First time Maestro impressions

IW7DMH, Enzo

Hello,

on the last weekend I used for the first time Maestro and I was really impressed of it as I still not have one.
Our was an easy expedition on San Pietro Island: IJ7TA - EU073.
We used Flex 6500 with Maestro, a Expert 1.3K power amp, a personal computer and a eth/wi-fi router.
In the beginning I was a bit skeptical but just after an hour of use, I realized it is actually a valuable device. Every control is well positioned, smart and smooth. The display is  far better than that of other rigs, it has very sensitive touch and is really easy to read and use.
The whole station setup now is much easier, reducing dramatically the number of cables and other kind of hw interfaces. It is really remarkable for dx-peditions.
Finally, in more than 18 hours we never had a problem, and we put in log more than 1500 QSOs (SSB, CW and DIGI).

I know Flex and Maestro designers are working to further improve this great device, but if, I can, I would suggest a smart customizable menu being able to group some of the most used controls.

Finally I would like to know how the remote cw keying system is implemented: by a Ethernet API extension or by an internal system.

I think it will be my next Christmas present.

73' Enzo
iw7dmh

Tim - W4TME

Finally I would like to know how the remote cw keying system is implemented: by a Ethernet API extension or by an internal system.

We have an embedded hardware Winkeyer in the Maestro. it sends commands to the radio to perform the keying.