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Chris Tate, N6WM, Contesting Champion

2

Comments

  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Having to change the DAX issues is like suggesting that I have heart surgery to fix my back. I am staying with Win 7 for the foreseeable future, having given Win 8, 8.1 and 10 a good workout on their own vanilla partitions. They are OSs that seem to be designed to protect the PC operator from themselves.
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Phil,

    Maybe that is why so many (myself included) found it helpful to dedicate a fixed IP from your routers/DHCP servers? I also prefer fixed IPs in most of my small network too.
  • L.Kubis
    L.Kubis Member ✭✭
    edited August 2019
    I don't see why so many have their "knickers in such a tight knot" over the fact that Flex will seeking input from and participating with the contesters!
    I see this analogous to some for the auto manfacturers like Honda,Audi and Benz spending time and big money participating in "contesting" events like the Grand Prix and other competitions. They go there to enhance their image and to learn how to make their product better.
    So why shouldn't Flex do similarly, it will only make for better products and make our investment better.
    Let the guys at Flex run their business as they see fit. So far they haven't done too badly compared to many others out there.
    People are still free to vote with their feet if they don't like the direction nor the product, there's lots of choice out there and more becoming available. 


    Lloyd
    VE3ERQ
  • Bernie W7DMC
    Bernie W7DMC Member ✭✭
    edited January 2019
    Not a big contester, but happy to see Flex seeking this type of input from the real world of users. I in no way feel left out, much of the result will benefit me also and I know that issues facing us "vanilla" users will also be addressed. Love my 6300, 6500, and Maestro - worked Cook Isl. sitting on my deck watching the stars and water last night.
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Lloyd,
    With all due respect, you should familiarise yourself with the 'contest release' v1.6 and see how little benefited non-contesters. It generally enhanced the interoperability of contest software and SSDR. The analogy to the motoring industry only applies to specific cases in computing/SDR radio. Having N1MM Logger work better does not benefit the non-contester. Happy to take this off-forum as it will go way OT. My email on QRZ.com is good if you want to take up the offer.
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Sitting indoors with the **** London weather, dreaming of being able to sit outside at night. Thanks a lot Bernie, LOLZ!
  • Phil M0VSE
    Phil M0VSE Member ✭✭
    edited September 2016
    Sorry Guy but I don't consider the most notable feature, a complete re-work of DAX and CAT that appeared in 1.6 to be of no benefit to non-contesters. Adding a single TX channel, Winkeyer emulation (sort of!!) and the ability to add multiple CAT ports tied to separate slices, whilst i'm sure were largely contester driven, surely benefit many users (especially those using digital modes)? 
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    I had zero issues using CAT/DAX and I work 99% digital modes. That is why those changes did not register. Thanks for correcting my oversight mate.
  • Paul Bradbeer
    Paul Bradbeer Member
    edited June 2016
    Well said, Kevin!
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Kevin,

    Great post and well stated. So true too.
  • Steve K9ZW
    Steve K9ZW Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2016
    Appointing an unpaid POC (Point Of Contact) for the contest segment of known Flex users is a good thing.

    Logically this does not mean they are focusing their paid resources to serve only the contester, at the expense of all other segments of users.

    Actually it would on the face of it suggest they are perhaps doing a bit of the opposite, and narrowing the Contester's input by providing a distinct channel.

    Opens a huge opportunity for collelessing the contesting users inputs by giving it a POC and standard routing 

    Hoping they do the same for a Digital and DXpedition POC for starters.

    73

    Steve
    K9ZW
  • Jon_KF2E
    Jon_KF2E Member ✭✭
    edited May 2016
    I think it will be very telling if this is the only POC appointed. I have no problem with the concept. I'll just feel a lot better when the DX POC, GUI POC and digital POC are appointed. 

    Time will tell...

    Jon...kf2e
  • W9OY
    W9OY Member ✭✭
    edited May 2016
    I might mention in my experience Flex does not "brush things to the side".  They have systematic internal mechanisms to track and prioritize the development of their products.  I think it's a very good idea to engage and coordinate with the contesting community in soliciting station design.  I continue to not be a fan however of radio design by "vote".

