flex 8600M

We haven’t had any negative reports regarding CW performance — and even the FLEX-6600 has been excellent in that area. Of course, it really depends on which aspects of CW performance are most important to you. (See point #1. 🙂). Most of our latency issues where resolved back about SmartSDR 3.4 I think. We are currently at SSDR 3.8 and 3.9 will be coming out shortly.

Andy, VA3CW is a serious CW operator and he uses it every day at 30+ wpm.

If you're asking about whether it’s better than the 6600, again, I would say refer back to point #1. Are you planning to operate remotely? If so, that’s where you might notice some differences in feel or latency, depending on your network. Today, both the FLEX-8600 and the FLEX-6600 work equally well.

Also, just to clarify — PureSignal isn’t actually a FlexRadio term. What you’re asking about is called SmartSignal (Adaptive Predistortion), and it’s included starting with v3.9. Our Alpha Team has been using it on the air for about a month now with very good results.

Many of our Alpha testers are heavy CW operators. While they’ve found a few issues in the current build overall, nobody has raised concerns about CW performance specifically.

BTW, if you are thinking a FLEX-8600M I would recommend a FLEX-8600 + Maestro as it gives you a bit more flexibility. But, it depends on your operating requirements.

Hope that helps — happy to answer more if you need it! And, I am sure others might share their experience. Or, email us at hams@flex.radio.

73, mike va3mw

I have no idea what the DPC thumbing is.