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Questions of the new 3.0 Signature Series software

wa4wab
wa4wab Member ✭✭
The cut off date for a free upgrade to the new to be anownced 3.0 is Oct 1, 2018, when while this be formally relessed? I have owned my new 6400m for less than six months (Sept 21, 2018) and I will have to pay the $199? You are still on 2.49!
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Answers

  • KF4HR
    KF4HR Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    I suggest not jumping to conclusions.  Give Flex a call with your concerns.
  • WX7Y
    WX7Y Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2020
    Only if you want the multi-user feature, there are still a lot of people running version 1 because they didn't want remote capability albeit there hasn't been any real update to version since version 2 came out but hope that isn't the case with version 2 when 3 comes out.

    give Flex a call once V3 comes out and see if they will grandfather your radio into the updates.

    Bret

  • Ken Hansen
    Ken Hansen Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Pure speculation, but assuming a 6 month window for 'included'/gratis upgrades to SmartSDR it would appear it will ship approx. Apr. 1st, as that would be about 6 months after the upgrade cutoff. That 6 month window is a guess, as is the delivery date, based on your announced cutoff date of Oct. 1. As always, SSDR is a feature update that included fixes/improvements to the SSDR 2.0 base. All fixes that impact features in SSDR 1.x or SSDR 2.x will be released as version-appropriate updates soon after SSDR 3.x is available. You only need to buy SSDR 3.x if you want the new features it includes, it is not needed to correct any known issues in SSDR 1.x or SSDR 2.x. With a purchase date of Sept. 18, the announced Oct. 1 cutoff would mean you would have to pay the fee if you wanted to upgrade your radio to include the NEW features in SSDR 3.x., or you could wait for the upcoming SSDR 2.x update to correct any issues addressed in SSDR 3.x that are NOT new features.
  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited April 2019
    The only cutoff date is if you bought your radio prior to October 1, 2018. Mike
  • WB4SQC
    WB4SQC Member
    edited June 2020
    Growl. What are the new significant features beyond the scope of the 2.**** SDR ? I have owned my 6400 less than a year but will consider the upgrade only if it is of value for the fees for a less than a year old rig.

    Benny Peterson, WB4SQC
  • wa4wab
    wa4wab Member ✭✭
    edited July 2019

    I had called prior to posting here. I was given "you only need to pay if you want the 3.0 features". What the point was that I would have to pay $199 in such a sport time after purchasing the radio.  Not that I may or may not want the new feature(s). There was no indication as to a timeline, but if v3.0 were to be released say the Apr 1st as mentioned above then that would mean all further development would stop and 2.x would only see maintenance releases and we are only at v2.49 at this point. Seems to be a bit early to introduce a new(er) version.


    If v3.0 comes out six months from now than that is another story and I understand they have to draw a line somewhere. But as of right now they would not help to clarify this

  • Kevin
    Kevin Member
    edited March 2019
    "you only need to pay if you want the 3.0 features"

    Hearing that from those in the community - meh, their opinion and so much of that is questionable.

    Hearing that from Flex? That is a totally lousy answer.

    It's the 1/2 of a worm left in that delicious apple you just bit into. totally lousy.

    73,
    Kev K4VD


  • Tom    N5MOA
    Tom N5MOA Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    "you only need to pay if you want the 3.0 features" beats the heck out of "you have to pay or your radio stops working".
    Or, "here is our new model, buy it if you want new features". That sounds like pretty much every other radio manufacturer.

    They could have said no free upgrade unless the radio is purchased AFTER the release date.  Going back approximately 6 months BEFORE the release for a free upgrade is very generous of them, imo.

