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ESC - Feedback

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Comments

  • Dan Trainor
    Dan Trainor Member ✭✭✭

    Not sure if or when Flex ESC will work well or not, but in general using other radios and/or external units, the key is to design a good noise capture antenna. One that targets the offending noise source. The actual configuration of this noise capture antenna takes time and effort. A lot of design work and experimentation. People that don't do the ant design work, tend to complain that the phasing and noise canceling doesn't work well. But, it does work well in most cases if the noise capture antennas is planned and implemented well. Designing a noise capture antenna is like the opposite of designing a good RX antenna for max S//N. Dan de WA1QZX

  • sfraasch
    sfraasch Member ✭✭
    edited December 2025

    My experience using ESC on a Flex 6600 is the same as that of Mr. Krueger's above: when I increase gain (.02) from 0, the S meter increases to S9 + 30 dB as if the noise rx is over-loaded. I added a 13 dB attenuator in line with the noise ant (Rx B); same result. It does not seem that Flex has the additive process working correctly. I've used an ANC-4 and that was quite effective, but the Flex ESC is not.

    The noise is from a bad lightning arrestor on a 19 kV line about a 1/2 mile away. I have a repair order with the utility. I was hoping that I could null the noise using the ESC feature. I am using a 43' (60m) vertical as the noise antenna, the 75m antenna is a pair of inverted vees at 100'. I have tried the ESC feature on several bands with different antennas, same result.

    73, Steve, K0SF

  • John Mikucki
    John Mikucki Member ✭✭
    edited December 2025

    @Trucker Dunno. I thought I wanted a noise antenna, a 'lousy' antenna — that is, I want it to pick up very little signal, just noise, so that its input can be more-easily subtracted from the actual listening antenna. But now I'm wondering if that's not how ESC actually works, b/c I plonked a fairly short vertical antenna 5' from my (presumably relatively noisy) IT rack and despite much spinnin' of the ESC knobs, I have not yet achieved grinnin'. I thought somebody had linked or posted an official FRS video demonstrating ESC doing the thing, but I can't seem to lay hands on it at the moment. Maybe over the holidays I can put up the vertical outside the house at different/greater lengths, see if I get different results.

  • dd5md
    dd5md Member ✭✭

    Since the introduction of firmware v3.19.18, the software developers have only been producing more bugs that are not being fixed.

    It's hard to believe that Flexradio actually employs experienced software developers. Adding more and more new features to a bug-ridden base is amateurish and almost unbelievable.

    In the software company where I worked for over 12 years, which develops and distributes software for the public sector (payroll accounting), this would not even have been possible.

    Implementing the ADP prematurely was one of the biggest mistakes. This is when the firmware versions began to become unusable. The Flex sends an absolutely clean signal even at 700 W with an ACOM 700S. Why on earth did they have to integrate an immature ADP that only runs with the internal 100 W PA? If Flexradio were smart, they would reverse this and continue development quietly in the background.

    Apache Labs, which does not develop its own software and is completely dependent on private individuals who develop and support Thetis, piHPSDR, etc. in their spare time, would somehow be better with their ANAN. I had the ANAN-G2 Ultra and after two weeks I wanted to get rid of the radio as quickly as possible!

    What happens if, for example, Christoph (DL1YCF) no longer has time to maintain, expand, and provide support for piHPSDR due to professional reasons? Incidentally, the ANAN urgently needs pre-distortion, as the signal on 80m, for example, resembles our Christmas tree, i.e., it is quite messy.

    I am absolutely certain that Flexradio is fundamentally only concerned with marketing and sales. Technical implementation plays an absolutely secondary role. Even if 2,000 bugs are reported, Flexradio doesn't care. As long as they can present a great video on YouTube to lure new customers with great features, everything is achieved. FlexRadio customers are always very patient...!

    The fact that this is the case can be proven by the fact that no bugs are fixed and new ones are always being added. It's all about generating more sales. Once the customer has paid €7,000 or more and gone through the whole conversion process, it's usually too late and too much effort to change everything again. At least that's how it was for me. You hope for the first six months and then you give up.

    Does FlexRaddio even have its own software developers or only external ones? Maybe AI does the programming?

    FlexRadio doesn't seem to understand that what they are delivering is the worst kind of negative advertising imaginable. This kind of thing stays in customers' minds for a long time and is spread everywhere on shortwave radio where FlexRadio is discussed.

    After just one year, I have lost all faith that FlexRadio will improve. As long as FlexRadio doesn't get the **** idea to delete firmware v3.8.23 from the list, I don't care. If they do, I will hire someone to clarify whether a company is entitled to shut down a radio by blocking a version that is necessary for startup.

    I wish everyone a nice weekend!

    Mathias, DD5MD

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