4O3A and K9CT powerpoint from flex banquet

ctate243

Gerald et al..

Since some very important information was passed by these two outstanding operators and flex supporters, Would it be possible to have their material from Dayton posted somewhere so those of us who had to travel other places that weekend and or were not able to attend can get up to speed with as much information as possible?

It would be great.. really would like more information on the SO2R/BPF box and understand more about the strategy and system integration particularly as a formulate the remote and onsite SDR strategy and N6RO.

Thanks in advance
Chris
N6WM

Tim - W4TME

We will be posting a datasheet for the SO2R product once we complete the functional specifications.

Al_NN4ZZ

Thanks Tim,
I was just looking for that today.  By the way, is it okay if I share a picture of the Flex-6000 FDC controller brochure I got in Dayton?  While not a complete datasheet it does have some good general information on the goals.

Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com

ctate243

Posting the powerpoints would be awesome also

thanks Tim.

Andreas Junge

Did anybody take the video of the talk?

73, Andreas, N6NU

Walt - KZ1F

Getting the foils (ppt) of a presentation is a cruel distant second to being there. But to those that didn't spend the hundreds or more $$ to go and get infected, it would be nice if FlexRadioSystems would make their presentations (ppt) at least part of FlexInsider so all customers would be in the same class and have access to the same information at the same time. Of course that would be with the provision that FlexRadioSystems is the sole disseminator of FlexRadioSystems information.
It would be understanding if those not in attendance felt like their vendor considered them second class customers.

ctate243

agreed.  The cats out of the bag so to speak..  no reason not to.

km9r.mike

Or just be patient since this seems to be a collaboration with a second party and there may be details to work out. I am happy to learn their is serious leanings towards  so2r and think a flex SS rig would be an ideal platform for such.

Tim - W4TME

Al - it is copyrighted material.  I need to get permission from management before giving you an answer

Tim - W4TME

The announcements of the SO2R device (it doesn't even have a name yet) and the 4O3A amplifier are still in the final functional requirements stage of development.  We are reluctant to publish anything that will be misconstrued as fact or may set an expectation that may change between now and when we officially announce the products.  We wanted to pre-announce these new product offerings to provide an insight as to the level of our commitment in making the FLEX-6000 the best contest radio available.

We understand that you have a lot of interest in these products and want to know more details and we are working as quickly as possible to provide it.  Mike KM9R is correct; theses are collaboration products with third-parties and it takes a little more time to finalize the feature sets.

Dan Hammill

Rackmount options for both the SO2R box and the amplifier would be very nice. They would look so nice stacked up in my rack along with my 6700, DEMI transverters, and Lunar-Link amps for VHF/UHF :-)

Dan  KB5MY

Jon_KF2E

I'm curious, can someone tell me what the amplifier is rumored to be? I searched and didn't see anything else in the forum. I can understand not wanting to do anything construed as an announcement but hey, tell us poor slobs that couldn't make it to Dayton what is being worked on.

Jon...kf2e

KY6LA_Howard

Jon

We did not learn that much at the banquet about the Amp - except that Ranko showed something ( a rectangle ) on his powerpoint, indicated that they were using a pair of 1,400W transistors, would do at least the full legal limit and that it would be Ethernet connected rather than old slow kludgy Serial Ports..The rest is pure speculation until they make a public announcement. 

I suspect in part their reluctance to release details is that they have not finalized it yet between Ranko and Flex as to what it actually will have as specs... and a myriad of other details ...

Jon_KF2E

Thanks Howard,

That's all I was looking for. I'm happy at the moment with my Quadra but you never know... If Flex comes out with something nice I might be persuaded to make the jump. Maybe there will be an announcement next year at Dayton?

Jon...kf2e

KY6LA_Howard

I think they hope to ship this year?

Al_NN4ZZ

Tim,
Did you get a chance to check on this?

Norm - W7CK

Please, please make sure it has an adequate heat sink and doesn't require an obnoxiously loud fan.

Tim - W4TME

This was a very preliminary product description doc and the information contained in it will change before the product is finalized.  I cannot tell you what exactly will change because we are still defining the functional specifications for the device.  We would prefer that this preliminary product information not be disseminated until we have finalized the device and make an official product announcement later this year.  Therefore we are not allowing reprint permission for it at this time.  I hope you can understand and appreciate our position on this specific matter.  Thank you.

