Elad FDM-SW2 Software

Ken - NM9P

Actually, no Mike, I don't run a big amp. But I do have several antennas scattered about the yard. I have run full duplex on 160 splits, and have dabbled with full duplex low power on other separate bands with two antennas.

My "speculations" are based upon technical reviews and reports from several people I have talked with who have tested the 7300 in their own stations, some of them are competitive contesters. Another is a friend in a neighboring town who has a 7300 as his main rig because that is all he could afford to replace a Yaesu 1200DX that took a lightning-induced permanent vacation. He loves the rig but reports that a strong local ham running an amp will occasionally cause overloading problems.

I had the same problem with two local high power ops less than a mile away who wiped out my old TS-850 when I was in the same sub band.

With my 6500, I can get within less than 10 KHz with no problem at all. And what problem there is closer in are due to phase noise on THEIR transmitters. (One of which BTW is my old 850!)

I am NOT dissing the 7300.
It is a great value as a ham rig. I would even say the best in its price class. If I had to choose a new rig for under $1400 I would probably get one. (Or look for a great deal on a 6300!)

It's main limitation is the 14 bit A/D in the front end as compared to the 16 bit A/D used by Flex, and soon some other manufacturers even Icon.

It is certainly in the "Good enough" category for most hams. But the physics of it will limit it in som extreme situations.

But this thread isn't about Flex vs Icom hardware. It is about whether or not Flex is falling behind in the software and feature wars.

I see this as having multiple categories.

1) "Performance" features - I.e. How well does the rig receive, transmit, filter, equalize, and do typical DSP noise reduction, notching, blanking, etc.? How well does it interface with logging/contesting programs and third party digital communications programs? How well does it display crucial operating information to the user? How good is the transmit and receive audio? How good is the CW note and QSK turnaround? Is the receiver limited by strong signals or impaired by its own phase noise? Is the transmitter clean or does it cause problems to close by stations because of transmitted distortion or phase noise? Is the rig's antenna switching compatible with the user's requirements for DXing, contesting, using transverters, or multiple antennas?

2) "Ease of use" features: these are things such as the quality of the GUI. How easy and intuitive is it to adjust various controls? How easy it it to display additional information that concerns ME that others may not need on the main panel? How cluttered is the user interface? Is the GUI readable? Can it be customized? How flexible is it? Can multiple users easily set the rig up to their own preferences and needs? How easy is it to use the rig without additional interface devices? What additional interface devices are available either from the company or from third parties? How do they improve operations? How easy is the rig to setup audio profiles, user preferences, transverters, antenna and amplifiers, etc.? Definable band, filter, and other function buttons?

3). "Eye Candy." - This is highly subjective, because everyone will have a different opinion about this.
This includes custom display color choices, metering options, logging, DX spots on the display, other display modifications.

As I said. This is a matter of opinion. Some would lobby to move certain display features fro the "Eye Candy" category to the "Ease of use" category.

My experience is that FRS has focused first upon the first category, and tackled a lot in category Two. They have a few things to polish in the DSP area, then they can add some more Ease of Use features. We may or may not ever agree on the Eye Candy. Or even whether something is eye candy or a necessary Ease of Use feature.

I doubt that SSDR will ever be as customizable as PSDR because greater flexibility leads to more load on customer service.

All in all, I think they have done a great job. They are offering several features that no one else is offering. V.2.0 promises to add some more. And v.2.x will continue to grow, as has V.1.x.x.

W4KCN

Coolaid.  You've had too much.

Ken - NM9P

Actually, I prefer fruit juice.

Michael Coslo

Hey John - I don't know if you know or not, but using all bold is considered yelling at people. Just sayin'. 

Michael Coslo

I've had a few wants for SSDR as well. But there is an important issue in software. You have to be careful with it, lest it turn into bloatware. If every demand was met, that's exactly what it would become. 

Michael Coslo

How much you want for it?

km9r.mike

Thought you had an amp Ken. Sorry about that.

KC2QMA_John

Hey Mike, Thank you for concern in regard to my text, But I think you mean TYPING IN ALL CAPS IS CONSIDERED YELLING AT PEOPLE.

