Ver 4 wow factor?

Hi Sergey,

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed ESC arrived DOA and a few other things need work. But I am very impressed with the features available on my 6700 in general, especially the new variety of noise reduction methods all of which work well in the cases they're appropriate for.

I think one thing to remember with this is, these are some of the very top features we've all been complaining about not having for years. Well over a decade. And they finally actually dropped ! It indicates things are improving regarding focus on ham software at Flex. Rather than one nonsense excuse after another from their marketing guy, Flex has actually done something real here.

The other thing is, the features in this incarnation are brand new. In her interview, Hayley specifically said the idea is to roll them out, get feedback, dial them in, and repeat. They haven't even iterated once yet. Also she mentioned a lot of the heavy lifting is done by technical people who aren't hams themselves. They understand the technology but aren't familiar with how hams use it. Flex is literally counting on our feedback to guide them. And they're just now receiving and digesting their first round of feedback. Seems like it can only get better from here.

So I say, give 'um a chance. Be thankful they're now clearly serious about improving the software. Let's see what happens next.

73 Russ KR6W

Hi James,

I was referring to the revamped NR and ANF, and NRL, ANFL and ANFT all of which do run on the 6700. What I especially like about them is, when one doesn't work well one of the others usually does.

Also, I feel like this is only a taste of what's coming based on Hayley's interview. It seems to me they have exactly the right ingredients in place now: 1) hard core specialists in the key technologies (with more on the way) without requiring them to be hams (because finding the best people but requiring them to be hams too isn't reasonable), 2) a process for improvement by iteration in place, and 3) what appears to be a new genuine focus on actually doing this and doing it well.

I'm a hard core "if it don't have 8-slices I ain't interested" guy. But I have to admit, Flex actually showing up with the goods here kind of out of the blue, and not just any goods, the very ones I really wanted (especially ESC which I'm counting on being great when they get it fixed), I'm actually thinking about adding an 8600 just for that. Hoping they have a Christmas sale …

I know I sound pretty optimistic (which I'm usually not very much by nature), but all of this has just the right elements to me. I feel like we just have to give them some time.

73 Russ KR6W

Yeah, just repeating myself I know but I'm pretty positive about it too. Hayley strikes me as very competent and honest. No BS. And I know from years of experience that Eric (VP of S/W) is as well. So if after actually delivering this amazing, long awaited stuff Hayley says this is just the beginning, she's earned credibility and I believe her.

Regarding James' request and Sergey's comment, I'm not set up to record video myself but I found a demo on YouTube that demonstrates the new NRL noise reduction that does run on the 6700 and the reworked NR as well. It doesn't include the reworked ANF and the two new versions ANFL and ANFT that also run on the 6700 but there's not much to see (hear) there anyway. If there's a carrier in your passband, one of them successfully kills it. I haven't found a case yet that at least one of them didn't pretty much work perfectly. It's interesting to see how on some particular case, one doesn't work very well but another utterly nulls it. Little to no distortion too. Then on another that sounds pretty similar, the one that didn't work before completely kills this one but the one that did work before doesn't very well this time.

So watch this video for starters and I'm guessing more will start appearing on YouTube which can be found by searching:

It's a little frustrating to watch - you'll see why when you watch it - but it's worth it. Pretty amazing.

Go Haley and Eric ! Russ KR6W

This is what is available on the Macos currently. Built in. This screen capture is from Macos.

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There are several mentions of an interview with Hayley (or Haley) in this thread. What interview is that referring to? Can anyone provide a link?

Tim K9WX

So I decided today to update my 6600 to SmartSDR+. I paid the $149 US plus tax. I admit I didn't read too much in detail. I saw the 4.0.1 available post and saw the chart of features Mike posted. I feel pretty duped here as after paying the $149 really all I got was something in the Radio Setup that said it was licensed for 4.0.1. Nothing at all changed. DVK was there but disabled. CW auto tune was not found, and the NR features were all disabled.

So what did I pay $149 for? Seems like nothing.

I then pressed the "Get Early Access" and paid ANOTHER $249. Now the features are there. So for $400 on a 6600 I gained one real feature I might sort of use every now and then: CW auto tune.

I do mainly CW and digital modes and this other stuff that they call "features" is useless.

I have a 6400 I use mobile. I will not be paying another $400 to upgrade that for sure.

I am aware I can install FW 4.0.1 without paying, but I wanted to support Flex Radio and perhaps see about the new features. Honestly, I am really sorry I did. This new software features model sucks.

Also considering I mostly use SSDR Mac this was yet again a huge waste of money, time and effort.

Certainly you can slam me for not reading and fully understanding what I needed to do and pay for. But honestly, my goal was to support flex because as bio-med software developer myself I understand the costs to create and maintain software. So I was willing to pay the $149. I did the same during the upgrade to 3.x and while I really never use Multi-link I paid for it to support Flex.

But to change another $249 for very few usable features is pretty much make up my mind that I will not pay to upgrade my Flex 6400. I also had plans to maybe sell a few things and get an Aurora. I think I'll put that on hold too as I'm kind of frustrated with Flex Radio right now. The radios I have worked just fine without these upgrades. Shame on Flex for how this was done. Shame on me for trying to support the manufacturer of the radio I love.

I hope you can at least get your EA money refunded

Mark, definitely ask for a refund. If you really want to have Early Access, even though it may not provide you with new features that you would find useful, I would suggest that Flex Radio refund the $149 for SmartSDR + and leave you at SmartSDR Early Access.

I don't think anyone would slam you over your misunderstanding of the new software model and what features may or may not work with your radio. Many people have misunderstood the same thing. I believe that the initial wording of the announcement and the chart wasn't clear enough to make it easy for owners to understand what they were buying. Especially, owners of 6000 series radios. That has caused a lot of confusion. And I believe that Flex Radio should provide a discounted price if someone realizes that they really want the Early Access version instead of the SmartSDR Plus they bought. It wouldn't be that difficult for the software in their system to see that you already are licensed for Plus, and that now you have changed your mind and want Early Access and the software should just charge you the $100 difference and upgrade you to Early Access. Hopefully, they will fix this as it has caused several people the same problem.

James

WD5GWY