    73  W9OY     
  • IW7DMH, Enzo
    IW7DMH, Enzo Member ✭✭
    edited March 2017
    This is a great news!
    Trying to get out the best, for best operators, will bring noticeable improvements for every other users.
    I think you are one step away from the perfect contest machine. (I hope you'll appreciate my mock picture)

    Good luck!

    73', Enzo
    iw7dmh


    image
  • Al_NN4ZZ
    Al_NN4ZZ Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Hi Enzo,
    I like the spots on the display.  It looks a little like the mockup for spots on SSDR for Windows.   This new feature would be near the top of my list for the Windows GUI improvements.   Since not everyone wants spots ( or maybe just not all the time), there would be options to enable or disable that window pane. 

    Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
    al (at) nn4zz (dot) com
    6700 - HW.................... V 1.6.21.77
    SSDR / DAX / CAT...... V 1.6.21.159
    Win10

    More here:
    https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/pfskimer_what_is_the_possibility_for_a_smartsdr_dis...

    image
  • Dale KB5VE
    Dale KB5VE Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    I have been using Flex radios since the early days and at times I have had to wait for improvements I desired and in the days of Power SDR those improvements seemed to always come with some surprised feature so I and many others were spoiled. Smart SDR is a horse of a different color and it has taken me from the time I got my 6500 #50 till about a year ago to realize it. So I feel putting a priority to the DXers and Contesters is a good business move. I personally feel no mater what Flex does there will be a group out there nit picking everything with the Flex brand even to the point of getting into making negative comments about the business future of Flex. So saying this as Flex works to take the advise of this supreme Contester who will talk to this group of nay sayers and try to package their issues for Flex . In real life this is a small percentage of radio buyers and I promise you no mater what flex does it will never turn more than 50% to Flex and I am being very generous. Saying this I still believe it is good and I look forward to those few smart Contesters who jump on board ringing up record points and I am looking for flex to keep turning my radio into the Best Buy in ham radio and true WAN remote will allow me to say I have the radio I have always wanted.
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Dale, it is the operator that makes the radio sing and not the other way around. Just because a Nascar 500 driver can make a certain car fly on the track, it does not translate into the average driver being able to do the same. I think Flex should be able to court the entry-level new ham too, especially as I expect most hams can only buy one rig and not change it if they to not like the colour of the LEDS, LOL.
  • Walt - KZ1F
    Walt - KZ1F Member ✭✭
    edited November 2016
    Why do folks seem to reference what their radios serial number is as if it infuses them with communications or EE super powers?
    I am sure a great contester could use a ts-530sp and get a winning score. And what is this fetish with contests? Is the brand somehow diminished if contesters tend to use some other radio? Is it expected for people on here to have brand loyalty but nobody else???
  • IW7DMH, Enzo
    IW7DMH, Enzo Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Hello Al,

    periodically the same idea come back, but this time the scenario is a bit different because Maestro offers new opportunities.
    I am imaging a multi-op contest station where each operator has a "boosted" version of Maestro. No needs to have individual PCs, or pricey hw interfaces, nor dedicated hardware. Just a small wi-fi data center and your station is ready to operate with a small effort.
    A mobile app,or a trivial browser, could also show back statistical/aggregated data and other useful informations. A different (better) world compared to the actual one.

    73'
    Enzo



  • Bill -VA3WTB
    Bill -VA3WTB Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    No not at all Walt. But this is a Flex site all about Flex. I think Gerald could be correct. Contesting puts a lot of stress on the system. When we learn about the needs for high performance the good things trickle down to the common user. This is the direction Flex is going, and they will see it through. And I'm sure the same brand loyalty can be found on other radio brand sites as well.
  • VK7WH Winston
    VK7WH Winston Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Guy, although I disagree with most of your posts on this thread, I had decided not to respond. But comparing a Flex 6000 with a TS530? You must be joking.

    I own both, and while a am not a contester and most likely never will be, I will take you on with my 6700 against your TS530 any day.

    Best 73 and good luck! Winston
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    Winston,

    You must have misread a post or two somewhere cobber. I do not own a TS530. In fact, I have never owned Trio/Kenwood gear. I actually have a Flex 6300 and I have said that it is an excellent starters rig. I have done so over those Flex owners here who have not. The Flex 6300 is the best **** for the buck in ham circles at that price. It would be an insult to compare the Flex 6300 to any other rig in the same class.

