Noise reduction improvements

Mauro VE3TCV

I compared the Flex-6600 to my other radios, they are Yaesu FTDX-5000, FT-1000MP-MKV and an Icom IC-781.  The Flex 6600 beats the IC-781 hands down as I would expect however the FT-1000MP seems to be quieter on receive and easier to listen to then the Flex.  The FTDX-5000 beats the Flex on SSB as it's noise reduction can continually make weak signals more audible than the Flex.

If the Flex could improve it's noise reduction to the level of the FTDX-5000 it would be perfect, as of right now even my old FTDX-3000 seems to have had better noise reduction.  

The Flex-6600 is very impressive in all other aspects, improving the noise reduction would put it in a class of it's own on the SSB contesting area.  Are there any plans to work this?

Bill -VA3WTB

It sounds you are talking about general band noise. The Flex has the AGC-T slider that removes the noise you are talking about, this Makes the Flex a very quiet receiver. As far as spacific types of noise, The WNB is great, but for the other filters, yes they do need more work.

Jim Gilliam

Flex should do what Anan and PowerSDR are doing by using two separate antennas with phase reversal to null out a lot of the common noise one hears from grow lights, power lines, and switching circuits.

Jim, K6QE

K3SF

and
dont forget there is receive audio shaping (aka RX EQ)  that helps a lot to reduce noise too

Lawrence Gray

I do find it interesting that the current version of PowerSDR KE9NS running on a Flex-1500 has more effective noise reduction than my Flex-6500.    It is not a huge issue in my operation, but it does seem a little strange.

I know this is an issue that has been repeatedly discussed and that it is on the list of requested updates.

Mauro VE3TCV

Thanks all for the input.
I tried working the AGC-T and EQ settings and managed to quiet things down a tad, although the NR is still not even close to what I have on the FTDX-5000.  I was just on 17M listening to VP6D and the FTDX-5000 can pluck him out of the noise and clean him right up.  He is still readable on the Flex but he almost sounds better with the NR disabled.

Lawrence, I've never used PowerSDR but I would love to hear the NR on it to see how it compares.

I do not see many flaws with the Flex-6600 but the NR is definitely an area to improve, the remote capabilities and capabilities to create multiple global templates is just incredible stuff. 

Robert Lonn

The FTDX-5000 is a very good receiver with a lot of Quality features,, I had one about 3 years ago that I sold due to the issues with the displays dimming out,, Yaesu replaced them, under warranty, but after 6 months the problem came back.. Yaesu fixed it again, then I decided to sell it..

BUT!!! The 5000 is not a SDR radio, so it is not an apples to apples comparison,, My R-390A Collins was far more quiet then my 5000,, but that is a vacuum tube radio built like a Tank-Boat Anchor.. Their is a lot of fine tuning you can do with the Flex Radio from an adjustment perspective, and they do interact.. 

So now the new FTDX-101MP will be hitting the market place soon with the 200 watt version at $5400,,, Another competitor radio to check out,, but new and changing radio environment is a good thing, competition is good, should drive Flex to keep making software improvements!! 

I keep saying the HDMI 1080P HD monitor output is a BIG deal for me.. 

This is all fun!! So having more then one radio can be a nice to have,, But can also be confrontational.. 

Like They Say!! What is the difference between a person who wears one watch vs two watches??? The person with one watch knows what time it is,,  the one with two watches is Not Sure!!! :-)

And once WWV shuts down,, we will never know the correct time,, LOL

Robert

Joe N3HEE

I operate mostly CW.  I find the AGC-T and APF to be very good noise fighting tools.  I can hear very weak signals on the low bands.  The NR and NB are ok but not as good as my K3.  The K3 has highly configurable NR and NB that works very well.  However the K3 is not as quiet as the Flex. Hopefully Flex will continue to make improvements on the basics such a NR and NB.  The 2.4.9 release has dramatically improved CW sending capabilities.  No more odd timing and stuttering issues. 

Bill -VA3WTB

Lawrence, keep in mind that what PSDR has in it has nothing to do with what SSDR may or may not have. The two software has nothing in common, SSDR was built from a clean sheet nothing was carried over from PSDR.
So to make new features in SSDR was and still is a learning curve, new ground.
And It took 5 years before PSDR got any noise filtering that worked at all.

One thing SSDR has is WNB,,now that's slick.

Bill -VA3WTB

It was Gerald who invented the antenna diversity steering in PSDR

Lawrence Gray

I guess I don’t agree. If a company is able to write the code for effective noise reduction in one product version, it is reasonable to expect similar or better noise reduction in a product that replaces the previous product. In my condiderable product development experience, it is relatively unusual for a new product generation not to equal or exceed the performance of the product generation being replaced. I do not wish to belabor discussion of this issue, as it has been discussed at length for several years. There are numerous conventional radios that have more effective noise reduction. Flex has focused development and updates in other areas. I am sure they will eventually benchmark the 6000 series noise reduction and prioritize updates in this area. In the meantime, I will enjoy the generally superb performance of my 6500.

Craig Williams

Got a ticket for the big lottery. Going to buy one of EVERYTHING!

Mauro VE3TCV

I managed to get things quieter using heavy noise blanker and mild noise reduction, here is a video of VP6D:  https://youtu.be/KxT5yDQDIqU