimum, add $800 for an amp, add $20 for accessory cables.  Your close to $1900.   

To provide a summary answer.  You wouldn't want to buy a KX3 as a base station because simply, it's not a base station and you can buy something more integrated and functional for the same or less money.

My bet was the at the earliest late Q1.  Then there will be the mountain of bugs, and perhaps even some hardware misques!

That discount the early birds got, is likely going to be very welled earned as beta testers!

See my post on SDRRadio.  Anyone can look at their own signal if they have a windows based computer.  Free!  http://www.sdr-radio.com/

Lol, I slightly resemble that remark, I have sent a few screenshots and mp3's to Hams showing them how they look and sound.  It would be nice if someone out there would provide that as a service. 

You can do this yourself though to some degree with SImons SDRRadio software. You can pick a distant ham who has there Reciever online and the  transmit to it and see what your signal looks and sounds like.  No flex radio needed and you can screen shot and even record yourself!

I like this idea!  I then think that some other group should through surveying come up with the most valued features and usability attributes and provide a score based on that.  While it would be nearly impossible to please everyone due to the subjective nature of use ability definitions.  A definition could be applied to each area rated.  User ratings could be applied as well.  IE HamLabs score for roofing filter X is 86 owners score I'd 65.

Mix that with the Sherwood, which I have decided in so much as knowing what NOT to buy at this point.  IE, get the performance you can afford and hopefully that can match the minimal discernible difference between as good as you need and much more than you'll ever need.

The idea being then you the end user pick what's most important to you and it will give you the top ranked radios that match that criteria. 

One other thought, question if you will.  At what point does the criteria used to rank these radios become obsoleted and in need of being transcended by a more relevant set of variables that will translate into something tangible to the ham actually operating the rigs?

What would be more meaningful? 

I haven't been a ham long enough to really answer this question myself, which is why I ask.

I say this because all said and done after playing with a couple of the rigs in the top 5 side by side, I have concluded that in real practical terms, there was absolutely no difference that I could scientifically discern between the two radios as a user (using my eyes a d ears) that would mean anything to me as an end user as it relates to these measurements.

At what point does it simply become meaningless spec wars?

What really really counts with consideration to the new radios we will see here in the next year or so?

I think it's great news.  I expect the top 5 to change a few times over the next 18 months, lots of goodies on the horizon charted for that time period.

We have the new Yaesu, new Kenwood, new Flex, and a few others.  I suspect we may hear about a K4 somewhere near the latter part of that 18month period as well.

It's all good!