flex1500 software upgrade

John

Does anyone at flex have an ideas as to when a new version of the powerSDR will be available ? I have no hope of upgrading to another model, so am stuck in the groove

K4RCG

I'm in the same situation John. I bought the 1500 presuming Flex would continue to update PSDR. I'm fearing that us PSDR users are now considered second tier as Flex markets and develops the 6000 series.

John

Hi, well perhaps they should consider releasing the software and make it open source so that we can add our own upgrades. Rumors abound that the 1500 will be dropped at some stage. I knew that they had to stop the 1500 development to work on the other models as they came out, but they should really give us a timeline or a straight forward no development.
I am not able to upgrade anyway, being a pensioner and would love to see the powersdr software improved to its full potential.

Richard McClelland, AA5S

I'm a Flex 1500 only user as well (have been since 2010).  I was using my radio yesterday and I thought to myself that if this is the last software update I ever receive, I'll still be quite pleased with this radio.  I don't want to criticise anyone for wanting further improvement but, realistically, shouldn't we all expect this thing to be sunsetted any time now?  Flex has to keep grinding out newer, better products and, at some point, dropping support for yesterday's big thing.  

John

Of course its quite good with the latest version but Flex should really put this whole matter to rest by making a statement of their website as to what their plans are. My guess is that there must be a lot of 1500's still not sold and they dont want to rock the boat and slow the sales of this model. That being the case, its the least they can do for us users.

Richard McClelland, AA5S

Arguing against more transparency is like arguing against mothers and apple pie, no one could be against these things.  Perhaps you are right about the business requirements related to surplus 1500s in stock, but how can we know such things?  I think that the Flex staff are receptive to concerns such as yours and we may see more detail regarding their plans.  I also feel that I can relate to your strict budget constraints, having a 9 year old son and wanting to retire myself one day, I tend to scrutinize my purchases much more closely now than I might have done in the past.

John

But lets not fool ourselves into complacency. Decisions can be made with the **** of a pen or the bark of a command. I would like to see them come clean to prevent the rumors from growing. Re the timelines, it can be done and its always good PRO to have one. Well, I caught chickenpox from my son 10 years ago aged 45 and have not worked since and state handouts are now being squeezed by various governments in order to cut costs.

Jon_KF2E

I doubt there will be any more feature updates to PSDR. I'm sure if an issue pops up they will do what's needed to provide continuing support but I wouldn't look for new functionality. They probably should issue a state of PSDR message at some point.

Jon...kf2e

John

****! there goes my finger in the pie :-)
I was hoping they would include some of my suggested improvements. Well, what can I say, except lets wait it out and hope they release the software as open source.. Bed time is calling this side. 73 to all

Richard McClelland, AA5S

Sorry to hear that, John.  That strikes very close to home as my county has been having an unusually high rate of flu related illness requiring hospitalizations.  I don't know of my wife could hold up if I couldn't work and had to stay home all day.  hi hi...

James Kirk

Must be nice to have a pension, I just have SS and could afford an upgrade if I so choose.

Robert -- N5IKD

Would you consider paying for an update if it had sufficient features to justify $50 or $100?

John

No pension here, I was in my prime and had just got back from a 2 week business trip to Tokyo when I caught chickenpox. Now living off the state.

John

I would, and probably many others out there would as well.

John

reminds me its similar to the YAESU FT897D as the lcd displays are not being made anymore and when the stocks run out, that will be that. No-one tells those who want to purchase a new one, that there are limited spares available.

John

Is there a list somewhere of user's suggestions to upgrade the software ?

DrTeeth

The software is already open source AIUI and the source code is available.

http://www.flexradio.com/amateur-products/flex-series/powersdr/

Jon_KF2E

Not exactly. Only the portions of the software that Flex GOT from the public domain are available. I don't believe the source code for their work is available.

Jon...kf2e

DrTeeth

On the page to which I linked it does say "source code available". I assume that it means all of it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

KY6LA_Howard

I believe that only the Public source code is available not the propriety parts.of the code

Jon_KF2E

Guy,

If you read on the upgrades tab of the link you sent you will find this paragraph...

Being a “mixed source” application, you may obtain a copy of the open source portions of the PowerSDR source code by contacting FlexRadio Systems and requesting a specific version of PowerSDR.

Jon...kf2e

DrTeeth

Got it Jon, thanks. The only thing I know about programming is that I cannot do it.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

John

I wonder how rusty my c++ is after many years of no use. Is "hello world" now perhaps "goodbye world". Still got my programming certificates somewhere. Back then there was no visual c. Infact, I may even have the code issued to us on floppy disk somewhere in the attic. Will it run on win7 64 bit ?

John

I used to be able to do it but that was many moons ago

Bill -VA3WTB

This is something Flex should have done a long time ago, make upgrades to PSDR and charge for it. I'm sure many would buy it. And as we know many use PSDR on other radios as well. I think they would purchase as well.

John

well, if they handed over the software, there are capable people out there who could add features and even hardware mods for us at the bottom of the ladder.

Leonard Jenkins KB8DOA

All this talk has got me "bummed out" about my Flex-1500 purchase. Having owned (invested) the product for such a short period of time, to discover that development was abandoned - and focus turned to the 6000 series - is really disappointing. There should have been more "overlap" between the product lines. If FlexRadio would have produced a 6000 series model that was cost-comparable to the 1500, I would feel different and more positive about this situation. But instead - I will continue to be a humble "second tier" ham...

Peter K1PGV

I can clarify a couple of points:

1. The PowerSDR code *is* open source.  I found Flex very responsive to my request for the latest version.  The code looks to me like it's all there.  I built it and it builds and runs without any warnings or errors.  I'm not aware of anything missing.
2. The code is written in C# .Net, using Visual Studio 2008.
3. The code is surprisingly clean, given it's age.  Having said that, it also looks like code that's gone through a lot of editing and revision over the years.  It's not something I would personally be thrilled to maintain.

I was curious how they did a few things in PowerSDR that I miss in SmartSDR, like (for example) the tuning (you can mouse-over and use your mouse wheel on a given digit, or you can click to edit).  The code proved to be highly instructive.

Leonard Jenkins KB8DOA

Understood.
However, this is only exciting if one is a programmer AND a ham...

Peter K1PGV

True dat.

But John (the OP) was whinging about "if they handed over the software" and I thought I'd help him by explaining the situation.

Bill-W9OL

What was that commercial???

"We will sell no wine...before it's time"

I'm just as anxious and eager for some new features.