SmartSDR - Annual Costs - ????

Steve K9ZW

Having lived in several countries abroad, I’m feeling pretty okay with the USA system. There are lots of axis of differentiation to weigh of course. I’m also good with FRS present system of charging for major version upgrades, on a per radio basis. In the end it is FRS’s call how they wanted to structure their program as well. We certainly cannot imagine that beyond the buy or not decision that we have any real say in whatever policy they have picked. As there is no annual fee of any sort, no subscription payment, there is no compulsion to spend any money to keep a Flex-6000 going. The premise of this thread comes from a misstatement. As for what exchange rate, what taxes and final costs either a radio or an upgrade costs, FRS has been pretty transparent and fair in not letting costs of individual circumstances be spread among all buyers. If getting your radio in country-x requires a local dealer, local taxes, transport costs, special certification and other added business/transaction costs you need to pay those. It is marketplace socialism to expect those costs to be equalized by building them into everyone else’s purchases. As most of us posting here have a Flex-6000 and some several units, their program is working well enough that we have bought in. Makes the drama-queen grinding kind of pointless? 73 Steve K9ZW

KC2QMA_John

KC2QMA_John

Ken Hansen

KC2QMA_John - please, no politics, this is an international community.

Lance Rasmussen

I've lost count the number of times I've bought software products and if the upgrades came out less than a year from purchase, I had to pay. The usual standard is 30 days from new release. And some will go 60 or 90 in a means to promote a free upgrade. So expectations of getting a year is unrealistic. That being said - I've also purchased software that had an extra fee or was promoted with a software maintenance that accommodated free upgrades and updates up to 1 year after purchase. Point being - Flex, like all companies, is free to set their policies and pricing as they wish. You dont like - use your pocketbook to let them know and not buy Flex. Otherwise - if you dont want the upgrade, dont buy it. If you do, buy it. YOU have the freedom of choice.

Michael Coslo

The same one that makes people try to turn every topic into politics. 

Most Respectfully, knock it off - we don't need that sort of BS. Can this thread be closed now? Looks like with it's degeneration, it is pointless.

James Whiteway

I hate to dog pile on the subject. But, then again, why not? It's entertaining if nothing else. There's a huge difference between "UPGRADE" and "UPDATE", that a few seem to overlook. I see an upgradebas a bug fix and enhancement release. Which for the most part from what I've seen from FRS, doesn't cost anything between UPGRADES. (aka full version( UPGRADES on the other hand, add FEATURES that were not in the previous version. That is what one can decide if the new FEATURE(S) are worth the $199.00 to them or not. Keep what you have and your radio will continue to work. Upgrade and then get new features and in some cases, new eye candy as well. Bug fixes as stated many times already are FREE. The only time I could see where it might not is if the code base had to be overhauled like it was from v1 to v2 for remote operating. Other than that, it's all good. James WD5GWY

KC2QMA_John

Please read all prior comments from other users before commenting.

KC2QMA_John

Kevin

Clay N9IO

Yessir it's like that all right. These threads sure do detail on occasion. Hmm.

Steve K9ZW

It is simple there is no annual SmartSDR fees. Zero. Zip. Nada. Only costs are for major updates, at the user’s discretion. 73 Steve K9ZW

Michael Coslo

The floggings shall continue until morale improves.

EA4AYW

EA4AYW

EA4AYW

EA4AYW

EA4AYW

HCampbell WB4IVF

Steve K9ZW

Since the made up worries keep recycling themselves, something that happens in open forums not curated, here is another meme:

Bill -VA3WTB

Complaining about a topic going on too long?
Some of you are still posting remarks keeping it alive. As I just did I suppose.

If I had authority, I would have allowed the thread to run it's natural life, answer the question or comment, then close the threat.

EA4AYW

Dave N2OA

My only complaint since getting the 6600 is the noise blanker.  I'm pretty sure my IC-7100 NB removes more noise. I need to do a side by side comparison sometime.

Ted VE3TRQ

The NB may be unsatisfactory, but it is only because of the WNB that I can operate at all on 80 or 160. It drops the noise level very significantly, to the point that signals appear that once were way under the noise.

Ken - NM9P

Rick, you must have been one of the initial "Signature Series" buyers.  I was in the second wave of pre-lease buyers, just after the "signature & Jacket" deal.  It was still "pre-release," but I did not get the free update to V.2.