Al_NN4ZZ

Tim, Okay. Some folks that know I picked up the brochure asked for a copy. Will let them know it was only intended for the Dayton crowd. Regards, Al / NN4ZZ

Tim - W4TME

Thank you Al.  We will get this info out as soon as possible.  The hamsters are spinning the wheel at maximum rotational velocity. ;-)

Steve Gw0gei

Any update on when we may get some basic info on the spec of the so2r box and the amp? 73 Steve gw0gei

KY6LA_Howard

I suspect Flex will post some more info when the boxes are closer to market.

Tim - W4TME

Once we have finalized the product specifications and feature set, we will officially announce the SO2R box.  We are not ready to do that just yet.

Asher - K0AU

It would be incredibly helpful if Flex published some hardware and software block diagrams and even some workflows for their emerging station architecture. 

Two examples:

I can't figure out a scenario where a release 1.0 Maestro is useful for my station configuration, so I haven't ordered one. 

I still can't figure out how to set up antenna switching between ANT1 and ANT2 to take advantage of logger slice A/B expectations, amplifier port switching AND use the Flex diversity feature.  I have some ideas, but I don't know if they'll fit in directionally with future Flex software releases.  (having more software control over which slices are assigned A and B would be really helpful)

I understand that Flex felt burned by the community response to perceived development delays on software, but my 2 cents are that station building has turned into a hardware/software system integration problem that needs a bit more communication and documentation. 

There's also enough difference right now between daily and contest configuration (at least in my station) that I need lead times to test and troubleshoot contest configurations and can't really absorb new features delivered in October or November until at least December.

Hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers.  I'm a big fan.  I shared some block diagrams recently to try to start a community discussion about configurations.

Steve Gw0gei

Thanks Tim - is it likely to be just for the 6700 or is it being designed for the 6500 and 6300 too? I own a 6300 and it's now my main contest and dxing radio using so2v with n1mmplus. I am keen to just have some idea of the hardware I will need to implement full so2r and it's roadmap / rough timescale - having previously tried so2r with my pro 3 and ts590s with microham so2r box I am keen to have a flex implementation, either using the 6300 or a second flex. The availability of a solid state amp that integrates well with the flex 6000 ssdr with band decoding and network control are high up my wish list. 73 steve gw0gei

Gerald-K5SDR

Our SO2R strategy encompasses all three FLEX-6000 models.  

Gerald-K5SDR

Sorry, Asher but it is premature to publish diagrams because the specifics are still being worked out with multiple strategic partners.  If we publish something in writing and it changes materially, we will get complaints about why we didn't do it exactly the way we posted.  

We are working on a comprehensive integrated contest and station automation solutions that will roll out over time.  Some important contest features are eminent in SmartSDR v1.5.  You will hear about those in the near future. Others will roll out soon thereafter and more later.  We will give more details as soon as we are confident of the specifications and time frame for delivery.

Steve Gw0gei

That's great news, thanks. My original plan had been to buy the 6300 to dip my toe in the full sdr water and then upgrade to a 6500 or 6700 once ssdr was at a stage of development that contesting was well supported. Very impressed with the receive / filtering and bandscope of the 6300 it has replaced my ft1000d, ts590 and pro 3 as my main radio for lf,Hf,6m and driver for 4m high spec Tvtr - hence why I am now keen to understand how the so2r implementation will work. Not the technical side, just the basic concepts of how things will hang together and integrate with n1mmplus more. Not an impatient soul, just want to try to use the waiting time to learn the features of n1mmplus that will be essential for the implementation of the so2r and also plan my hardware investment requirements such as when to sell my OM valve amp and what PC spec I will need to run the so2r. Glad to hear some of the delivery will be in 1.5 and I look forward to hearing about the design concepts in due course. 73 Steve gw0gei

Gerald-K5SDR

Stay tuned real soon to see what you can do with a FLEX-6700 right out of the box with SmartSDR v1.5 and N1MM+.  Just saying. 

K1UO Larry

Just wondering curious if FLEX is any closer (except for the 4 months that have passed since the last comments here) to releasing any specs or product info relating to the above topic heading?

Jon_KF2E

I can state unequivocally that they ARE closer. That said, when anything will be announced remains a mystery.