Flex 8000 (continued...)

Russ Ravella

Ok, THAT would be awesome !

• Adaptive Pre Distortion
• full implementation of coherent Diversity Receive
• modernized noise mitigation features
• User Defined Waveforms working again
• improved phase noise LO
• the promise finally realized of valuable IP Flex has garnered from their military and commercial projects making it's way into the ham business
• and LOTS of design margin all around for real future proofing this time

I am TOTALLY in whatever it costs - sign me UP !

73 Russ KR6W

(the original "Flex 8000" thread doesn't seem to be working - wouldn't accept my post - so I thought I'd try to continue it here ?)

Trucker

If it has a built-in microwave and coffee maker, I'm in! I did notice in the May issue of QST that Icom's ad showed a blurry image of something new coming. It's probably the PW2 amplifier. The Flex Radio ad didn't show anything new. However, someone on the Flex Radio Facebook page says that the June 2024 issue of QST has an ad from Flex Radio hinting at something new coming. Guess we will know in a couple more weeks.

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Hi Trucker,

Yeah, definitely only a rumor at this point but the link showing up then being pulled down mentioned on the original "Flex 8000" post this morning is kinda interesting ?? Like you said, we'll see. Personally, I'm pretty excited just to see what 3.8 will bring.

73 Russ KR6W

fpmacko

And I have a 6600 on backorder. I hate it when this happens. Debating whether to suspend the order until after Dayton.

73… Frank / WA3NHK

fpmacko

Hi Trucker.

The June issue of QST isn't out yet so I'm wondering how this person would know about the ad. Does this person have a mole in Newington?

73…..Frank / WA3NHK

Trucker

Frank, I mentioned the same thing to the poster on the Flex Facebook page and his response was, because he is a Maxim Society member( makes big financial donations to the league) and a Lifetime member of the ARRL, he gets his print copy of QST much faster than us regular members do. Therefore, he felt I owed him an apology because of my lack of knowledge of the higher level of ARRL membership. He graciously accepted my apology in advance for not being aware of his level of inside knowledge of the ARRL Maxim Society membership benefits. :-)

Unfortunately for him, I went ahead and rescinded the apology that he imagined I would be anxious for him to accept. Instead, I will anxiously await my copy of the June 2024 QST. And then I will hurry to find the Flex Radio advertisement in hopes of confirming his statements.

Now, to a real life response. I think it is very likely that Flex Radio will be announcing a new radio and hopefully, some very needed improvements to SmartSDR at Dayton. It's been six years since I received my 6600M. At times it's been a love/almost hate, relationship. But, overall, it is still my favorite radio. While it has frustrated me at times, the good things have far outweighed the bad. Not many radios I have used both in the past and the present, have made me feel that way.

James

WD5GWY

I

fpmacko

I didn't know about that either. At any rate, I'm not one to ask for an apology as there are better ways to handle a difference of opinion.

As for the radio, as I said I have a 6600 on backorder for which I'm trading in my 6500. I was a bit uncertain about my timing because I knew the 6600 probably had a "mature" BoM. But this new bit of noise has me really concerned.

Now if there indeed is a new radio the next question will be the delivery date.

73….Frank

Trucker

It's all good as my grandkids say! Just a misunderstanding between two adults. Back to the theme of this thread. There really is a new "something " being announced at Dayton. The guy on Facebook was good enough to post photos of Flex Radio's ad. Here it is:

WX7Y

It's probably a Microphone for the Maestro C that doesn't need an adapter HI HI

Russ Ravella

HA !! That's IT !

Mike VE3CKO

Hmmm, very interesting. Something certainly is up for Dayton, luckily it won't be much longer to find out and in the meantime we can speculate to our hearts desire. The box underneath looks too small to be a radio it's not deep enough. Then again the photographer could have placed anything underneath for the ad photo. If it is a new series 8000, you would think they would not reinvent the wheel and basically use the same software as the 6000 depending on FPGAs used, again would make sense to keep all the same for various manufacturing, part requisitioning and software compatibility with the existing 6000 series.

Whatever it turns out to be, I sure do hope it will include a software upgrade for the existing 6000 series customer base, call it SSDR v4, I'll surely pay for the software upgrade.

