520M, would you do it again?

N0HNK · July 19

I'm seriously considering buying a 520M.
I've got a good friend who thinks that I'll hate the 520M, he says that changing settings is very hard.
So, here I am, asking those who own these rigs, would you do it again?

KD0RC · July 19

Like any rig, a Flex is a matter of personal preference. There are multiple ways to operate a Flex (SmartSDR, Maestro, etc.), so that makes it appealing to a wider audience.

I would suggest finding a fellow ham who would let you try their Flex. I tried a friend's several years ago and immediately bought a 6400. I recently upgraded to an 8600. So for me, it is an ideal radio but you need to be sure that it is right for you.

Trucker · July 20

For my personal usage, the AU-520M fits perfectly. I have been using the M model radios ever since they came out. I like the versatility of being able to operate completely standalone or with a pc connected. I have always liked radios with knobs and buttons. And the M model radios work great and are not cluttered with knobs and buttons like some other radios that I have had and still have. On top of all that, no need for a external amplifier ( 500 watts is the sweet spot for me) built-in power supply and a ATU that can work well with a antenna that is reasonably close to resonate. I also use an external tuner more often than the internal tuner. Overall, I am very pleased with the Aurora.

James

WD5GWY

And, yes, I would do it again as long as the purchase didn't cause financial problems.

Arnold Goldman · July 21

I would just been frustrating initially bough a 6600M that was dead out of the box with a dead front speaker; then 8600M with a fan hitting the case so had to order a new one; my 520M just had a sticking vfo knob that was told was shifted during shipping so just had to move the VFO knob forward; but so far so good; have the 8600M with the TGXL, PGXL but now rarely use it as the 500 watts seems enough and the tuner seems faster than the 8600M have NOT tried the tgxl with the 520M ; have been told that ALL of the radios sound good on AM as well as during the winter months hang out on 75/40 AM; so I would do it again; tech support seems very good and responsive just frustrating that two radios had problems out of the box; also I am old fashioned so i do like the M version; still getting used to the SDR software after 6 years; have fun

Mark_WS7M · July 21

I will weigh in…

I personally would not do an M series. I like the option to put the actual radio some place safe and closer to the antenna maybe. If I wanted knobs I'd get a Maestro and ensure I had really good WiFi then you can open just about anywhere in your home you want. Living room, deck, kitchen, even in bed for that matter.

The Aurora with built in ATU makes it possible to put up a multi-band antenna, tune it, get 500w out almost anywhere. If you are lucky enough to have a tower and beam then maybe it becomes a little more complex but you can get software to control your rotor from a phone.

Anyway that is just me. I don't have a Maestro, I did at one point. But these days I'm totally happy running my station from a laptop. I use a MacBookPro. The battery life is a full day so I can go anywhere in the house and run CW, FT8 etc. I don't do much voice but that works too if I need it.

Certainly it is more money to go radio + Maestro, but I think the flexibility it offers is awesome. That being said, even the M model radios can be run from a laptop remote so you can still get flexibility even with the M series.

This year for field day we did an all flex field day. We had 4 flex radios, 2 x 6400, 1 x 6600, 1 x 6500. Each radio was dedicated to a band. One radio handled both 10m and 80m between ant 1 and 2. But our ops were trained to connect to the flex named for the band they wanted to operate. This gave all the flexibility to operate just about anywhere they wanted. We had WiFi at the camp. The Flexes were in a camper cabinet and each fed a dedicated antenna thru a band pass filter.

This worked very well. The only issue was the Windows SmartSDR which we ran kind of required each op to futz with the Dax and Cat a little during connection process. For non Flex users this was a learning ramp.

Next year we are hoping at AetherSDR is stable enough to use and we have our own logger coming. We expect that if we do all flex again, it will be as simple as connect AetherSDR to the desired band radio and start operating.

Arnold Goldman · July 21

nice comments i also have 2 maestros and actually like the "B" better re the rj45 mike from the handheld mike; anyway use one from my xyl apt in manhattan and the "C" in my office

520M, would you do it again?

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