New Client Perspective

Milen KG2C

I have been following the Community here with great interest since the news about 6400 and 6600 came. At the time, I did not own a Flex radio or any other SDR other than a RTL-SDR dongle. I had looked at the Flex radios before and considered the price too high for my needs, so I started looking at Icom hoping that they would do more than just add a second receiver and HDMI to the 7300 and double or triple the price and call it a 7610.
Well, Dayton Xenia came and it became apparent that I will not get my list of demands features fulfilled by Icom, so I glanced at Flex again. Lo and behold, they lowered the prices and added More Stuff™. Everybody loves More Stuff™!!!

Or so I thought... apparently lots of people are unhappy because Flex decided to keep innovating (bringing costs down and adding hardware features is innovation). I guess the people complaining about the state of affairs now have not considered the alternative. Yes, I get it that people were expecting features that should have been there A LOT earlier. It is quite amazing that a radio on sale for $6,999 lacks the PL Tone Squelch features found in a Beofeng HT (or was that added since Roy AC2GS's post?).

But anyway, back to my reason for posting. I am very happy that there is competition going on in the amateur radio marketplace and that Flex Radio Systems was able to bring the cost down while updating the hardware. I am guessing there are more people like me who were hoping for the same, which shows that FRS listens to its customers and prospective customers. It is not an easy task of balancing costs and the demands of all stakeholders in such a diverse hobby as Amateur Radio.
Up to now my most expensive radio was bought for about $800. If you told me then that I would put down a $400 deposit for a $4000 radio, I would have told you that you are crazy... but I have done just that and am excitedly watching YouTube videos on how to set things up and utilize all the features that the SSDR platform offers.
Flex's product is so compelling that it is just hard to resist buying it. I think as long as they keep innovating like that, the platform will grow and offer more and more to everyone, including the early adopters.

Best wishes,
Milen KG2C

rfoust

Great first post!  Congrats on your purchase, you'll love your new radio! 

dlwarnberg

"It is quite amazing that a radio on sale for $6,999 lacks the PL Tone Squelch features found in a Beofeng HT (or was that added since Roy AC2GS's post?)."

Mike VE3CKO

You have great attitude, welcome. Don't let some whiners in this community distract from the excitement you are now feeling. I get that excitement every time a new software update comes out. I don't regret for one minute getting a 5000, then a 6500, then a 6700. The future is exciting as a Flexradio user.

Mike VE3CKO

Come on, don't hijack this new POSITIVE thread. Go somewhere else to whine and complain. Some of you people really do need a "safe place" to go.

Milen KG2C

Oh it is wonderful if they added a PL Tone Squelch so you can listen only the the analog audio from Yaesu System Fusion repeaters that are set to Automatic Mode Select (which re-transmits both analog audio and digital YSF C4FM signals). Then the transverter ports of the 6600 will come in handy to add 2m and 70m for repeater use.

dlwarnberg

Mike.. what part of my post was negative?  I QUOTED his post and showed him CTCSS is there... 

Read before you post

Milen KG2C

Mike, David wasn't whining. He was just showing me that a feature that I thought was missing, was in fact added.

Peter K1PGV

Welcome to the community, KG2C.  We look forward to your contributions here on the forum as you make friends with your new radio.

Once you've SEEN the band on a Flex panadapter, you'll never be able to use a "blind" receiver again.  Or, at least, that did it for me... ruined for life!

Peter
K1PGV

dlwarnberg

Milen, thank you and yes you will enjoy your new radio.. I purchased a 6300 to start and soon after upgraded to the 6500 (i wanted to unlock for MARS work) and I have never regretted the purchase..

Only way I'll ever let go of this radio is for an upgraded model in another FLEX or you pry it from my cold dead hands..

73

David
KK4QOE

Tim - W4TME

I know nerves are a little raw right now.  So please take a breath and understand the context of replies and comments before replying yourself.  No need to call people out.  Thank you.

Mike VE3CKO

Your are absolutely correct, and my apologies. Just so much negativeness lately and too much coffee, again, my apologies.

Tim - W4TME

Accepted.  Thank you.