J U S T S A Y I N ‘

K4MT

I will never understand people getting ugly about someone saying something about a silly radio. Your wife, kids or even maybe your dog would warrant a response. I have no loyaly to a piece of hardware sitting on my desk and will not defend it no matter what you say.  It just a radio!   Take a chill pill. Good Grief!

Michael Aust

Full Featured ??
What about ..PSK31 ?? JT65 ?? CW Decoder ?? DX Cluster Spotting ??
Waterfall / Spectrum Scope with Callsign Spotting ?? CW Skimmer ?? all
built into SSDR

Seems the competition is doing this now !

KC2QMA_John

Now of course I don't expect to wake up tomorrow and SmartSDR to have every feature I or you can dream up but I would like many others here just like to see a more accelerated pace for the Software development to really start showing more of the power and capability of the Hardware.

Is the 6000 Series great YES.

Is the current state of SmartSDR good YES.

Is it a great Performing radio Absolutely.

Again the question that remains to be seen is will the Software in terms of features catch up to the Hardware before the hardware becomes a bit behind the technological curve.

What flex has done with SDR is truly amazing and I don't discount for one second how hard software development is and the challenges that come with it and what they have done to this point is great.

I hope that I am totally wrong about V2.0 and they will just knock our socks off at Hamvention this year not just with the WAN capabilities but with lots of new features such as some of the ones that we see in PowerSDR, SW-2 and others.

Ken - NM9P

I think in some circles they have the same effect. But at least all bold is easier to read! My eyes don't follow all caps as easily. Darned trifocals! Hi hi. Good discussion. We will have to wait until Dayton Hamvention for part of the answer. But there will be many more releases after that.

Michael Coslo

Yes, they are considered yelling. Regardless, you take the fonting and the message, and piece together the intent from that. Sorry to interrupt your posts with a suggestion, John - carry on.

Tim - W4TME

Dan - SmartSDR is designed to abstract the hardware from the higher level logic.  This was done specifically so that when a new hardware is released (take the 6300 as an example), there is minimal work to integrate it to run SMartSDR.  All of the radios run the same firmware.  The only difference is that not all hardware platforms have the same capabilities (the number of SCUs for example), and the firmware is aware of the differences and presents controls to features accordingly.

We built SmartSDR this was to ensure that software obsolescence due to changes in hardware does not occur.  It is expensive to rewrite software for every new radio platform that comes out and that is not something smart companies do.

Tim - W4TME

I strongly feel that allowing all viewpoint, regardless of how glowing or otherwise is a healthy process.  We actually learn more from the critical comments than from the high praises.  

I will only moderate if the post violates our usage policy:

And remember when using the Community always show respect to others regardless of their opinions. Give people the benefit of the doubt, just like you would if talking to them in person. Posts that include personal attacks, overtly negative comments, non-constructive criticism, falsehoods or gratuitous profanity will be removed, as they do not contribute to the community atmosphere we want to establish. Any pattern of poor behavior may result in losing your Community posting privileges.

As long as the discourse is healthy, non-personal and constructive in nature, you have nothing to worry about.

I will, however, reserve the right to close a topic if I feel that all points of view have been adequately expressed and it is just droning on, adding nothing of consequence to the topic.

KC2QMA_John

This looks cool as well. Nice Inexpensive little radio, good for some that want to try a SDR receiver without spending a lot of money. Retails for $149 usd.

Has a nice looking GUI and has some nice features.

(Again this is to show Software features not to compare radios or receiver performance.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Irb7k1rOJ-M

Dan -- KC4GO

I have one of these that I use for several things. Mostly a monitor RX and listening to aircraft.  The power measurement is very accurate. 
Get the newer version RSP2 the plastic case has some built in shielding, but I got the one in a metal box. Note a 90% of the processing is in the computer. 

KC2QMA_John

Not bad at all for a $150 radio receiver.

Michael Coslo

My issue with that, is will the flex version give me everything I need and use in fldigi and it's suite? Will their offering be better that WSPR and WSJT-X?

