Would someone from FRS care to comment?

Bob G W1GLV

Sell your radio and buy an **** box, that should satisfy you.

James Watts

Bob, if that is directed at me, fortunately, I don't have to sell anything to purchase another rig. I can afford any rig I desire or as many of them as I want. However, my other rig is a Kenwood TS-990s and I didn't have to sell anything to get that **** box either. James, W8GN

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

Bob, similar to James, the Flex is only one of many rigs I own.  But that does not satisfy the fact that the Flex is not where we were led to believe it would be by now.

DH2ID

Gerald, thanks for the additional information. It clears up quite a lot.
73, Alex DH2ID

DrTeeth

Ken,

That is not the case. At my stage in my career, after 33 years at the enamel face as it were, I can say with a high degree of accuracy how long *any* procedure will last. I also do not give a definite time as to how long it will take...I tell my patients that if I hurry they will not like it and we won't be friends any more.

Your scenario is more appropriate to a newly qualified dentist rather than one that is long in the tooth ;-) <groan>.

Ken - NM9P

LOL..." if I hurry they will not like it and we won't be friends any more."  I like that, Guy.

Corey/ KC0YNS

Steve, Couldn't have said it better myself!!  Well done....

Jay Nation

I own those three models myself. You wrote "owned". Did some one steal some of them? Were they lost in a catastrophe? Did you give them to a deserving new ham? I'm confused, You wrote you "owned" them. Were you really just renting them? You still own one. How are the studies going. It sounds like you want the answers. Theres a test coming up. We'll review the answers, after the test. And no, cheating will still not be allowed.  

James Watts

Jay, I'm really not qualified to teach you English, but I'll give it a try. I owned, (meaning I at one point did own but no longer own) the SDR1000 and the Flex 5000a. Those have gone on to new homes. I still own (meaning I still have in my possession) a brand new Flex 6500.

Whew, I'm exhausted, but Jay if you still need a dictionary, I'll do my best to purchase one and send to you. Are you good on QRZ?

James, W8GN

KM6CQ - Dan

You guys forgot to ask Gerald if he has an email server setup
inside his house?

73,   Dan  KM6CQ

Steve N4LQ

Keep in mind that the software goals may turn out to be impossible with the current hardware. 
After all, how could FRS have known if it had never been done before? 

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

Now wouldn't that be a real quagmire!

Bill -VA3WTB

After reading Steve's article on how the 6000 started, I don't think that would be a problem for many years...

Lee

I like my 6500, it's a cool radio.

I do seriously question whether Flex has the resource to deliver the things we need/promised in a generally good timeframe. If I am correct it has been out going on 3 years?

Personally I expected 1.5 to be there when I bought the 6500 at Dayton last year. And I thought it already had Flex 5000 features +. I guess I did not do my homework on that. A $4500+ radio should already have excellent DSP features day one (maybe some on-going improvements). I got the Flex and sold my TT Orion II ( a very good TOTL radio) for several reasons...I like SDR, Panafall, expected a superior RX due to architecture, O II was getting old, etc. The RX is not really better (It would help if the NR, ANL, NB were working excellent).

Are we even on schedule for WAN REMOTE in 2015 anymore? As promised at Dayton 2014 and in the plan.

This is certainly a different approach...if you bought a $7500 7700 you would expect it to have all the features (Has a great WAN Remote) and they do.....I guess I really did expect they had the resources to get this all done pretty fast. I did know it was not all done when I bought it. And that's OK.

Being a retired IT Pro with 40 years at IBM...(I was involved in hardware, firmware, operating systems and applications) I was able to see that the architecture was excellent and that is one big reason I drank the cool aid. I still think it is.

I think Flex is doing a great job in communicating to us....They are, I'm sure doing all they can with the resources they have, Are the resources enough to accomplish the goals in a timely manner....that's yet to be seen. This is hard, complex work.

I hope so as I love the radio in general. Maybe things will really speed up. Maybe they will surprise us in the near future?

It's a good basic radio the way it is now (once 1.5 stuff happens) but I can see why some, including me, are disappointed in the progress.  

For me...1.5 will be the deciding version...I don't really need remote, FM converters...I want the VERY BEST HF rig to be had for weak signal DX, rag chew etc in todays noisy crowded bands.

My neighborhood is certainly not getting any RF quieter, and 40 at night is crowded with close in stations. We will be in low sunspot soon and the low bands will be even more crowded.

Thanks Gerald for keeping us informed. Flex in my opinion is a quality operation or I would not have bought the radio.

A big concern is when people on the fence as to getting a Flex here of the slow progress (Yes, I know you guys at Flex don't think it is slow, but some of us sure do)

Lee, KC9CDT

Reg

Gerald:

I love my 6700 with 1.3.8.  I am sure that I will love it even more when we get 1.4.  Thank you.

Reg

Steve N4LQ

Where am I wrong?...Example: If FRS knew for certain that "Auto Notch" would work without distortion and remote WAN would function perfectly with the current hardware then wouldn't these features already exist? It takes a huge amount of confidence to sell hardware then develop it later don't you think? 

