What is the easiest way to record BOTH SIDES of a QSO (if there is one)?

Roy Laufer

Hello,

Is there some relatively simple way to record both sides of my QSO's? Other than the "quick record" method I can't seem to find a useful method. At present this method is extremely limited. I am looking for a series of time stamped VOXed audio files available for review. I can have all that I want on any of the eight frequencies I have selected on my Flex 6700, but they are all missing my part of any QSO.

Am I missing something? Or will I just have to wait for "quick record" to "mature" over time?

Thanks!

73,
Roy, AC2GS

Lee - N2LEE

Roy, if you run Audacity or some other audio recorder and connect that to the DAX channel then I know this will record at least your contacts side of qso. I assume if you turn MON on then it would also record your audio as well but never really tried it.

elan

it is not as the old flex 5000a or flex 3000 play/record  i think it is not ready  this is why i hold not buying  flex  yet till this will be ready  .you need to use the DAX and for the price of £6000 i will wait 
may be long time even / however sunsdr/2 pro can do it easy 

NICETO - EA5ZL

Roy,
To record CW qsos, yo can push REMOTE button in Smartsdr and look for recording setting for the soundcard in Audacity choose "What U Hear" or similar (I am using a creative Sounblaster Z-series soundcard). Set Sidetone level as you like in SSDR.

I think the easiest way to record Phone QSO´s is connecting a stereo cable from earphone out from Flex6000 to the "line in" or "Mic in" of your soundcard. "Monitor" button is not working in my setup when setting REMOTE.
In future releases, I am sure SSDR recordings will be available to download to PC. I hope will not forget to include Monitor audio in the recordings.

73 from Niceto

Bill -VA3WTB

Alan.So, your not buying a wonderful radio because Record and playback is not as you like? Wow a deal breaker. He does not have a Sun Radio so who cares if it does this.
But yes others are using Audacity with good results. And it's easy.

pa0bie

Use the Headphone output to record and switch on the MON funktion.  We are using this methode to relay both sides of a QSO on internet with TEAMSPEAK.

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

How about Flex just gets this feature done. Some (a lot) of us have been waiting two years for this now. I seem to recall that when the quick record function was added. It was mentioned that the full recorder would not be far behind. That's almost been a year now too! Eric K2CB

Roy Laufer

Hear! Hear! I second that emotion!

Roy, AC2GS

Lee - N2LEE

Eric / Roy, lets pretend you are now VP of dev for Flex. Engineering comes to you in a meeting and says yes we can work on adding enhanced recording features. BUT, we have to stop development on _______ .  What would work would you have them stop working on ?  Better NR, Remote capability, Additional API for developers ?

Its nice to want every bell and whistle but lets be honest, how important is recording and how often would you use it ?  I am not saying it wouldn't be nice but for 99% of the operators this is "radio candy". If you were head of development and you were staring at a dozen pages of bugs and features on your plate, recording is wayyyy down on the list of your to-do-list.

Lee - N2LEE

Elan, I hear MS is coming out with a better version of windows next year so if I were you I would wait to buy a computer. Rumor also has it there is a much faster processor being released by Intel so everyone is sticking with paper until then.

Also, there is a new car coming out in 2016 that gets better gas mileage so if I were you I would walk till this new car comes out.  

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

I would prioritize the features that were available on the previous generation Flex radios. Get the Flex 6000 series to at least the point where the old radios left off. Basically, the features we were promised when the radio was originally announced. Many of us either upgraded from the Flex 5000, or were on the fence ,and decided to wait for the 6000 series once it was announced. Those that purchased the 6000 series early on were led to believe that we could at least expect functionality equal to the predecessor series , in a reasonable amount of time. I think two years is a reasonable amount of time, no? We were also led to believe that all the functionality of the previous series would be reached before newer and more exotic functions would be implemented. Another words, I would expect to see some of the features we are still missing before version 2.0 is announced. If not, it would be a slap in the face to those of us who purchased early on. Eric K2CB

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

Audacity works, but it is nowhere near as convenient. And it's not feasible to record both sides of the conversation, unless you are using headphones so you can use the monitor function. Believe it or not, some of us really did use the recording functionality quite a bit.

