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Posted 3 years ago
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From the Flex Amateur Products website:
"The Power Genius XL amplifier will be priced competitively with specific pricing and availability announced after FCC and CE certification has been achieved. Power Genius XL will be packaged to complement FlexRadio’s FLEX-6000 Signature Series transceivers."
I know this does not directly answer your question but I can hazard a guess of 4th Quarter 2016..possibly...maybe... hopefully... You can also sign up for their "amplifier newsletter" for any future announcements regarding the amplifier.
As an aside.. wouilnt it be great if SSDR had an Amplifier control window built in to the GUI to interface and control the amp directly from a control panel like the TX or RX Windows.
Regards
Larry K1UO
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Can you tell me if the new Power Genius XL is going to be equipped with quiet, slow speed, high volume fans instead of these darn noisy PC fans that everyone seems to be in love with?
Norm - W7CK
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The 1.3k features 2 inputs and 4 ant outputs and one ant RX (SO2R) input. This amp has 2 inputs and 2 ant outputs.
Has the option of receiving on the SO2R port on INPUT2 when you are TX through INPUT1. I can actually connect my mag loop antenna to the SO2R port and free up an RX port in the Flex.
It has an optional antenna tuner. Not sure if that is even an option on this amp.
It works in 4m where it gives you 1Kw. I think 6m is as high as this one will go.
True antenna bypass to use with steppir or resonant antennas.
Digital display of SWR (before and after tuner), temp and Power, this info can be seen remotely as well. This amp needs a lot of work in the outside enclosure. It is "fugly" right now.
The SPE 1.3k weights 18lbs vs the 33lbs of this amp.
This amp is about 50% larger than the SPE.
The SPE is missing Ethernet. On the other hand I can turn it ON and OFF remotely.
Surprisingly the Flex amp has CAT, CI-V, BCD band decode (I guess that technology is not dead after all...) if the Flex 6000 had band data coming out you would only need that cable to connect to the Flex for totally automatic operation.
In the future, you might even be able to use the USB port in the Flex 6000 to connect directly to the SPE Expert or other devices.
What I expect this amp to bring to the table is Pre Distortion. Which can be added to the SPE or any amp for that matter with a Coupler once Flex releases new software to have Pre Distortion as a feature. The IMD numbers are also very impressive. It is great to see amps focusing on providing clean IMD "free" signals.
This amp could also have about 200w more watts total power than the SPE. (I get 1.3k consistently in all bands with very little drive and over 1.5k on 40m and above). Heck, it takes so little drive that I can actually use it with the Flex 1500 and get over 1Kw. I don't think I can get that kind of performance out of this amp if I drive it with the Flex 1500, it needs 50w drive.
It is an interesting proposal from Flex and Ranko... I just wouldn't call it a game changer until game changing features are brought forward. On this one I cautiously what to see what comes finally comes out while I enjoy the SPE 1.3k.
Steve K9ZW, Elmer
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I've relegated my Expert 1KW to back-up duty, as it was in some ways fantastic and others seriously substandard (mostly RFI issues caused or accentuated by the Expert). Replaced with an Alpha-9500 at each shack.
At my northern QTH I'm interested in pushing a new Flex Power Genius 1500 to the base of tower utility shed, and not even having the amp near the operating station.
With the Power Genius, Antenna Genius 8x2 switch and a Station Genius for all the other utility shed duties, all remotely positioned in the utility shed I'll basically have two feedlines (Flex-6700 antenna ports A and B) and fiber for internet coming back to my operating station.
It would be possible to put the 6700 in the utility shed as well, but at the expense of loosing access to the radio's direct I/O connections. I'm not ready to do that yet.
73
Steve K9ZW
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Rich - N5ZC
Steve K9ZW, Elmer
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Wondering of there will be two versions of hardware? Ranko hinted at one stage that their would be a basic and full SO2R version.
Ranko also had mentioned that there would an ATU option.
Neat stuff!
73
Steve K9ZW
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http://expertlinears.com/?gclid=CjwKEAjwrIa9BRD5_dvqqazMrFESJACdv27Gol_brjxJh9LutpjYNHMWhZlqM83fMd0v...
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U.S.A.
