Aurora

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Any clues as to what Aurora is that Flex is advertising in the June QST?

Rich M5RIC

V4 of Smart SDR maybe?

Neil D Friedman N3DF

That’s a good guess. If Flex is renaming SDR, I suspect they will charge more than $200 for it.

Russ Ravella

Since Flex has been talking about the APD release forever which is now apparently v3.9, and recently said v3.9 would finally be out "shortly", I'm thinking it's something else.

Wouldn't it be great if they'd been working all along on the long, long promised noise mitigation feature improvements (which were supposed to be released as one of the basic improvements of 8XXX as described at Dayton last year but have barely been mentioned since) and are planning to release them at this year's Dayton and are calling the new suite "Aurora" ? After all, improving noise mitigation performance has been the number one requested feature from Flex customers for many years. Nice dream but seems unlikely.

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Noise mitigation improvement would be nice, but it just doesn’t sound like the advertised “one giant leap for hamkind.”

Trucker

It's going to be the fabled ham radio DeathStar. All Mode, all bands, DC to daylight SDR with unlimited number of panadapters and unlimited bandwidth for each panadapter. Full legal limit power output. It will also include the Antenna Genius, multi antenna switch all built in to a single, stylish box. Plus, it will have a microwave, fridge and coffee maker as well. For a small extra fee, you will be able to order a pottie chair recliner. It will be a Contesters dream station.

Software add ons include built-in logging program, all digital modes as well as Pure 'er Signal (patent pending) that will be beyond belief for a super clean transmit signal. Automatic connections to the World Wide Web to remote stations around the world. If propagation is bad on the bands, no problem! Just switch over to the WWW for super clean, noise free, audio reception and transmission over the internet. Work all countries, all modes in a single weekend. And with the new voice AI feature, you can make contacts using all voice modes even when you are too tired to actually get on the air.

All this super Aurora features can be had at an affordable price of only $25,000.00 ( plus tax and shipping) and a monthly fee of $100 per month for updates and new features as they are introduced.

Stay ahead of the anticipated demand and place your order now. Only $5,000.00 deposit ( non-refundable) will hold your place in the anticipated, long line of orders!!

Mike VE3CKO

This is my take. Aurora could be renamed SSDR going forward starting with v4. A one word name for software is easier to digest for the newbie as compared to Smart Software Defined Radio. The name does suits one of the newly touted features, Spectrum Overview. Here is a description of Spectrum Overview that I picked up from Steve Hicks videos.

Spectrum Overview - Visibility of all HF/6m bands in a single, unified panadapter window to provide awareness of bands to spot openings easier, DX stations moving between bands. All this with greatly reduced noise floor than it is today. You'll be able to setup multiple bands next to each other so if you want to watch 10, 15 and 20m you can keep an eye on them in a single panadapter window, as compared to now where you would need to have 3 receivers open to do that.

With the Aurora ad, the cat is out of the bag. "One Giant Leap for Hamkind" is a bold statement in an advertisement. "In Shacks 2025" makes it plain as day a ham radio product. They have set the bar to a new level and must have a great deal of confidence in being able to deliver v4 in 2025 !

Neil D Friedman N3DF

I’m guessing $500 for the upgrade.

Bill AB7AA

Let's not give Flex any pricing ideas.

Mike VE3CKO

They did not dramatically raise pricing on the new 8000 series. They have a large customer base of 6000 users combined now with 8000. Last year I saw they even offer discounts from the standard $199 for version 3. I do not seeing them increasing the upgrade costs at all.

Trucker

Wow, I was hoping for more speculation as to what "Aurora " might be. I think it would be fun to see what different people's imagination might come up with. I like my idea that is the Ham Radio DeathStar. But, there is so many different things it could possibly be. I actually think it will be a new version of SmartSDR. And it will utilize the unique capabilities of the new radios. One of those new capabilities is the wideband receiver that allows both the 8400/M and 8600/M to receive all the HF bands with filtering for each band. Steve described this feature at Hamcation. And it is something that could satisfy 6700 users who have hesitated upgrading to the new radios. Most use the 6700 users like being able to monitor several bands at the same time. This feature would satisfy that need. And I believe that there are more possibilities in the new hardware that will differentiate it from the previous generation of radios. And things like noise reduction as good as, if not better than, what is found Thetis for the Anan radios. And that is just a couple of the possibilities.