Lee - N2LEE

Eric, you didn't answer the question. You have to choose, they are not genies and they can't snap their fingers and it instantly appear all at one. What feature of PowerSDR do you want first in SmartSDR, audio recording or ____ ?

I am no SDR historian but what year was PowerSDR introduced, 2003, 2004, 2005 ???  10, 15 years ago ?

I am sure the Flex 1000 did not start with every feature the 5000 had when it was first made available. There are plenty of hams who like the old radios and often buy FT-1000's or TS-950s' and there are many Flex 5000's available if you wanted a legacy platform.

But to expect the 6000 series, with a completely new hardware and client/server architecture to have the same features out of the gate that took 10+ years to develop is unrealistic. Regardless of what was on a brochure.

What continues to amaze me why people don't understand that if were easy why wouldn't Flex snap their fingers and it be done ?  They wrote PowerSDR, don't you think if anyone could instantly make the SmartSDR have the same features they would have it ?

It is MORE important for them to make this happen than it is for you. They have a lot more riding on this than you so don't you think they would do it if it were that easy ?

NM1W

as a 5k owner I have found myself on the edge of my seat almost pressing the 5k's power on button in frustration with some of the 6700 missing features... I dont look for a lot, but because of how I do operate I find my list is:
* persistence for daxiq per panadapter
* have dax control panel have persistence of daxiq enabled channels and speed (I'm actually at the point of looking to see if the api supports setting this and I'll just write an app to set them the way I always use them)
* nb/nr - have yet to find them useful
* audio recording of both sides of the qso in all modes
-Jim NM1W

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

Lee, I did answer your question.  Get the 6000 series up to the feature level of the 5000, then worry about WAN remote, Maestro, SO2R, etc...............

As to the recorder feature - from what I have seen, there surely is plenty of interest in seeing it completed. There are a number of us who bought into SDR for the ESSB aspect rather than contesting............... and the audio recorder is a great tool for those of us into that part of the hobby.  As well as the ability record both sides of a QSO.

In all fairness, early on we were led to believe it would take some time to get up to speed. However, if it is going to take Flex 10+ years (as you comparatively stated) to get their new platform to the level of its predecessor, the technology will be old before it is new!  If they expected that the development of legacy functionality would take many more years, that fact should have been made clear early on. 

Obviously, a lot of us were ok with that fact, as we obviously spoke with our wallets and bought the half-baked goods..  Now, however, almost two years later, we are still waiting for some really basic functionality..... Meanwhile, we are hearing talk of WAN remote, SO2R, Maestro, etc...   All nice things, and all well and good.......****, I will probably buy a Maestro too, but let's be real here - don't forget those of us who bought early on based on the sale pitch we were given at the time.

I have to tell you,  I sold my first ANAN-100D and bought the FLEX-6500 back around V1.1 or so. Granted, the FLEX hardware is a work of art, whereas the ANAN leaves a little to be desired on the overall hardware design. No argument there. 

About 4 months ago, I had the opportunity to pick up another ANAN-100D for the right price, so I did. Since that time, I had not used my FLEX-6500 at all.  The flexibility to customize the panadapter, the fully functioning audio recorder, the NR and NB, the predistortion, and a few other things really made it hard for me to want to unplug the ANAN and go back to the FLEX.   Well, over the weekend I decided to reconnect the FLEX and update it to the latest release.  

All I can say at this point -  After about an hour of playing with the 6500, I gave a big YAWN, and said to myself that I can see that I will be back to the ANAN in short order. I was hoping I would have felt otherwise.

Eric

K2CB

Lee - N2LEE

Now I am even more confused because if the 100D does what you want (recording and all) why not sell the 6500 and move on ?