I use on a weekly basis, MT-63, Olivia in several of it's iterations, send files with arq, receive, print,  and send  bulletins in xml format and with somewild error correction schemes in fldigi.  Then for fun, I play with PSK in various speeds, and am looking forward to feld-**** when I get a chance and propagation improves. I wonder if I should be asking for all of the features of all those programs to be included in SSDR? 

If not, it's just a duplication of effort that is already done very well in other programs. I'm not completely certain why some people want that. 

Here's the issue. Take all of the programs with features  that people demand to be put into SSDR, and go look at the demands that people are putting on the writers of those programs. I'm surprised I haven't heard agitation for Packet mode in here. Because that is exactly what some will demand.

I'd much prefer that Flex refine some things like the noise blanking, improve the CW, and a few other actual performance issues, fix the COM port issues, and if we're really lucky, figure out how to make SSDR reliably survive Windows 10 updates -  than add things that already exist in a highly refined manner in other computer programs.  

KM6CQ - Dan

Hi Michael,
I think D-star and Free DV were to motivate 3rd party developers such as Simon (the author of HRD) to create some great apps for us. One is external hardware and the other is software. This demonstrates Gerald swings both ways:) Flex has provided a platform for them.

 N1MM and FLDIGI are very nice programs and they are free, incredible considering what they do. It's like free gasoline or diesel. CW Skimmer, N3FJP and MacloggerDX to name a few have been able to monetize their products which is great. Since they can make a profit they will continue to get better and will not become quickly abandoned.  They keep getting better and their respective authors are actively involved. I do not expect or want Flex to reinvent the wheel with these apps. What we have is already effective and very good.

 As an example, there are plenty of free CW decoders available and I have not seen one of them perform near as good as CW Skimmer. Best $85 I ever spent on software and I never regretted it. Same with VAC and SSDR for IOS. In contrast, there are plenty of free radio apps that are worthless. Not because their concept or app design was poor, but when you are not compensated for your time talent and resources, your passion may turn elsewhere and work slows to a crawl and eventually comes to an end. 

 In Short I want Flex to provide the ability for us to write or purchase apps and use them with Flex radios. I really do not like the idea of Flex writing proprietary Skimmers and not allowing us to bring our own. I don't think we can have it both ways. After all, if they fund it and build it, then they will expect us to purchase their version and not the competitions. For example, Android apps will not run on IOS.

So that’s my take on it.  73,   Dan KM6CQ

 

   

AA0KM

I like the KISS mode with add-ins. If I want to apply other software I do.

spopiela

I wonder how Flex will present WAN operation in version 2.? Many of us have been successful in applying WAN modes to our FLEX shacks. In doing so , I needed to incorporate a VPN mode and Improve my LAN and WAN speeds. There was much tweaking of the QOS settings in the dual band router to insure that the radio had priority with voice data streams . New home camera systems have easier setups to get fairly good operation without having to deal with IPs and other router systems settings. There are many different routers out there in the Flex community both fast and slow with varying internet loads on those routers.. A real challenge for Flex software designers... !! Stan N1THL

Michael Coslo

Ohh, but those home camera systems are horrid security liabilities. Been used in many DDOS attacks. And there is a vigilante out there who is writing software to brick them and other insecure IoT devices. Gotta be careful we don't become part of that in the search for ease of use, that's  part of the challenge. 

Norm - W7CK

I totally agree with the security issues associated with security cameras.  This also holds true for all of the home automation software out there.  And all of the phone applications that unnecessarily want total control of every function of your phone.

People especially here in the USA are just way too complacent when it comes to network security.  Maybe they are relying on the vendors providing the systems to look out for their best interest?  Crazy.   

As long as v2.x does not prevent me from running a VPN (can't imagine this), I will keep my VPN as added security.

KC2QMA_John

Here is a dumb question, will I be able to disable the WAN feature in V2 of SmartSDR?

Chris DL5NAM

Sorry, it's a real dumb question. Your right.

KC2QMA_John

I thought you would like it.

Ria

I wish you had told me about the Maestro. For the right price I would have been happy to take it off your hands. 

Steve K9ZW

@Ria - I think Tony is UK based.  https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/lowly-m6-in-uk

I'd offered to do a presentation to his club, but he never took me up on that.

73

Steve K9ZW

Ria

Oh right. Now I remember.