Roy Laufer

I hate to **** in, but that image only shows that FM has a PL transmitting tone and a simple signal level squelch. SSDR has still not implemented a receive PL tone squelch, or a PL tone notch filter to keep "inaudible" PL tones truly inaudible. (Two features that I would find incredibly useful.)

dlwarnberg

@Milen.. it been some time since I've done it, but you can also decode a C4FM signal.. check this site for more information: http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Digital_Speech_Decoder_(software_package)

Ken - NM9P

Thanks for your post, Milen.
Indeed, FM, FM-CTCSS encode, and FM Squelch, have all been added along the development path as customer interest has grown.  

It is my hope that they will also eventually add CTCSS Squelch, and multi-mode squelch, too.  Though I don't use FM much on my 6500.

But there has been a constant stream of improvements for the past 4 years.  Some have been unexpected bonuses.  Others have been requested (demanded, longed for, whined about....) features.  Others have been simply the continuing long-term development.

Many others are on the list.  Some are long-awaited and frustratingly slow for one segment of users.  Other features are essential to some users and useless to others.  We will not get everything all at the same time. But it is going to be interesting to see what comes next!

Ken - NM9P

Rick Hadley - W0FG

AMEN!

Milen KG2C

Thanks!

Milen KG2C

David, thanks for the link. It would be great news when all of these digital voice modes can be used from one radio. As some have mentioned in other posts, there's probably some money to be made by whoever implements it well ;-) I'm sure Flex knows that since they already did the D-Star dongle connection.

Ken, I agree completely with what you say regarding improvements. I was reading older posts as well as new ones and learning about all the physical interfaces, features, UI enhancements etc being added over the years. There has been continuing progress (sometimes evolutionary, other times revolutionary) and it looks like it will continue. I am looking forward to whatever comes next, happy that I am entering at a time when the SSDR platform has a lot of features already in place.

Milen KG2C

David, thanks for the link. It would be great news when all of these digital voice modes can be used from one radio. As some have mentioned in other posts, there's probably some money to be made by whoever implements it well ;-) I'm sure Flex knows that since they already did the D-Star dongle connection.

Ken, I agree completely with what you say regarding improvements. I was reading older posts as well as new ones and learning about all the physical interfaces, features, UI enhancements etc being added over the years. There has been continuing progress (sometimes evolutionary, other times revolutionary) and it looks like it will continue. I am looking forward to whatever comes next, happy that I am entering at a time when the SSDR platform has a lot of features already in place.

Milen KG2C

Thanks, Mike.

Roy Laufer

Regarding David's link to DSD, allow me to quote from Star Trek:

"He's dead, Jim!"

David's link is alive and well, but all traces of the software in question seem to be gone and discontinued since 2015, which is never a good sign.

It appears to have been partially implemented, and crashprone. Someone took it "commercial" requesting $25 for "lifetime" updates, which lasted about an hour and a half.

I would be more than willing to pay actual money for an actual product, and I believe that if some smart guy could wrangle Waveforms to work with D-Star they certainly could do it with DMR and/or C4FM/Fusion.

Whenever I have brought this up in the past, all I have heard was silence or suggestions that I do it myself...

Milen KG2C

Thanks, Peter. Yes, I already have a good feel for it since I mostly use JT65 and JT9 and am used to seeing and interacting with several signals at once. I've been watching all the great YouTube videos that show how to set up the slices, bandwidth, eq, global profiles, microphone profiles, transmit profiles, full duplex, notch filters etc.
I see how it can be difficult to go back to a traditional radio with all the external components and cables needed, once you've become accustomed to these features.

dlwarnberg

I might just have a copy squirreled away somewhere, I'll look and see what I have.

Norm - W7CK

Congratulations Milen.  Your going to love your new rig.

Don't get discouraged by some of the complaining you read here on the community.  I as well as others have been wining a bit recently, but all in all I think most of us are quite happy with our 6000s.  I can't imagine going with any other radio that is presently on the market. 

Hope to hear you on the air!

Norm

N6OIL

Yes  dual CTCSS on both T/X would be great since I have few 6 meter repeaters that have different enc/dec and also give us an open radio forget the TURF files and leave that responsibility to the ham!

dlwarnberg

Rory, I do not believe FLEX can legally sell you a radio (FCC) that will transmit outside amateur radio bands.. I could be wrong

Tim - W4TME

That is correct; as the radio manufacturer, we are the ones who have to follow regulations in order to sell and export our products.  TURF is here to stay.

N6OIL

Well, at least I get one out of my two wishes!

Tim - W4TME

:-)