Why would you complain or even worry about the Flex ?
Your explanation completely invalidates your complaints and sounds suspicious.
You sold your 100D and bought another one, why not sell  your 6500 and when they have ever feature you want buy another one.

Sorry but all of this very confusing as to why you would even comment here. Weird.

Bill -VA3WTB

I remember when I bought my Flex 3000, it took 4 years before they got all the features finished.

I miss the full features of record and playback as is on the PSDR but It is not a deal breaker for me. The 6000 just does so many things so well.

I would think all these things will be addressed before V2.

I am with Lee here also, since your not happy with your Flex radio, move on. I would not buy a Anan. It does not use SSDR software for one reason. SSDR software is slick and really great to use.

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

You guys need to lay off  the Flex Kool-Aid a little bit.  

What is so confusing to you, Lee, that you can't comprehend that there are those of us who expect to receive features we were promised at time of purchase.

I did not say I was unhappy with the radio's performance; I am stating that I am disappointed in the rate at which promised features are being delivered.

There is no need here to sell off one radio to purchase another. Likewise, using another radio in the meantime is no reason to let Flex off the hook for features we have been expecting for some time. I do believe, that after spending $4+k on a radio, albeit well in advance, I have every right to expect the features I paid for, at some reasonable point in time. 

****, I can find fault with any radio.  I sometimes sit here and laugh when I read about how the FLEX puts all other radios to shame.  While the numbers on paper may be impressive, there is a lot more to a radio experience than just receiver performance numbers.  As usual, the owner of a particular radio will always preach that the radio they currently own is the best, and all others pale in comparison.  Fortunately, in my case, I can afford to own a number of high end radios simultaneously. Is one perfect in all aspects? No, but they all have their good points. That's why I enjoy playing with all of them, albeit some more than others. Its just like any other hobby - why do photographers own more than one camera, why do car collectors own more than one car?

For the record, Lee, I purchased my first FLEX-6500, and due to a technical issue which I wont get into here, it needed to be sent back.  At that time, contemplating the acceptance of a replacement rather than a refund, I clearly asked questions relating to the delivery timeframe for uncompleted features and functionality I considered important to me. After considering the answers, I accepted a replacement. Needless to say, looking back at this point in time, the answers received appear to be either overly optimistic, or one **** of a sales pitch.  You be the judge................

Eric

K2CB

Roy Laufer

Can’t we all just get along????

 

Really guys, it’s just a radio. A great radio with a great deal of potential, but a radio nevertheless!

 

I understand that we all bring different things to this hobby and different wants and needs. One person may desperately want/need that direct, simple WAN capability while many will never use it, or would be just as happy using a somewhat kludged method.

 

I’m sure that many people couldn’t care less about recording QSO’s, but I have all my DAX receive channels hooked into a piece of software that does VOX and time stamped recordings on eight different frequencies. Is that excessive for some? Sure! But not for me. Would I REALLY like a simple button that would include my transmitted audio along with the received stream on the DAX channel too! You bet!

 

Am I asking FRS to drop everything and implement my particular most coveted feature? No, but I hope that if enough interest is indicated by others, they MIGHT push it up ahead of the less desirable features as far as I am concerned. Working on one feature does NOT definitely block the implementation of another unrelated feature.

 

I don’t know how easy or difficult Receive/Transmit recorded audio is to implement, and FRS has chosen not to enter directly into these discussions here, so we may not know for a long time, if ever.

 

As they say, “ya dance with the girl that you brung” (I hope Burt will allow me this lapse of proper English) and for me that is FRS. I wish them an incredibly productive and exciting product for my own sake more than theirs.

 

I just don’t think it gets anyone, anywhere to fight among ourselves about this.

 

Life’s just too short…

 

Enjoy the journey!

 

73,

Roy, AC2GS

Tim - W4TME

Since this post has gone off topic, I feel inclined to close it.