    You must have had a stubby or two more than necessary in the pavilion.

    Have some time to dry out, polish your glasses and start again from the top.

    Thanks for the smile mate.
  • Dale KB5VE
    Dale KB5VE Member ✭✭
    edited May 2016
    I will not get into a he said she said but the only reason I put my number is to show I waited 18 months for my 6500 . I was not happy because I wanted it NOW but I waited, I waited through the growing pains of a very expensive radio vs what it could do! Many of the complaints I hear are people who have owned this radio less than a year. I would have been tickeled to have the flex 6500 of a year ago. I am happy with my radio and when the WAN issue is finished I will just set back and watch others do what ever get want.

    So I am not against the Mistroe with Contesters in fact it should give me a few items I can use. I am a District emergency Cordanator for ARES and have put my 6500 in service with the emergency side of ham radio. Service is the only way we can pay the public back for this 212,000,000,000.00 of bandwidth we have the use of.
  • VK7WH Winston
    VK7WH Winston Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2016
    You are right Guy, I did confuse you name with a post on another thread, for which I sincerely apologise. My only excuse is the I am currently staying with my daughter in Florida and perhaps the 90 degree heat and the high humidity has muddled my 75 year old mind. Thank you for your light hearted response. Next time I will continue to follow a thread and be more careful before I jump in Best 73 Winston ps Shucks, I was looking forward to pitting the 6700 against a ts530!
  • Walt - KZ1F
    Walt - KZ1F Member ✭✭
    edited November 2016
    OK Winston...
    The quote of the TS-530SP was mine. Yes it was and if the fanboys weren't so darn paranoid they'd have been consciously aware of the sentence that occurred in.

    It is virtually universally known, except apparently on here, the radio, regardless of manufacturer, is the bottom of the list of important things in contesting and dx and ham radio. Does any of this sound familiar, "a good operator on a bad radio will out perform a bad operator on a good radio" You should have heard that, at least the first time you were studying for your Novice or Tech license. That is not 'bashing" either the radio, which I own (actually both) or the manufacturer. Second to operator is antenna, third is height. then feedline then power THEN radio. On the 530, I worked Tom Christian twice, Christmas Island, Antarctica many times, MiddleEast many times, South Pacific many times, ran HF Packet Radio, had it connected to Heath TNC as well as other TNC, Ran it with a Heath RTTY controller. I ran AMPR on with with PMNOS running on OS/2 on an IBM Microchannel 486. Built and ran it with the Heath Audio Controller which I still have.

    It received better with a KLM-KT34XA at 60' than the 6500 on an M2 1730LP7 at 55'. Before people faint from vapors, the KT34XA was a better ant. I'll repeat that for those just regaining consciousness. A BETTER ANTENNA. The only way I could work split on it was to turn the RIT down all the way, 500Hz and XIT up 500Hz. It had tube finals and when a tube went frying part of the circuit board I could repair it. I suspect the 6000 would be DOA, certainly for me to attempt repair.

     I used that radio for over 30 years. How many of you honestly think the 6000 series will be even remotely runnable in 30 yrs. Before the vile builds up in your throat, how many think the last OS required to even listen to a 6000 will still be around in 30 years, or even a computer than is X86?

    People are so overheated with this constant "my radio can beat up your radio" it is sad to watch it.

    I get the whole brand loyalty thing but you don't help the rational discussion of radios by constantly ridiculing people that may happen to not share your zeal for one particular radio and one particular manufacturer. To be honest, on that vid Burt referenced, at different times I thought each radio had the better reception. As I've said before, for the 6000 series to be an outstanding radio all the others don't have to ****. And, in fact, they don't.

    Dale, I waited for over a year for my 6500 as well.
  • W9OY
    W9OY Member ✭✭
    edited May 2016
    I think Walt lubs him some TS530.
  •   VE6KWA
    VE6KWA Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Chris, that's quite an amateur radio resume'  Well Done !  ... and thank you for your time dedicated to advancing the Flex platform.   A high performance radio optimized for contesting will benefit all Flex owners. (Just Don't tell Burt)  ;) 

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