Flex Dynamic Range Degraded from Upgrade Software

RobSet

Hi it is well known now that through a software upgrade by Flex..The series of Flex Radios had there Dynamic Range degraded as tested by Sherwood Engineering....when purchased the Flex 6700, 6500 etc had a Dynamic Range of 107db but now after the Upgrade it degraded the Radios Dynamic Range to 99db except there 6400 which is 100db....I believe this needs to be fixed. I bought the Radio with a 107db dynamic range and I don't believe it's fair to give me a Software upgrade that degrades the performance of my Radio....I tried to get a help ticket and asked the question...Will Flex fix this issue with an Upgrade or is nothing going to be done about this...my response was whats your serial number of the Radio and then refusal to answer...This effects All series 6000 Flex radios regardless of there serial numbers and I'm getting no response...Has anyone else gone through this with Flex? I also attempted calling Flex over 100x with no one to answer the phone...If Flex can mess up our Radio with Supposed Upgrades once and not fix it or know how to. What's to stop it from happening again??!! All I asked was there going to be another Upgrade to fix an Issue they well known about for some time but couldn't get an Answer....Anyone else have this issue??

Mike-VA3MW

Hi

I am not sure what the issue was as I can't connect this posting with a customer record and the helpdesk system is by far the best to follow up on this as it is a direct to engineering assuming we have collected all your operation info.

As for dynamic that data seems pretty dated as Mr Sherwood has not tested one of our radios in a long time. The 6700 was in last tested 2017 and the 6600 in 2018. A lot of software has been written and installed since then with many changes.

One key thing to remember is that radios such as an SDR with a front end ADC actually perform better and have better dynamic range with multiple signals in the pass band. The exact is opposite is true for a Superhet radio. When any radio is tested, it is with one signal in the RF passband. Yet that is nowhere close to real world testing.

The RMDR on the 6700 is 128db and arguable a much better test with an front end ADC.

The other thing to keep in mind is that testing of SuperHet radio and a Direct Sampling radio is not an exact science especially when it comes to real world performance. I don't think anyone has yet to publish the best test bench procedures for any direct sampling radio.

https://youtu.be/VN3uxuExIng

As long as there are radios that we use every day, there will be discussions of how the radio tested on a bench. :)

73

David Decoons, wo2x

Hi Rob,

Sorry, don’t know your call.

I’ve been using my 6600M and working a lot of DX (except last few weeks which have been hectic). I do not have the proper test equipment to test dynamic range.

I can say that I have compared the 6600M side by side with my Elecraft K4D s/n 358 with their latest software and innmy suburban environment I could not find one radio able to receive better than the other. In my case the environmental noise is higher than the minimum discernible signal from either radio, meaning that both radios could receive better but limited by my environment. Most hams will find this to be true with many of the radios on Rob Sherwood’s list. Also real world band conditions when operating will also limit receive.

I do not have data to either dispute or back up your statements but as Mike pointed out, the Sherwood list is older and not tested with current software. I am not losing sleep over his dynamic range numbers.

73 Dave wo2x