Trucker

I think it's going to be a portable, DC to Daylight, all mode transceiver. POTA is becoming quite popular and currently, Flex Radio has no replacement for the discontinued Flex 1500. The dimensions of the covered box,( if it's a box for a radio) is similar in size to the Icom 705. If it's priced similar to the 705,it will sell like hotcakes. It should have full Bluetooth capability, WiFi, built-in wide band antenna tuner, wireless mouse, compatible with all kinds of microphones, dual SCU's, HDMI video output, built-in keyer, long life battery that allows a full day operating at 5 watts or half day at 20 watts. Non-proprietary battery, fast charging. The new OS will not be Windows, but an industrial Linux system. It will have a 10" high resolution display, the radio will have full diversity receive with Working, Phase Cancelation with two antennas. It will be able to connect wirelessly to any laptop, cellphone and work with a logging program. Plus, free updates to the firmware and software for 5 years. Also, there will be a companion amplifier with a built-in wide band antenna tuner ( much wider than the one in the radio. And can be bypassed when using the amplifier). Sales will begin shortly after introduction at Dayton. Shipping will commence in September 2024 ( guaranteed or $500 off sale price of $1,750.00) I have every reason to believe this radio will be a smash hit not only for the POTA crowd, but for those operators who are limited on space and funds. A win,win for the entire Amateur Radio community!

James

WD5GWY

fpmacko

trucker….. Hmmm… With that huge amount of very specific info I think you should have prefaced that with “I KNOW it’s going to be” rather than “I THINK it’s going to be”. Someone inside Flex must be wearing a wire. 😀

Frank / WA3NHK

Trucker

Frank, I forgot to mention I dream big! ( think Champagne taste, Coca Cola budget!)

fpmacko

obviously.

Russ Ravella

To my eye, the image in the ad looks like an artists rendering, not a photograph. And I can imagine an artist not bothering to get the depth just right with respect to the perspective he/she chose. So to me it's easy to imagine it does represent some reasonable form factor of a base station radio. It almost looks like it could be roughly around 6400/6600 size taking that into consideration ? But I have very old eyes.

Flex is an HF radio house. At least that's how they've always described themselves. And personally I hope they stick with that and don't venture into IC-905 territory when they're still so far behind in HF capabilities in some important ways. I'm definitely not a fan of the Apache Labs company but the ANAN has had phase coherent diversity reception, adaptive pre-distortion and advanced noise mitigation features that Flex does not have for a long time. That's MAJOR stuff. I hope Flex's primary objective is to catch up and hopefully surpass that based on all the IP they've developed on their commercial and military projects. They've always promised doing that in response to the ocean of criticism they've taken for essentially abandoning their ham customers for years to work on those projects in the past.

My guess is it's a product advancement along those lines starting with a 6700 replacement. At least I hope so. The 6700 was already behind the 6400 and 6600 which had hardware advancements like a built in Ethernet switch. It seems reasonable they already had its replacement in mind when they discontinued it - it was their flagship product. If it were an 8 or more slice radio with those missing features, working user defined waveforms back again and whatever wonders may lie in that IP, that would be pretty great. Can't wait to see in two weeks !

73 Russ KR6W

Trucker

Interesting comments Russ. I didn't know there was an ethernet switch in my 6600M. I am not sure what the purpose of that would be other than to handle the front panel Maestro.

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Hi James,

Yeah, I know. It's weird. Steve Hicks (CTO) has given presentations followed by Q&A at Virtual Ham Expos which were extremely informative (they might still be online though the editor tends to delete the Q&A follow-on for some reason even though it's often the best part). He usually goes through about the same slide deck in each one. It describes the general 6XXX architecture which includes this switch. Its probably the most valuable communication from Flex there has been in terms of actually explaining what's going on.

He was asked once what he most wishes he'd done differently in retrospect with the 6700 design and he answered that he'd added the switch he later included in the 6400/6600 radios. He said it was very important to the design though I don't recall the details if he even mentioned any. I'm guessing it improves the versatility of connecting the internal components. For example, it may make it possible to evolve the f/w design in ways not otherwise possible. So it turns out his slides were misleading because the 6700 doesn't actually HAVE this important switch. He also describes his personal crusade to include user defined waveforms, also on his list of 6XXX features, though that hasn't actually worked on 6XXX radios in years. That's why I explicitly mentioned them. I'm really hoping this new thing is a 6700 replacement with all of Flex's knowledge gained though hindsight, developed IP and competition awareness included. Finger's crossed.

73 Russ KR6W

George M.

I go along with the Idea of a replacment for the 6700.

George N1NAZ

Peter K1PGV

Too funny: When I bought my SDR-1000, the Flex-5000 was released very shortly thereafter.

I just bought a new 6400 and Maestro C… if history repeats itself, there’ll be a whole new, awesome, line of radios introduced.

Russ Ravella

Hi Peter,

I have to say my experience with the Flex company itself has been that they're pretty accommodating about things like that. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered customers in that situation a special trade up option or something if that happens. But you might have to specifically ask.

73 Russ KR6W

Netas Ameba

Hi

We Need Wind... Wind Of Change.

Let It Be

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GfkeEaarANc

73,

Netas Ameba