Status of new 6400, 6600 Flex Radios?

Mike va3mw

If you run a successful small business (ham radio store is no different), you need to be making just over 27% to not loose a money.  That pays the employees, rent, power, taxes etc.   It is a very hard way to make a living.  

Mike VE3CKO

I heard a few weeks back that the $995 HRO price for the 7300 was the re-boxed  store demo, one available per store. This could have changed or extended for black friday.

KC2QMA_John

Looks like we will be getting SSDR Ver 2.1.X with the new radios.
Wonder what will be new in 2.1?

Varistor

Today if you want to run a successful small business you have to completely shake off the practices of the past and embrace technology, from sales and marketing to order fulfillment and taxes. Most ham dealers, except for (partially) DX Engineering, have not made the transition. Flex is in the same boat.

James Whiteway

Saw this in the Manual:
Looks like Fill is coming to the panadapter!

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

Mike W - Flex is no better than Icom. How is this any different from what Flex has done to 6300/6500/6700 owners with the announcement of the 6400/6600 models?

Gary Johnson

What would you have Flex do??  Never bring out a new radio??  Get Real.  At least Flex lets you trade in your old one.  Try that with a 7600 to a 7610.  Even worse Icoms 7610 specs are better than their 7851 $13,000.00 radio.  1/4th the price for a better radio.  Those people should be upsat.

Mike va3mw

I thought that someone might bring that up. 

My personal thought (key word) is that Flex was pricing was static from day 1 until the new units where announced.  Normal electronics product life cycle is about 3 years or so.   With Icom it happened in days and then it looks like it got into a 'gas pricing war' scenario.    I hope that makes sense.   

This is just my personal observation of course and likely beyond the scope of this forum. 

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

David Decoons, wo2x

Yes.

Varistor

Price war? Nah, just clearing the shelves to make room for the 7300 MK II. RX antenna input and video out.

It’s only business guys. The gloves are off and ham radio has awaken to competition. It’s all good. We will enjoy rapid innovation and ever improving price/performance. Just like in the PC world.

Happy Thanksgiving! P.S. The concept of trade ins is just ridiculous. My personal opinion. It adds cost and complexity to the supply chain with no tangible benefits.

James Whiteway

Could be that Icom sees a very real threat from the 6400M (closest radio to the 7610 in specs) and is seeking to grab that sector of the market before Flex releases the 6400M and 6600M. I think that the 6400M will sell real well once it is released and people see the final product. And how it preforms. Just the larger, higher rez screen and two panadapters with 7Mhz max view in each one will grab a lot of attention.
  james
WD5GWY

Varistor

Unlikely. What they are doing is disrupting the status quo by accelerating the pace of innovation, streamlining manufacturing, and lowering cost. The 7300 has sold enough units to recoup the R&D cost for both the 7300 and the 7610. Now that the 7610 is out it is time to harmonize the platform by using the same ADC for the 7300 MK II and the 7610 as well as enable features that are already in the 7300, such as the RX antenna input.

Michael Aust

Gary,
  The IC-7610 will not replace the IC-7851 anytime soon Tracking filters, true diversity
Noise Reduction better than any BHI unit, Will not overload in CQWW with 70+/9 signals side by side, etc
 Only issue it price like a Ferrari Race Car, you get what you pay for.

Marc Lalonde

once you have a SDR architecture all that feature is possible
but not expect ICOM to add that feature soon :-)

Michael Aust

Agree, what you see is what you get from ICOM typically
  When you get a Flex, a new radio with software upgrades

Gary Johnson

For 99.5% of radio customers the $13,000 non SDR, no panadaptor product is a dinosaur.  Flex 6600M for 1/3 the price.  Its what I bought.  HIHI  My Elecraft K3 for half the price is a better radio, way better customer service and I expect it to sit idle once the 6600M arrives.

Michael Aust

Yes, the ICOM 7851 is non-SDR but it has a Spectrum Scope and WaterFall to be fair.

  Anyway, a lot of choices for you and that is why all these radio's will evolve.

   Yes I have a Flex6xxx series radio and tried them all, there will always be Pro's and Con's and the 6600M is a great rig ! Enjoy 

KC9EI - Dave

Thank you for the update. I anxiously await my new 6600M.

Steven WA8Y

I am waiting for my first Flex, what is Fill ?

David Decoons, wo2x

Fill is the white area under the signals in the panadapter. Current software just shows a white line. Fill makes everything under the line white. Some prefer this.

Al_NN4ZZ

Hi Steven,
Check out this "idea" post for some detailed examples and suggestions on fill transparency.  (wonder if the transparency suggestion made it...)

https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/if-you-want-the-ability-to-fill-in-the-pan-display-...

Al / NN4ZZ  
al (at) nn4zz (dot) com
SSDR / DAX / CAT/ 6700 -  V 1.11.12
Win10

K2CB Eric Dobrowansky

Yes for V1, or yes for V2?

Clay N9IO

Excellent news, happy to see everything coming together for you now Gerald. Be proud. You are certainly innovator #1 of the decade in my book. Your competitors can't touch this. It's also very interesting to watch this all unfold.

KC2QMA_John

I have a windows 10 Tablet with 32gb of storage, 2GB RAM and Atom Processor, Can it run SmartSDR for windows?

Jim KJ7S

Should be ok, I have an older Eee with an Atom processor running win 8 (it wont even take 8.1) running 1.11.12 SSDR  and the little guy only has 1 gig of ram, a split 72 gig each mini drive.  32 bit os obviously but it does run. Albeit a little shaky but...

Bill -VA3WTB

What speed is the Attom Processor? SSDR can be run on almost any newer computer.

KC2QMA_John

It's 1.5ghz Proc. I don't expect hi performance, just want something I can put on the night stand for SWL.

So I will just need a Single Panadapter & Slice.
?

Bill -VA3WTB

The computer does not do any processing, so, the only thing you need to think about is the video performance of the display. You should be able to open more than one pan

Jim KJ7S

...The graphics will probably be better on yours depending on the max resolution of your system. this poor little guy really struggles to even change the position of the panadapter and all this is jammed into a 10" diagonal measure screen and a max resolution in my case of 1024*600  crowds it. But it functions hihi.

KC2QMA_John

OK I'll keep my fingers crossed. sounds like it will work.
thank's guys.