SSDR V3 Pros and Cons

Kari Gustafsson SM0HRP

My "radio needs": Work remotely, in my house or from my country side house, all DX station on all band slots + enjoy demanding contests + share my radio with my son and hams with HOA restrictions.
PRO: V3 adds more value to my radio needs. Multiple clients is great. A major step forward.
CON: I see none expect some intial bug fixes as usual.
I guess I am so much fascinated with the remote radio operation that Flex so easily provides compared to the competition that I do not care of all the other issues not yet being fixed as some point out. And honestly, they have never stopped me from really enjoying ham radio they way I now do.
Yes I am spoiled with good antennas on a rural remote island with only S1-2 noise on 160-80 meters. Three towers and a fully equipped SO2R station. Guess this makes me a little bit biased.
Keep up the good work Flex!
Happy Easter to you all.

W2NER

The Anan upgrade process is a cake walk so, not sure what you're doing wrong.  However, Please keep your post on point to issues with V3 not tossing stones at any other manufacturer. 

Bill -VA3WTB

Yea, nothing out there as slick as the flex for updating.

Scott Russell - N1SER

PRO:

• Multi client even though I don't have a use for it I see the value and innovation which gives me hope there will be more to come.
• Not a whole lot unless I've missed something. End of April is FL QSO Party so I'll have better experience with it after that event.

CON:

• Completely broke Mac OS apps.
• Auto Save profiles needs more work and options for turning it on or off, user preference.
• No documentation
• I had an issue after updating the Maestro that it would connect to the 6400 and display a screen but it was as though the Maestro was not connected (no scope/waterfall/audio...etc). This is while SSDR is running on the pc. It still does this unless I disconnect the pc and restart the Maestro. Guess I need to put in a ticket for this.
• Still lack of polish in the UI.

That's all I can think of at this time until I get to use it more in-depth.

Scott N1SER

Cal N3CAL

PRO:

•  Various Bug Fixes

CON:

• New issue with DSTAR / DV Waveforms no longer working.
  
• New Advanced Networking Feature for MTU adjustment does not work through Smartlink.
• New Auto Save Profiles needs work and option to turn off if desired.
• New Band Settings Menu should have option to turn off if using with 3rd party app ie DDUTIL
  
• 3rd party apps like DDUTIL, Slice Master, Dogpark are now broken and need updated.
• Issues with Multi-Client and original 4O3A Antenna Genius while operating So2R (6600).
• No updates/improvements to DSP, ANF, NB ETC.  No Auto AGC-T setting. 
  
• No V3 Software Documentation yet. 
  

I've reverted back to V 2.4.9 for now.  V3 just doesn't suit my needs. 

Cal/N3CAL

Gary NC3Z

Likewise I have gone back to V2.4.9 for most of the above reasons.

Burt Fisher

I was told by an Alpha team member the "haters" (which appears to me he thinks is anyone who criticizes 3.x) have stopped posting. He said:

"Now that the haters like *****  have crawled back into their holes you might note that the Flex community has become a lot more civil And we are seeing lots of positive reports on version three."

His comment (crawled back into their hole) shows the psyche of the privileged.
I have read the community and virtually everyone has behaved with dignity. 

Scott Russell - N1SER

SMH...

W2NER

I think feedback is of great value if things are not what they should be for the general community (not just one group).  Otherwise it will be the beginning of the end for flex if they don't listen. 

Robert-KP4Y

Yeah, look at Elecraft! I was big fan and had almost every major piece of equipment they sold, K3, KX3, KPA500, etc. Definitely great products! At some point I started to point out the lack of innovation in their reflector. The kool aid drinkers hated me for supposedly criticizing their god. Instead of developing a new radio with more modern features, they decided to spend precious R&D money on a HP amp. Some people in this country love capitalism but then don’t promote the accompany competition that drives innovation. I even heard some folks were upgrading to V3 just to help Flex financially. What is that, the equivalent of a subsidy in a socialist country! Competition is great for consumers! 73, Robert-KP4Y

NA5RF

W2NER, the point is, in answer to the original poster on Pros and Cons of upgrading to V3, the upgrade process going from 2.4.9 to V3 on my new Flex 6600, Windows workstations (7 and 10), and Maestro V2, was significantly easier than "other" manufacturers, and it doesn't come with multiple bootloader versions, bricked radios, unhandled exception errors, and locked up HPSDR apps.

The fact that Flex adds the radio firmware payload automatically in the SSDR installation application to force software configuration management between the radio and SSDR app and also warns you if they are different versions makes for a much more reliable installation. 

Dave AA6YQ

The thread I initiated -- "Some Advice for Flex Management" -- was frozen immediately after Gerald K5SDR responded.

W2NER

update.... i moved back to 2.4.9 and now not even that will keep TX profiles. now i think the update did something to the 6600. i’m going to test the 2.4.9 on my laptop. just for information when i went back to V2 i removed everything including going through the registry to be sure there was nothing left behind. will update later today.

KI4P

just remember, when you down grade you need to do a cold restart! done same thing and radio was acting crazy and wouldnt save any profiles, several told me and even factory rep said to do that, i did and everything came right back to where it was before, saving profiles and all. hope that helps! 

W2NER

Done that, no good.  Went back to the V3 and set the max output to 40w (which is what I use for my amp)..  Flex please fix this and make this profile saving thing a option, not the default.....

Burt Fisher

There are some that praise that are even handed and there are some that are as Robert said, "Kool aid drinkers" whose mission is to gain favor. Expose them, challenge them and one becomes dead to them. Flex is a great company, one of the best in any category but they are not perfect. All one can ask Flex to do is listen. One has to remember those in this community are not the average Flex owners, here in the community are the most involved. Flex customers are more than this community. I like their ads in QST, simple unlike HRO who defines boredom in their QST ads.