Name (call) of the marketing manager: Bob Hardie (W5UQ)
Address: PO Box 1224
Zip code: 77355
City: Magnolia (near Houston)
Country: Texas
Web site: http://www.ExpertLinears.com
E-mail: bob@ExpertLinears.com
Ph.: +001 281-259-7877 / +001 281-725-2113
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Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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It appears the Flex Radio site has the LDMOS mfg name misspelled: Please change
From: Ampelon
To: Ampleon
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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And thanks for the heads up on the typo. It has been corrected.
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What's interesting about this ethernet based unit we could hang a Raspberry unit off the network and have it query the Amp for stats (SWR / peak-average Power / Temps) etc and display these remotely on a small display. In essence a detached status panel. Attaching this display to Maestro would be easy enough and result in a nice package. A lot one can do given some time to write the s/w.
Thanks Tim...
k3Tim
Ria - N2RJ, Elmer
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I'm currently running a pair of Elecraft KPA-500's for my 6700 SO2R setup, I'm looking forward to the Flex amp as it will be like two amps in one and 1500 watts vs 500 watts. That will be a 4.77db increase in signal which may make the difference on the low bands during the solar minimum.
Rich - N5ZC
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Thanks for the tidbit about the box. The KPA-500 seems a nice amp and at 500 W one doesn't have to run a 240V circuit.
I checked the Ampleon website about the LDMOS devices and the datasheet states it can survive a 65:1 SWR. - wow.... although it says pulsed so one would likely still have to use care in operation.
Best Regards,
Tim
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Glad the case will be changed, it currently looks like on old tabletop 8-track player from the 70s!
Gerald - K5SDR, Employee
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If you are interested, please sign up on the website for direct communications when we have concrete updates.
73,
Gerald
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Mike - VE3CKO, Elmer
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I'm hoping the Flex amp will pass the input to the output if not turned on.
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Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Thanks!
Mark
Steve K9ZW, Elmer
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73
Steve K9ZW
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I want to love this new amp, but to say I wouldl put down a deposit or sign up as soon as I could without a lot more information as to the components, the design, the build quality and the price is not likely unless someone has some extra grape kool-aid ;)
Steve K9ZW, Elmer
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The announcement question - whether to announce and when - would look to be both a no-win proposition. Claims of staking out market space without a product by an early announcement vs upsetting amateurs who did know a highly interesting product was in the wings. No clear way to win.
Then the question is also largely a 4o3a one anyway, as they are the project driver.
Since they are spending the development money to bring the amp to market, what happens if we think of the announcement question from their point of view?
Do they develop - spending money and time -in secret? Or do they announce?
By announcing they have picked up market feedback on interest, arguably making their investment in development less risky.
They perhaps protected their product niche, but at the possible risk of laying out their amp specifications for others, including possible competition.
Which is the right call? Depends on the business and marketing plans the companies have.
No pat best every time answers.
73
Steve. K9ZW
(BTW, my personal take is that for evolutionary products in established product market segments an early announcement route generally results in a better end customer experience and price point. But as there are no placebo or control samples to compare, it isn't possible to quantify the benefits. )
Ria - N2RJ, Elmer
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However what Tim said makes my ears perk up. Amp control from within SmartSDR? That sounds like a really cool feature. Would that be limited only to the PG XL, or would the API be available for someone to write a "bridge" piece of software to do the same thing with another autotune amp, like an Expert or an Alpha? I am hoping the answer is yes. DDUtil for sure is a nice piece of software but having seamless integration is really nice, and this would open the possibilities of a lightweight remote box (raspberry pi, even) and being able to run remote.
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
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Ken - NM9P, Elmer
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It was a big monster of a rig that covered 5 bands, 80-10 Meters, with a "full gallon" 1000 Watts output. (The legal limit at the time.) It was the big brother to the SR-150 (5 bands, 80-10) & SR 160 (3 bands, 80-20).
I bought a used SR-150 in 1978 when I got my General ticket in 1978 and used it for about a year, traded it off and got a deal on a used SR-160 that I used for another year before I got a Kenwood TS-120S. Brings back some good memories...
Ken - NM9P
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
That is the plan.
Mike - W8MM
How about a test mailing?
Philip KA4KOE
Tim - W4TME, Customer Experience Manager
ka7gzr
Tim,
Where can I get on the sign-up sheet? I didn't see one at Sea Pac.
Thanks,
Jim
ka7gzr