6x00, MARS, and Regular Amateur Radio

W4JBB

I am not yet a Flex owner. I need to ask some questions before I decide to purchase one...

For background, I currently have an IC-7300 and recently purchased a PTRX-7300 and RSP1a SDR to use as a second receiver. I am not a fan of the latency or the complications in getting this going. Years ago, I built a SoftRock RxTx transceiver and a Genesis G59 w/ 10 W amp. I was seriously put off by the latency of both the SoftRock and the Genesis so I wound up purchasing a K3/P3 combo. When I left the hobby in 2015, I sold almost everything I owned (regretfully it turns out).

1. Can I use the two slices on the 6400 to both transmit and receive voice on one slice and receive data only on a second slice on the same frequency using the first slice to transmit data? Using MS-DMT as my M110 modem, I would like to be able to receive M110 with no audio processing (i.e. NR) but also be able to transmit.

2. Does anyone here use the ALE program ION2G (yes, I will ask this on the ION2G group)? How well does the 6x00 play with ION2G?

3. I know a fairly recent f/w upgrade greatly reduced the latency on the Flex radios. What are opinions on the latency now?

4. I had the second receiver in the K3 but never truly used it. I could have done without it so I see no need for the 6600. The 6600 has been recommended because of it having more slices but, truly, I never used what I had before. I don't even use the PTRX-7300 / RSP1a like that. They generally stay on the same band as the IC-7300.

5. Any QRPers out there? How do you like the 6x00 for QRP? I do dabble and did get my QRP WAS before I left the hobby. I was working on my QRP DXCC at the time and just got tired of "chasing paper."

I may have more questions but those are the ones that come to mind at this time.

I appreciate any and all comments.

Regards,
Joel - W4JBB

Gary NC3Z

I am not MARS but am SHARES op.

Q1. Yes, I do that on SHARES.

Q2. Yes it works as well as ION2G works.

Q3. Set the digital filters latency to manual and low. I am using my 6500 with VarAC and VARA HF which is a ARQ mode and works well.

Q4. Remember that each slice really acts like it's own radio, with it's own audio path and it's own CAT.

Gary NC3Z/NCS997

Mike-VA3MW

Q5: RF out is variable from 1% to 100% of full power.

If you want to go lower than that, you can do from 0dbm to +10dbm by using the transverse port.

Gary NC3Z

I could not answer Q5 as I do not know what QRP is 😁

W4JBB

No worries, Gary. To *me*, QRP for digital/CW is 5 W or less.

Arizona Mike

Can anyone share their configuration setup for Ion2g and the Flex 6000 signature series.

Would live to know how to configure Ion2g for MAC but WINDOWS will work also.

Thanks.

John WA7UAR

@Arizona Mike — I can help. Please contact me off thread Mike. John WA7UAR via QRZ.com