W2NER

Well I did a full reset (push the power button till it turns white on power up) and that seems to have fixed the problem with profile savings in version 2.4.9....  If thats what you were referring too AB4RW, thanks for the tip.  I have known about that but totally forgot about it.  Five reboots and profiles are fine so far.

KI4P

That's what I was referring too. Glad it worked, I was getting frustrated also

Mike VE3CKO

I interrupt this thread for a brief fact check. I do not wish to hijack this thread but I have to point out an incorrect statement Dave AA6YQ made.

The thread I initiated -- "Some Advice for Flex Management" -- was frozen immediately after Gerald K5SDR responded.

I followed the thread, sorry Dave but your are wrong. There were several posts after Gerald posted. Following his post I think Joe went over the line and was disrespectful with his comment. It was rightly frozen as it was again becoming another "trial period", bla bla bla that has been dealt with recently in other threads. 

Ok, back to the regular programing, v3 Pro and Cons.

Nick

The whole idea of APIs is that they shield consumers from s/w modifications.  If an API has to be modified it is either versioned or written in a way to not break any current users.  

Dave AA6YQ

The thread was frozen before I could compose a meaningful response to Gerald K5SDR's lengthy post.

I agree that disrespectful posts should be removed; the 4th of my recommendations to Flex management is to "enforce the forum behavior rules". However, this enforcement should not require freezing an entire thread. If that's a technical limitation of this forum, Flex should remove it.

The bigger problem with this forum is the defensiveness of those who consider it their duty to refute every report of unhappiness or frustration with Flex hardware or software, often with not-so-subtle attacks on the poster's capability or sincerity.

No one spends thousands of dollars on a Flex transceiver so they can gratuitously trash it in an online forum. Some of the problems reported may well be cockpit error, but unless every report is received courteously, users will be discouraged from reporting problems, blinding Flex to feedback it - like every technology company - needs to improve its technical and business practices. This is "customer relations 101".

Prospective Flex purchasers checking out this forum won't see defensive reactions to problem reports as a positive in the Flex column. This is "sales 101".

Those who respond defensively to problem reports here are doing Flex an immense disservice.

Mike VE3CKO

Again my response was only to you saying the thread was closed immediately after Geralds and it wasn't. Someone reading that may have jumped to an improper conclusion, I wanted to record to be correct. You are allowed your opinion Dave, just as I am allow so I would appreciate you not calling my opinions and others a disservice. Again your are labeling people who disagree with some of your presentation, I am not defending v3.  I don't think it will serve anyone if I reveal my thoughts to some of your postings of late, so I will keep those thoughts to myself at this time. In other words, take the higher ground.

Dave AA6YQ

As is the case in other Engineering disciplines, Software Engineering has a body of well-understood best practices. "Encourage direct feedback from users" is one such best practice. It follows that discouraging direct feedback from users is harmful. This is no more a matter of opinion than ensuring that the materials employed to construct a bridge have strength adequate for the projected load.

My posts here have exactly one motivation: to help Flex improve the quality of their software, for the benefit of the Flex user community and for the benefit of my fellow 3rd party developers.

Mike VE3CKO

Good intentions Dave but someone in a related thread recently said something about intentions. Please let's not hijack this thread, I just wanted to correct the record.

Dave AA6YQ

Mike, you have yet to demonstrate that my posts have had anything but a constructive impact. After the first of my recent posts, I called Flex Engineering VP Steve N5AC to be sure he was taking them that way; he was.

You chose to hijack this thread; don't expect me to not respond to your posts when I strongly disagree with their content.

Burt Fisher

I don't see anyone taking the low ground. It looks like you think if you praise Flex you are taking the high ground, if otherwise you are taking the low ground? What does "Elmer" mean after your call, Mike?
I have found being constructive is praising Flex. When I was critical of bugs 2.49 created,  I was told by another Mike I could be banned for not being constructive.

Mike VE3CKO

Burt, regarding taking the high ground because of my praising Flex? Guess you haven't read all my posts, when I don't like something be it a feature, issue or post, I don't have any problem saying so. If I go overboard, I can admit when I make a mistake and apologize as I have done in the past. When I refer to me taking the high ground, I mean I will hold back saying what I think about the tactics of a couple of people who are relentlessly publicly targeting the management of Flexradio.

Dave AA6YQ

In software engineering, publicly suggesting better ways of doing things is not "targeting the management"; it's a genuine attempt to help. 

High quality software developers and managers don't just accept constructive critique, they actively solicit it. Any engineer or manager who takes offense at constructive critique from their customers, prospects, or 3rd party developers wouldn't last long in a modern software business.

John AE5X

I updated SSDR last night, going from V1 straight to V3 so I don't have the V3-V2 comparison the rest of you have. Prior to installing V3 I did a complete (Tim's procedure) uninstall of V1 and feared the worst in regard to the saving of profiles and other parameters, connectivity with WSJT-X, etc. although I had exported and saved all this info including screenshots. I had several hours set aside to get things back to normal.

Within 20 minutes of beginning the whole process I was making contacts on the only modes I use, CW and FT8. Absolutely painless and my profiles and WSJT configs were intact - importing the exported files wasn't necessary.

After that, I downloaded Slice Master, SDR Bridge and CW Skimmer and now see what all the (good) fuss was about. Spots on the pan display, CW Skimmer decoding calls and CQ's, click to tune to them - love it!

If anyone else is still using V1 and is worried about skipping directly to V3, I say 'go for it'.

John AE5X
https://ae5x.blogspot.com

W2NER

The upgrade process was never in question, its profile thats the issue.  So, did you test all the issues that were pointed out in the post???