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

Cal N3CAL

Gary NC3Z

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

Burt Fisher

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

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

Dave AA6YQ

John AE5X

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???