James Kennedy-WU5E

very interesting Gerald

Jay Nation

Oh Sorry James, After rereading your initial post, I see that you specifically asked that someone from FRS answer. K5SDR answered. and I replied, with humor I thought. You fail to see the humor, OK I get it. You wanted answers from Flex "only", no noise from the public. You wanted everyone to see your question, Done. You wanted everyone to see the answer. Done. You didn't want to privately achieve the same result. which an email or phone call to the toll free line might have provided. So you don't currently own a dictionary? Well when your done reading it, I'm good on QRZ.

Drop it off yourself, If you like. Save yourself the shipping and handling charges, Just email me with your phone number, before you pull up,  when you get close, So I can call you back, when I get the dogs in. We could even sit down over a cup of coffee or something and discuss meanings, the dogs are really nothing to worry about. Just trust me on that, like I do them. I've got a dictionary already, and both own, and owned are in it. I'm exhausted too, But, no need to end a civil public discussion. Or did you want to come over so we can discuss meanings, in private?

The game is Poker. You dealt the cards this round.The secret is knowing when to bluff, and when your getting bluffed, if you get it right. You win!. So place your bet,
raise the bet. or call. It's just a game. Your turn sir. Win, loose, or draw.

This is my Poker face.

                

Look me in the eye, look at your cards, and bet!


73, Jay - NO5J  

WA6FXT Mike

We are *NOT* stock holders, in any sense of the word. We are simply customers. When I bought my 6700 with all the options, it was over a year before it arrived. I knew up front that this was a development project and signed up for it with my eyes wide open. I wanted to be in on getting a Ground Breaking "Bleeding Edge" toy. (It is a TOY and this is a hobby, and some need to remember that) To be the First On The Block, etc, etc, etc... I've installed every update and have had a *BALL* checking out the new features, each and every time. and look forward to many more years of updates. 73's de Mike wa6fxt.

WA6FXT Mike

Steve, NOT when it is "Software Defined"! Mike

Andrew O'Brien

All in this thread are correct, sort of.  A customer has every right to complain and hope the vendor is an attentive customer oriented company. e.g., when I expressed frustration to Apple that two Ipods in a row failed just AFTER the warranty expired.  Apple listened and offered me a $350 Ipod Touch for $75!  I did not feel they were obliged to do this, but I was a very happy person when they did. There was no time where I felt I had a right to have Apple detail their internal quality control methods or their development planning. 
Andy K3UK

k0eoo

Come on guys, remember, the watched **** never.......

M0GVZ

" Buying a Flex radio does not make us shareholders or principals in the company."

It does however make us customers and ones who have a reasonable right to expect that the vendor meets the deadlines it promised and gives both an explanation and a date when it will meet those it has missed. We have an explanation, we have no date. 

As a software company writing an application for a corporate customer, if you were to handle the situation like FRS have done with v1.4 giving a "it'll be ready when its ready" answer to your paying client, you would find yourself being replaced. 

You can bet your bottom dollar the US Govt who they claim to supply would not accept the answer they've given us in regards to 1.4. There would be at the very minimum financial penalties being incurred assuming they didn't lose the contract.

Jay Nation

Guy
What about the patient who gets upset when things take to long, Does he come back later when he receives your bill, demanding you put the tooth back in and give him a full refund? Shouldn't you be allowed a reply similar to, I'm so sorry you feel that way but,,, That's not how any of this works!

73, Jay - NO5J

DrTeeth

I have been doing this job for too long for a patient to get upset by how long anything takes. Apart from the odd nutter, all my patients are happy campers.

73 de Guy

Jay -- N0FB

This is where the dentist /SmartSDR Developer analogy falls apart. As the processors and logic devices employed in the 6000 are new technology (the patient), no one knows how to build/develop the necessary programming without trial and error and building from scratch(operating on the patient). For this analogy to continue, Guy, you would have to stipulate that your Dental patient is an alien from outer-space who's anatomy you have never seen. You have no developed procedures in your experience to draw from, or to relate to, to accomplish your task except for anecdotal or estimate how long it will take for you to accomplish your "tooth extraction'. Any estimation would be a WAG...not even a SWAG.

Mike va3mw

Like

Actually, I have more experience in this area than you know.  That was exactly my job for the 2 Fortune 500 companies I worked for.  I delivered this type of message.  Granted, those customers spent millions on software with us.  Since I only spent a few K$ with Flex, I feel their communications aren't bad.  I have also gotten answers from key people when required.  You won't get that from an HP, EMC, Oracle of Microsoft unless you are into a 6 figure project.

And, yes, the US Government was one of my customers.  But, they don't fit this type of profile.  Maybe they liked me because I was polite and I was a Canadian.  

I get it.  You want to see the new software.  However, I agree fully with Gerald and delivering it before prime time will be counter productive.  

Patience.  Gerald replied and it won't be long now.  

Mike va3mw

rfoust

#6 is very impressive. Can't wait to see it!

-Robbie

rfoust

#6 is very impressive. Can't wait to see it!

-Robbie

Tim - W4TME

I am closing this thread since it has been answered and there are other threads with the same subject that have been thoroughly commented on.  Thanks for the additional constructive comments that were provided.