But I purchased an additional "year's subscription" when I bought my 6500 and that covered V.2.X when it was released.  It was still a good deal.  After over 5 years of ownership I have paid for V.2 & V.3 (Alpha) and will certainly pay for V.4 whenever they start working on that after V.3.X runs its course. (I have NO information on plans for that project, but we all know that there will likely be V. 4, 5, 6, etc. to come.)

I suppose the percentage of software cost to equipment cost varies with the level of rig originally purchased, which may be the barb catching on some people's hide.

$200 for a $2,000 rig (6300 or 6400) is a 10% upgrade cost.
$200 for a $4,000 rig (6500 or 6600) is a 5% upgrade cost.
$200 for a $6,000 rig (6700)   is 3.3% upgrade cost.

In any case, it is much less than a simple repair in almost any radio repair shop.
A couple of years ago I spent $250 to repair the Electrostatic protection diodes after a nearby lightning strike and I was glad to pay it, because those little guys protected my $4,500 rig from greater damage!

Ken - NM9P

Ken - NM9P

Kev, the iOS ap is wonderful and well worth the money.  
Get an iPad Pro (the big one) and you will be amazed at how easy it is to operate.
I've seen Howard's (KY6LA) in action. 

Even my iPad Air (Original) and iPhone 6 work well as long as my home internet upload speed is adequate to support remote operation from the rig.  (My connection is borderline) 

I can use it easily via my LAN on WiFi with no problems at all, giving me the ability to roam the house or backyard while listening to the radio....

Ken - NM9P

FISHULA X

 All I have to say is, the Flex 6300 has had the best RX then any other radio I have owned including 2 Flex 5000As.  And I have owned many many others I live in a very noisy area .If it was not for the WNB wide band noise blanker, I could not enjoy my hobby. I have been through many options. None of them worked with this crazy power line noise that shoots me an S9 constantly on 75 meters. When I use the WNB at 75 percent, it drops my noise level to S5. I can hear my friends. I think It's worth every penny. I don't think I would still be on HF if it wasn't for WNB. Plus I can take my laptop anyplace in the world and enjoy my hobby.  So in short, as long as Flex can keep that noise away, I am a Flexer for life. Thank you Flex for the best RX on the planet. Just my opinion.

Burt Fisher

Toylike 7300? It booted up in 5 seconds, not 60 seconds, you can record and save messages, it has an S-meter that is zero with no signal, you can set and save band edges .Clunker?  It didn't need updates to fix problems previous updates broke. 

KY6LA_Howard

I tried a 7300 at my house. It’s front end was terrible totally overloaded by nearby TV towers. It was so bad that I gave it back thinking it was defective and tried a second 7300. Still useless. In fact the 7300 front end is so poor that it has give SDR’s a bad name..so much so that Yaesu and Elecraft both offer superheat front ends for their SDR’s Plus it’s. S meter was totally meaningless as it read S0 (=-127dBm or -100dBm?? Or whatever ???) with antenna disconnected instead of the correct ambient noise level Totally useless. Being Icom software updates rarely if ever happen so you are stuck with what you bought unless. you spent $1100 in the next model. 7300= Total Klunker

Ken Hansen

Icom updates firmware as needed, when I go to the Icom America product page on their website and click-thru to Firmware Updates I see six (6) firmware updates in the past three years. All updates were free, but none added any new major feature to the base radio - improvements/refinements only.

The IC-7300 is a thousand dollar entry-level radio which continues to sell well and is appreciated for what it is. It is not, and was not, designed as a contest radio for use in high-end situations.

Countless clubs used IC-7300s successfully this past Field Day, working around the limitations of the radio with careful antenna placement and in many cases band pass filters.

The commercial success of the IC-7300 is undeniable, it is priced below the Flex Maestro - comparing it to contest-grade radios costing 2-5x as much is comparing apples and oranges.

Kenwood did not 'choose' to release a new superhet front end radio in response to the IC-7300, their single-receiver TS-890 is literally 70% of the dual-receiver TS-990 with some evolutionary hardware improvements.

Yaesu saw the IC-9700 cannibalize sales of their FT-991 and to an extent impact sales of their FTDX-3000, their response came in the form of a $4K FTDX-101 Radio. Yaesu muddied the water when it announced the radio playing up (not hiding) their use of SDR technology in their newest radio.