So, let's play and find out how close we come when Flex Radio does it's formal announcement this Friday.

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Hi James,

Did I miss that Flex has said it will have a formal announcement regarding "Aurora" this Friday ? Cool. I've been hoping they're going to release v3.9 this week ahead of Dayton.

73 Russ KR6W

Trucker

Russ, I found this out from an employee when I asked about Aurora. Unfortunately, I wasn't given permission to to offer the name of the person if asked. We will see in a few days if that information is correct.

James

WD5GWY

JJust to be clear, I wasn't given any information that wasn't in the QST ad.

Russ Ravella

Hi James,

Thanks for the response. Totally understand you weren't speaking out of school. We'll see what happens with Aurora and v3.9 over the next few days.

73 Russ KR6W

Russ Ravella

One more thought just for the record. It was mentioned that the "wideband receiver" capability that was described by Steve could satisfy 6700 users hesitant to upgrade to new radios. While this capability would be nice, it's not the same thing.

Here's an example. I like to monitor FT8 on several bands simultaneously. When conditions support it there's always activity but just seeing that is almost useless without decoding it. I set a slice in each FT8 segment with an instance of WSJT-X assigned to it and watch the decodes. 6700 owners would be giving up HALF of their capability to do things like this by upgrading, regardless of the "wideband receiver" capability. For the most part in fact it would be downgrading, not upgrading.

We really do need an 8-slice 8XXX model and many of us are holding out for one.

73 Russ KR6W

Trucker

Russ, it may well be possible to do this with the wideband receiver feature. I haven't read anything that says it is strictly a visual feature. I think something similar was mentioned on the Flex Radio groups.io mailing list several months ago. Or,it could have been here in the forums. Especially when Steve Hicks was questioned about a 8 receiver version of the 8000 radios. If I remember correctly, he said that the 8600/M hardware could possibly be expanded to have 8 independent virtual receivers. On the other hand, maybe Aurora is a new, replacement radio for the 6700. It will definitely be interesting to find out what it turns out to be.

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Hi James,

Yeah, agree. It will be very interesting to see what it turns out to be. I really hope they're not simply naming the ADP feature they already announced a year ago would be released "by the end of the year", and is therefore already a half a year late !

73 Russ KR6W

Neil D Friedman N3DF

I don’t think the ADP feature by itself would constitute “a giant leap for hamkind.”

Russ Ravella

Agreed !

Trucker

Maybe, AI generated qso's. No human intervention required!

( ducks for cover)

David Decoons, wo2x

already have that with hacked versions (branches) of WSJT-X

Trucker

Russ, Michael Walker posted a video yesterday evening on the Flex Radio Facebook page . It was an early look at them setting up their display area at Hamvention. It clearly shows a huge sign for Aurora and he briefly mentions Aurora and that there will an announcement Friday morning. So, tomorrow morning all will be known. Given the size of the sign, I think it is going to be something quite different from SmartSDR if it is new software. The sign says, AURORA a new day for the unexplored. It shows mountains in the background behind a small cabin. And the Aurora Borealis overhead. Not much in the way of a clue to what Aurora actually is. It also shows a metal frame. This is on the rear of the sign. On the front of the sign it says, AURORA, a new day for the unexplored. There's two tables set up in front of the sign and one of them has a computer monitor, mouse and keyboard on it. So, maybe new software of some kind. Possibly, the wideband FT8 that Steven Hicks mentioned in his presentation at Hamcation. Either way, I think it will be interesting to find out what it actually is.

