If I purchased my radio less then a year ago do I have to purchase a lic

James Skala

SmartLink purchase question for newer radio owners.

Tim - W4TME

Yes, you have to purchase a license unless you purchased your radio on or after May 19, 2017

Lee - N2LEE

As far as I know when I purchased my radio there was no mention of a free upgrades. So Yes if you want 2.x and smartlink then it will be a purchased upgrade.

Pretty standard stuff, just like pretty much any other software. A dot release 1.**** is free but a major number change 2.xx is an optional upgrade.

Mike va3mw

You only have to purchase a license if you want to upgrade to V2.  Other than that, you can run V1 forever.

James Skala

So my order date of my 6300 was Order Date: 8/16/2016 so I do not have to pay. How will the license process go for me?

Tim - W4TME

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/sneak-peek-for-setting-up-smartlink

Download the appropriate SmartLink QuickStart Guide.  it covers licensing.

K9DUR

If you purchased on 8/16/2016, then you WILL have to pay to upgrade to v2.0.  -- 73, Ray, K9DUR

David Decoons, wo2x

Also for people who prepaid for v2 when they purchased their radios, you will NOT have to purchase a license since your radio is already in the server database as 2.0 authorized.

NOTE - When you purchase the 2.0 license it is for the radio, not the individual. If you own multiple radios you will need multiple licenses.

Dave wo2x

Lee - N2LEE

Michael is correct (of course) you may not see the need to upgrade. I am still running 1.9 right now.

David Decoons, wo2x

Lee,

You might want to check out 1.11.x when it comes out. There are quite a few performance tweaks under the hood.

Dave wo2x

James Skala

If I purchase 2.0 for my 6300 now and then 6400 ships which I've already reserved will I get a credit for the 2.0 on the 6300

Tim - W4TME

it is the radio that is licensed, so if the 6300 is upgraded, the license goes with it.  these radios are independent of one another, so as per the policy no credit would be applicable,

Mike va3mw

Hi James

You will not get a credit for your V2 purchase as the software license is part of the radio.  When your 6400 ships (since it is post May 2017), V2.0 will be included already.

73

Lee - N2LEE

Dave thanks for the tip, I most likely will. I can actually use the USB port feature on 1.10 but everything works so well right now I didn't feel the need to change.

After spending 20 years in the software industry, I am over the need to run out and run the latest alpha or beta.

James Skala

That answers all my questions, wait for my 6400 to ship and save money.

MarkN7MHB

Looks like I got lucky.  Bought my 6500 on May 23rd, 2017

MarkN7MHB

Looks like I got lucky.  Bought my 6500 on May 23rd, 2017

Lee - N2LEE

There will be those that complain but I think is a good move for Flex, its users and the community.  A vibrant, motivated and innovative engineering team is good for all of us.

Steve - N4TTY

Well that answers my other post about a misprint on the May 19, 2007 purchase date. I could always have hoped!

Rich McCabe

Curious how the 2.0 process will work. Can you buy online and download and it attaches to the first radio SN its installed on?  Or do you have to enter your radio SN when you buy it?

David Decoons, wo2x

You either load SmartSDR on a PC or use a Maestro. It will detect the radio does not have a v2 license and bring you to the online store to make the purchase and then can complete the process. It is covered in the SmartLink Quick Start Guides. Dave wo2x

NX6D Dave

Well, there's the first typo, and it's a whopper.

The date should read "May 19, 2017".  It was the first day of the "Dayton" HamFest.

The documents will be fixed in a little while.

NX6D Dave

The purchase process sends a unique radio ID to the online store software.  The license is generated for that specific radio and will not be recognized by any other radio.  Any time the radio is connected to the Internet, it will find and install the license.

Tim - W4TME

No.  Read the Quick Start Guides.  You purchase using Maestro of SmartSDR for Windows.

WG5D

Personally, I am not happy with the May 19th date, I work in the IT industry and most software companies provide free updates/upgrades for the first year. Had I known this policy, I would have waited to purchase my radio, I bought mine in April. Considering the cost of my radio (I bought a 6700 - not an inexpensive radio), I feel a bit ****. My Icom radios have free software upgrades for life, there is something to be said about that. 

Phil - WG5D

Rich McCabe

I agree and disagree Phil. I agree with the May 19th date being too short and 6 months or 1 year sounds reasonable to me being in the IT industry as well.

However I am supportive of free software upgrades for life. I want to fund development although I am not sure $200/user covers much of their development cost.  Ten Tec was free for life and in the end we got nothing...

I would love to be buying software updates and optional plug-ins.

73,

Rich

Matt (K0KB)

No problems here with the way flex is conducting business. I am quite excited for 2.0 to come out though! Hopeful for Monday though I bet it's not til the following Monday since I think the brass has been busy at Friedrichshafen and what-not. No way they're releasing this thing mid or late week though due to the flood of support phone calls they're going to get. Hurry up and take my money!

Ken Hansen

No one else mentioned, so I'll just add that if you sell a radio that has a SmartLink 2.X license that license goes with the radio, it doesn't stay with original purchaser. For example, a customer that has a 6300 and buys the SmartLink upgrade for that radio, who then turns around and privately buys a used 6500 that was never upgraded could find themselves buying another SmartLink 2.X upgrade (if they choose to). That's OK, the original purchase of the license should have resulted in a higher selling price for the first radio, helping lower the the cost of the second upgrade.

Lee - N2LEE

Phil if you work in the IT industry then you know updates are NOT free. Updates for .dot releases are free but NOT integer releases. Anyone in IT is very aware of the number of subscriptions your company has for maintenance, upgrades, service and support. NOTHING in the IT industry is free and we all know it.

Don't Believe You
The information about the 2.x software has been widely distributed and talked about for a couple of years.  We are all adults here, let's be honest with each other, do you really expect anyone here to believe you purchased a $7,500 radio and you did not know anything about the 2.x upcoming software and the $200 price ???

On top of that you are complaining about THE software that runs your entire radio for 2.66% of your investment ?

What's in your shack ?
Here is a test ...  List all of the ham radio related items in your shack that cost over $200.

• LMR-400
  A decent 100ft roll of LMR-400 is almost $150.
• Microphone
  A Heil mic cost $250 to $399.
• Vibroplex Key
  A **** CW key is over $300

And yet people are whining about what might be 1000's of man hours of development for some AMAZING software.

Buy the software or don't buy the software. But trying to sound like a victim because you have the OPTION to buy better software is ridiculous.

NX6D Dave

Starting now, the license state of any Flex radio you intend to sell or buy will be part of the purchase decision.  Like putting new tires on a car before selling it, some owners may upgrade the license just to make the radio easier to sell.  Some buyers will pass on deals because the price doesn't include the current license.

As far as I know, licenses are not cumulative.  If a radio doesn't have a V2 license and V3 comes out, a V3 license will cover all previous versions.  I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong about that.

Keep in mind this is just the first V2 release.  There will be many more that will introduce many more features.  You don't need to buy a license until you see a feature that you want.

I used to make my living designing and writing large scale software systems.  I never begrudge anyone in that trade a living, so I pay for software.

Rich McCabe

We can also look at it from another angle too.

In the IT industry its common to buy software with the option of future updates for an additional year. This is built in with Flex. When you buy a V2 license you are getting (based on 1.x life) three years of updates 2.0x 2.01, 2.02,2.03.... etc.

That said, I really don't think Phil was out of line in his comment. He is not happy with the date which is a fair statement and understood by many.  I could not be happier with my Flex and the people that have created it and support it. However, if I bought a 6700 in April like Phil, I would probably feel the same way.


Rich