Maestro

Bob G W1GLV

I getting sick & tired of waiting for the Maestro. I put my order in last June thinking a December 2015 delivery date would be acceptable. We are now 21/2 months beyond that date. What gives FRS?

[Deleted User]

That is my gripe and some people are running 4 of them . . . Alpha Testers. First it was December. Then February, Now who knows when it will be ready.
I can't get even one.They are showing them at the shows and everything else but we have to wait and wait and wait. How about you do what you do with the radio. Sell it . . . Ship it . . . Then issue updates to add features as it develops.

K0UNX

"Daddy, are we there yet?"  Hey, in life we need SOMETHING to look forward to, eh?  At 71, it is one of the very few things that I have to look forward to.


Reminds me of the catsup commercial... "Anticipation!"

Jim
K0UNX
Colorado

Walt - KZ1F

Wow Jim, I am looking forward to spending a month in Europe next year.

Bill -VA3WTB

Is it only the ones that have paid already, thinking they should ship before it's ready? Next time don't pay up front, bingo. And lets say they did what Steven says, shipping before it's ready, than they would complain it is not working as they think it should or a feature missing, it would never end.

Steve K9ZW

@Steven & Bob - I saw more than four Maestros in the linked picture set. 

And you and I aren't getting even one to share... nada... until the fantastic volunteer Alpha team and FRS give a thumbs up.

To put this in perspective, the last time I personally saw Craig K9CT he was a volunteer showing off the Maestro and the SOnR add-on box and was due to fly out to FRS yet again to work with their engineers as the Maestro moved from prototype to production hardware.

Guys like Craig K9CT out of a love of the hobby, high technical skill, time & self-funding availability, a proven ability to be a team player & leader, and all with a willingness to share rather than horde advantage for just themselves, are putting in so much effort to make the release product shine.  Way more time than so many of us have available, even if we had the full skills set needed to be net contributors to the Alpha Team. 

So Steven, Bob and this Steve here - we wait... yes impatiently but as there has never been anything like the Maestro and Flex-6x00 combination before we are not lagging behind.  No one is ahead of us in receiving the commercially ready Maestro product before us.

I hope you too feel like a little kid - that kid tucked in bed the night before our birthday so excited that the next day our friends will be celebrating with us as we play with a new toy.

Sad, but predictable that the exact birthdate can't be given - but hey we know nothing quite like this Maestro has been born before, so perhaps that delay is not as much a problem in the birthing process as it is a our eagerness mis-channeled?

Again my thanks to the Alpha Team - and a super thanks to the willingness to share pictures of the K9CT Maestro Alpha units in heavy contesting.  We weren't owed that preview and for my part I do appreciate it being given. 

Just those pictures have my imagination going, and I have an early chance to make some changes ergonomically to my second shack project.

Like each of you Steven & Bob - very much awaiting Matt's phone call to ask for payment & confirm shipping details.  Until then I hope FRS continues to share pictures and information!

No Gripes here on waiting for ready to use product, as I'm imagining the QSOs and not so interested in a "Shack Trophy" in a pretty but not-quite-baked release.

For each person YMMV and I respect that, but for now I'll savor the anticipation and make QSOs the same as I have with the Flex-6700/6300 through a PC.

73

Steve K9ZW

Walt - KZ1F

Oh c'mon Steve, enquiring minds and all. Where all want to know your birthday! ;-)

AE0MW

I preordered my Maestro in Dayton last year, and honestly I'm just fine with them taking their time to get it right. In my opinion Flex needs to get this as perfect as possible right out of the gate. The Maestro already has too many drawbacks for it to be anything less when the first reviews roll out.

Considering that for the same price as a Maestro I can buy a decent Surface Pro that can run the full SmartSDR suite in addition to having the ability to log, operate digital modes, interface with the cluster, and VPN (if necessary) on a much nicer and larger screen I'm having a hard time deciding if I'm even going to go through with my preorder.

We need a home run on the Maestro, I'm willing to wait a bit longer to see if it happens.

[Deleted User]

I am running mine on a Surface 3 now and it is great.

[Deleted User]

Where was the Alpha team when they were testing the 6300,6500,6700. Noise blanker is still poor. That is far from "perfect" as you all tout. That is a lame arguement. Nuff said and I won't say another word about it.

Gerald-K5SDR

@Bob
With your pre-order, you received the benefit of introductory pricing that saved you $200 over the regular price.  You are free to cancel your order if you do not wish to wait until we and our alpha testers give the thumbs up that the software is ready to ship.  

Had we not taken pre-orders, we would have under estimated production order build size based on our original budget by a factor of 5X.  Pre-orders have helped us get the production size right so that we will have plenty of parts available to cover all our current orders.

@Steven
The only person who has 4 Maestros is K9CT.  Craig was integrally involved in the design of the Maestro control surface when the product was in the concept phase and is now stress testing Maestro in a strenuous Multi-2 contest environment.  He and the rest of the alpha team are giving us great feedback that is being integrated into the software.  We will release Maestro as soon as we deem it is ready for prime time.

@All
Watch your email box later today for an official Maestro Update in a special version of the Flex Insider.  We are giving our updated estimate in the email.

AE0MW

Thanks for the updates Gerald! Keep up the good work!

Charles - K5UA

Like Ralphie with his Red Ryder BB gun at the end of "A Christmas Story", I hope soon we'll all be peacefully sleeping with our arms wrapped around our Maestro's.

Lewis Cheek

Craig really needs to send one of his Maestros down to South Carolina Low Country for a proper salt air environment test cycle, I think test cycle would end one day after I receive my unit.

Lew
N4CO

Gerald-K5SDR

Craig took two to Palmyra.  Pretty salty there.  ;>)

Lewis Cheek

Nice try, it's just not the same, it's salt air combined with pfuff mud which makes for a one of its kind test environment.

Looking forward to receiving Maestro.
Lew
N4CO

Gerald-K5SDR

The Flex Insider is in the ether so read your email.

[Deleted User]

Didn't get it here??

Gerald-K5SDR

Check your spam folder.  It went out at 2:32 PM CST.  If you ordered through an international distributor you may not be on our direct mailing list.  You can email lori at flexradio dot com to be sure you are on the list.

Tim - W4TME

There is a convenient form you can use on the web site to sign up too
http://www.flexradio.com/resources/flexinsider/

Walt - KZ1F

It came here after Steven said he didn't get it yet.

Rick Hadley - W0FG

Got mine at 20:33Z.

[Deleted User]

Can you forward it to me at kk9wradio@gmaiil.com Filled out form and no email. Checked junk and spam.

PB Shell - k7shl

Shipping to begin mid April 2016, with updated Smart SDR to boot.  I can deal with that.

[Deleted User]

Thanks I found it.

Burt Fisher

Am I to understand that you got 5 times the orders you expected?

k3Tim

Silly question..  In the Maestro email (thanks for that G.) it says "ability to pan the CW sidetone from one ear to the other."  Does this mean the L-R audio channel levels will pan with the frequency of CW tone? Is this side tone (local osc) only?

N3NER

I hope this is for real, I'm getting a little tired of the wait game.

G4NRT

I am also hoping that international dealers get a fair allocation of Maestros!  I placed my order (and left a substantial deposit) with an authorised dealer in the UK quite a while ago and hope to be amongst the first to get a Maestro on this side of the pond!

David G4NRT

[Deleted User]

Careful . . . Youy may start getting hammered about waiting like I did. You know the "daddy are we there yet" routine.

EA4GLI

That is probably why you are not getting it. You might have mistyped your email in the newsletter registration form.