James

WD5GWY

Russ Ravella

Hi James,

Thanks for that ! I don't use facebook at all so I would never have seen it. Man, that's really interesting. I think your wideband FT8 idea does indeed fit the bill with all of that. But since they announced that wideband capability at the same time as APD with the 8XXX a year ago, it seems like they'd also just be naming something they've already been promising for a year, that's half a year late at this point which seems weird to me. But you're probably right.

Do you think it could be a portable radio ? The words "unexplored" and the sign showing mountains makes me wonder, though I've not heard a peep about anything like that from Flex. Usually Mike Walker slips something ahead of time but maybe I missed it. At first my thought is I wish they'd just focus on fixing the software bugs and getting the promised software out. But a new portable radio might be nearly entirely a different team, especially if it ran SSDR (or the Maestro version of SSDR) as is. Crazy idea, I know. Excited to see what it is tomorrow. Again, thanks for the information !

I was hoping they'd release v3.9 this week but time's up for that since they specifically don't release new software on Fridays to insure folks are around to help customers who might have trouble with it (pretty thoughtful). Everything's a mystery at Flex right now !

73 Russ KR6W

Trucker

If I remember correctly they didn't specify what version of SmartSDR the wideband feature would actually appear in. If you remember, Flex Radio mentioned that the radio was a server in their advertising right after v1.0 of SmartSDR was released. And actual multi user didn't happen until after v1.x. I believe in the different talks they have given that they mention different possible features. But, rarely do they ever state whether or not it will be in the current version of SmartSDR or a paid upgrade. I kind of think that the wideband FT8 feature may well fail into that category. Tomorrow we will find out!

James

WD5GWY

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Aurora is a 500 watt radio. It fits into a standard 8000 series case. It includes an ATU and a built in power supply. It plugs directly into a 110 volt outlet. It is over 80 percent efficient, generating comparatively little heat. It is available in four models: one or two SCUs and with or without the “M” controls. The cheapest model runs $5K +. Delivery of first group estimated at end of year. It is not meant to drive an external amplifier.

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Adaptive pre-distortion will not be made available for 6000 series radios, under current Flex thinking.

Trucker

Cool! I have my trade-in ready to go !

WX7Y

Why would anyone want that? Limiting the market with this kind of Radio.

No 13.8V DC for easy backup Power when the Grid goes down, Only a 500 Watt AMP and NO ability to go to a full legal power AMP, Not for me.

I would rather see a Smaller QRP radio Server, a REAL remote turnkey VPN network solution instead of SmartLink and it's lack of Double Nated, CGNET, and the need to be on the same subnet support, and a 8 Slice Radio.

But this is just me.

Mike VE3CKO

Russ, I'm also disappointed v3.9 was release before Hamvention, guess they wanted to build-up all the excitement around the mystery of Aurora. Maybe a Tuesday release next week.

Steve Hicks had said the Spectrum Overview and FT8 Wideband would be in a v4 release. Then Ken mentioned these and other major features will likely not be in the initial release of v4 which most of us know this but newer Flex users may not.

As per Aurora being an 8xxx 500w radio, there was a good reason why they switched to a larger case with the 6400/6600 and now the 8000 series. I would have to assume that the built-in ATU would handle the 500w output. I see where people would want that but not for me. I don't like all me eggs in one basket. Here is what was posted on the FlexRadio facebook page.

As per APD, (SmartSignal), I've seen Steve Hicks also discussing this where he said APD will be initially for the 8xxx series and at some point down the road they will be looking into what 6xxx series radios could handle APD and what external hardware required, the cost to develop/produce this interface and evaluate if it is feasible. This was discussed elsewhere in the community but it would have to be cost effective for a 6000 user, compared to just upgrading to an 8xxx. Unless Neil has some new information pointing to an actual announced decision not to provide APD for 6xxx radios ?

Neil D Friedman N3DF

Announced at last night’s Flex dinner: no APD for the 6000 series for the foreseeable future. Decision not to manufacture the required external hardware.

Mike VE3CKO

Thanks Neil for the update, that's too bad. Maybe some 3rd party can take this on with co-operation from Flex.