    When I bought my 6500 2 1/2 years ago, it had all the features I wanted. I didn't buy it expecting to have features added later, free or otherwise.
    I paid the fee and upgraded to v2 9 months later, mainly just because. My choice. I didn't/don't have any interest in operating remote, the main new feature of v2, but there were enough smaller improvements for me to upgrade.

    v3 features, per their release on Jan 28, 2019

    SmartSDR v3.0 is an optional upgrade and customers can choose to continue operation on their current version of software. Customers that have purchased a FlexRadio FLEX-6000 series transceiver or a SmartSDR v2.x license starting October 1, 2018 have already been pre-licensed for this SmartSDR v3.0 and can upgrade to v3.0 at no charge. SmartSDR v3.0 is expected to be available for download in March 2019.

    Ability to Use Multiple Clients at One Location  not interested in using a Maestro, so no use to me.

    Reduced Station Costs for Contesters   lazy/occasional contester, no interest

    Enhances Remote Operation Capabilities  zero interest in remote operating, or having another op log in.
     
    In addition to the multiFLEX feature, this first release of SmartSDR 3.0 will also include:
    new band settings menu/panel that allow a user to set certain settings per band like power levels, TX inhibit, ACC/TX1/TX2/TX3 enables, RCA/ACC TX request enable and HWALC    I already save power levels per band, by saving them per band, the other settings I see no need to alter on a per band basis.


    TX/MIC Profile Changes – all settings are now saved on the fly (as settings are changed)     nope. If I am trying a new profile, I wouldn't want it to auto save/save until I'm ready to do that.


     Unless something else not mentioned yet is in it, I'll pass on v3.

    73, Tom N5MOA
  • Lionel
    Lionel Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2020
    I’ll decide when I see the full upgrade info, new stuff, bugs killed, existing features improved.
  • David Decoons, wo2x
    David Decoons, wo2x Member, Super Elmer Moderator
    edited March 2019
    Right now MultiFlex is the main option in 3.0. This allows different people to share a radio.


    Future 3.x releases may include additional features which have not been made public yet. If the initial release of 3.0 doesn't have features that are useful to you, then hold off purchasing the upgrade when there are features you feel are worth the money. 

    Your radio will continue with the current version you are running.

    Dave wo2x
  • Clay N9IO
    Clay N9IO Member ✭✭✭
    edited August 2019
    Have read through this thread and question the "Beware" in the title. kj4nkn I get your purchase time frame issue BUT 2.49 is a full and robust, not like someone took a hammer to the radio. We're all good on it. It's exactly what you and I bought in to. Now in the natural progression of things Flex programmers have been working on Ver 3 for quite some time. At long last It's about ready for primetime. I have understood since WAAAAY back that Ver 3 was going to begin Multiclient. I have been looking forward to that single feature for a long time now. I want to use the Maestro along with SSDR on the PC, period. Of course it will be capable of much more as it too progresses.. Point is that it had to happen eventually. If Multiclient is something you can live without then seriously not to worry Ver 2.4.9 is not going to disappoint. You're whole on this my friend. Just saying I fail to see where you've been done wrong. Clay N9IO
  • Scott N8UMW
    Scott N8UMW Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    If no existing features improved, then not worth the money.
  • Steve - N4TTY
    Steve - N4TTY Member
    edited March 2019
    What Clay said!
  • Steve - N4TTY
    Steve - N4TTY Member
    edited March 2019
    What Steve said! I'm beginning to sound like a parrot here. :-)
  • Bill -VA3WTB
    Bill -VA3WTB Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    The best way to make a thread go away is not comment, just let it die.
    Keep in mind there are some that just do not get it.
  • wa4wab
    wa4wab Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019

    Clearly some of you are taking this the wrong way.


    If v3 was released a few months from now then no big deal. But here is the rub, when asked when v3 will be released they would not give me an answer but basically “you will only have to pay if you want the features in v3”. Not even a simple scheduled released date like say the 2nd or 3rd quarter of this year. So for all I know at this point it could be proverbial Apr 1st. Now I would expect to get ~ a year before one would need to pay for an upgrade, a very common practice.

    Again, v3 in it self has nothing to do with this point trying to be made, it is the that I walk way from the conversion with FLEX that v3 could be released tomorrow and I would have to pay $199 if I wanted to update having my 6400m for less than six months.

