How loud is the 6600?

Hel, OE8TTR

Doug - W3UB

Duane_AC5AA

I traded my 6500 on a 6600 earlier this year, and, while I could hear the 6500  fans, they never seemed obtrusive.  The 6600 fans are very quiet - I almost can't hear them at all.  Even when running FT8 at 90w they are very quiet.  Impressive.  

Robert Lonn

My 6600M has a fan???? I need to check because it is that Quiet!! :-)   Very Pleased,,, My Astron Switching Power Supply fan makes more noise!!

Cal N3CAL

K3SF

Steve K9ZW

Ed N5DG

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

Neal Pollack, N6YFM

George KF2T

Another 6500 user who went to a 6600. Noticeably quieter to the point of not noticing at all. Not that the 6500 was bad, but you’d alwasy know whenit was on. Fan noise reduction certainly wouldn’t be enough of a reason to upgrade, but it certainly is a bonus.

Doug - W3UB

Ted VE3TRQ

I was actually wondering if my 6600M had a fan! I'll join the crowd saying this thing is whisper quiet, even when running a long period of time at 50W digital. (I only run barefoot.) My K3/100 has a noisier fan.

Ed N5DG

We had a dishwasher that was rated at 38 to 40 DBA , I'm glad that darn thing broke . I like my new dishwasher that is 26 DBA  

Brad A. Steffler

I am 70 years old and wear hearing aids. Before I got the hearing aids, my wife said that she was disturbed by the loud output from the speakers. I changed to headphones and haven't looked back. Since my male, age-related hearing loss is in the higher frequencies where the sibilant consonants reside, I use my hearing aids all the time, even when on the telephone. Unless I have a guest in the shack, the loudspeakers are never on. I find that my headphones shut out a lot of noise, and did so even before I got hearing aids. (My hearing aid gain curve and overall gain are adjustable by an iPhone app)

My current amp, an AL-82, is so loud  that I began using headphones exclusively anyway. Maybe every one is being polite, but so far, I have  had no complaints of background noise. The mike  is directional and pointed away from the amp.

Bottom line: headphones might be a solution to fan noise if you can wear them for extended periods of time comfortably. My headphones are very comfortable and the pads easily fit around the hearing aids.

Even though my 6700 can be placed in another room, the need for reboots and dealing with PC glitches demands, for me, that I place the radio at my operating position.

Brad
KE4XJ

Duane_AC5AA

Greg N8GD

I am 69 years old and have had a hearing loss since birth, mostly in the 1000-3000 Hz range (the main voice frequencies, unfortunately).  After having worked in industry for 21 years I now also have high frequency loss, too.  I wear hearing aids 16 hours a day (when not sleeping).  I learned long ago that hearing loss is a very personal and individualized thing.  I guess I am lucky in that noise does not bother me.  Just leaving a receiver tuned to noise on the HF frequencies for hours is no big deal to me.  I find fan noise to be of no consequence to me, either.  I always tell folks that when my brain hears noise, it says "good, I can hear that!"

This is not to say that those of you who are sensitive to noise are wrong - each of you has a problem that is 180 degrees from mine, and I empathize with you.  I have a good friend who is very sensitive to noise, and I know it is a big problem for him.

So, for those of you for whom fan noise is a problem, i wish you all the luck in finding quiet equipment, and I hope Flex keeps making strides in reducing cooling noise in their radios.

As for me, I'll just plug along with my hearing loss and hearing aids.  At least with the new aids I can finally hear the turn signal in my car.

And, by the way, those of you with good (and sensitive) hearing are able to spend more of your dollars on nice, high end Flex radios.  My 2 year old pair of microprocessor controlled digital hearing aids cost $5,000 - the price of a nice, shiny, new Flex 6600M!

Greg N8GD

Just remember, a 6 db change is just perceptible to the human ear.  A 3 db change is imperceptible.

Jim K4JAF

I also went from 6300 to the 6600 and the 6600 is quieter.  I cant hear it at all sitting 2 feet away on my desk.  Anyone who has to remotely mount it in a closet must have a bad fan or their hearing is a lot better hearing than mine.  

Bill -VA3WTB

I don't own a new Flex,,but the fan must be much quieter then a 6500 or 6700. The fan is much larger and runs at a much slower speed. But even my 6500 is not that bad. I understand why it's needed.

Hel, OE8TTR

N8SDR

My 3000 had noisy fans from day one, I got use to it- my 6400 is whisper quite have o look to make sure its on. 

Mike NN9DD

What fan noise. I find if very good and not a bother at all Mike NN9DD

Jim K4JAF

How you doing Rick?  Agree with your comments on the 6400 fan noise, I cant hear it unless everything off in the room and my head next to the fan ports..  73s Jim 

N8SDR

Doing Well Jim, hope things are good for you.

Robert Lonn

Mark WS7M

Doug - W3UB