    Some may see that amount of money as petty cash. But for some people that is a sizable amount of money



    .

  • Ken Hansen
    Ken Hansen Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    $199.95 represents no more than 10% of the purchase price for a 6000-series Radio ($1999.95 for the 6400 new), it is less than 3% of the current purchase price of the 6700 - I leave it to the reader to decide what is and is not a significant investment and whether or not the upgrades offered are worth the price. A reminder, anyone that previously opted out of V2 of SSDR will get those updates as well as V3 updates by buying the V3 updates once released.
  • wa4wab
    wa4wab Member ✭✭
    edited July 2019

    I would like make it clear that FLEX was not rude in any way about this and do not want anyone to think they might have been. On the other hand they were unconcered & indifferent of my potentiaol feeling of getting a little short changed .

  • Bill -VA3WTB
    Bill -VA3WTB Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    kj4nkn, You are complaing to the wrong people,,none of us can help you,,sorry.
    Call Flex or open a help ticket to complain. Unless your simply trying to scold Flex publicly.

    The policy that you feel you have been bitten by has been in effect for a longe time and many many customers have had the same thing happen. Nothing new here for you. And we all understand how this works. It does not matter when in the year Flex desides to make a cut off date. If they waited another few months or moved it up a few months there would always be someone feeling as you do depending when they purchased a radio.

    Also so you know, Flex likely had no idea when the V3 would be released, and if they did, they would not tell you incase they are wrong. And to that, Flex has a policy not to suggest any kind of release dates untill it gets really close to time.
  • KI4P
    KI4P Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    My goodness, go buy a knob radio and see how often it gets updated, when you buy another knob radio,
  • Bill -VA3WTB
    Bill -VA3WTB Member ✭✭✭
    edited March 2019
    Flex themselves strongly recomends against buying any update unless you benefit from it. They do not want people buy something that has little value to them.
  • Kevin
    Kevin Member
    edited March 2019
    Then again...

    There are some that still think Flex has taken the wrong approach and it is alienating some users. This COMMUNITY sure does a good job of making people feel their opinion doesn't matter.

    Not paying for useless (to me) features at the expense of falling behind on fixes and other, lesser features I might desire isn't a solution. Not one I think will work for FRS in the long term. There have to be better ways.

    Sir, please don't discount other's concerns because you don't share them. I hope he doesn't let it go and Flex listens and looks at alternatives again.

    If I didn't go from 1.x to 2.x I wouldn't have gotten pull out windows which I had wanted for a long time. Was it worth $200. No. It wasn't. And it upsets me that I paid it every time I try to pull out the last panadaptor only to find it is still stuck in the main window.

    The last release for the supposedly supported 1.x versions was 2016? No more bugs? Really? Amazing. 

    Don't discount other people's concerns. You don't have to support his request but don't turn him away.

    Besides... it's the weekend. What better time to **** off steam?

    Kev

  • Kevin
    Kevin Member
    edited March 2019
     You mean like this?

    image


  • Ted  VE3TRQ
    Ted VE3TRQ Member ✭✭✭
    edited April 2019
    Too few knobs :-)
  • Ken Hansen
    Ken Hansen Member ✭✭
    edited March 2019
    The 'devalued' radios still hold their value as well or better than other brands IMHO. The difference between a Flex-6500 w/ SSDR 1.x and a Flex-6500 w/ SSDR 2.x is on the order of $200, which equals the cost of the upgrade. The alternative would be without the ability to upgrade, the non-upgradeable radio would suffer a much greater devaluation. I'm not going to get worked up over a Radio with fewer features/functions having a lower value than the same radio with additional features - Remember, an SSDSr V1.x radio that has not been upgraded can be upgraded to include all V2.x features PLUS all V3.x features for one $199 upgrade to V3.x of SSDR, making them a potential bargain!
  • Jim  KJ7S
    Jim KJ7S Member ✭✭
    edited January 2020
    Short and succinct... Pony up or Shut up. All this useless dribble is exactly that, useless, unproductive IIWII.

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