I thought it might
be fun to have us Flex users show a picture of their FlexRadio in
their shack.
Here is my 6600M in
my shack. It's in the rack on the left.
Posted 2 years ago
My FLEX-6600M HAM shack.
(Edited)
I tried for quite some time with different camera settings to get a photo of my station that I was happy with. A visiting friend took this one with his iPhone and I like it a lot.
(Edited)
Looking Good!
Thanks I'm pleased with the way it came out. I watched your Amp video. I need to replace the LEDs in the meters on in my AL-80B. One has started to go dim. I may hunt up some LED strips. Where did you get the stick on sound deadening material?
Not much to see with mine. Just computer, mic & key. 6400 is in rack cabinet in basement.
My most recent setup. The shelving is sitting on an adjustable height desk which makes it easy to adjust the keyboard height etc.
I still need to work on cleaning up the nest of wires laying on the floor.
Very clean and functional setup!
Thank you John.
Rich - N5ZC
Rich - N5ZC
I mean talk about a thing of beauty!!! But I like mine to be well organized and functional!! LOL
Kinda looks like my workbench at times... sigh.
Who's that stranger sitting in my Shack?
Volunteer!!
For real-time discussions
User created documentation.Volunteer!!
73, Jay - NO5J
He
has that look on his face like "I wonder where my RFI problem is
coming from" ;)
Rich - nice clean setup - love it. What size monitor and what resolution do you like to run?
Thank you Dave,
It's a Dell 34" curved monitor (u3415W). I'm using an NUC I7 and the resolution is set at 3440 x 1440. I bought it on line during a black Friday sale last year. Next week will be a good week to look for pc's and monitors.
I had a pair of 29" wide screen monitors stacked horizontally. While I could use a bit more monitor real estate, I can get just about all of the apps I'm interested in open on the 34" monitor.
The important part, to me anyways, is looking slightly down at the monitor, vs looking straight ahead or up. It makes things much more comfortable during long Flex sessions like a contest. My neck appreciates it, hi. If I look straight ahead I'm looking at just slightly below the top of the monitor.
Rich - N5ZC
It's a Dell 34" curved monitor (u3415W). I'm using an NUC I7 and the resolution is set at 3440 x 1440. I bought it on line during a black Friday sale last year. Next week will be a good week to look for pc's and monitors.
I had a pair of 29" wide screen monitors stacked horizontally. While I could use a bit more monitor real estate, I can get just about all of the apps I'm interested in open on the 34" monitor.
The important part, to me anyways, is looking slightly down at the monitor, vs looking straight ahead or up. It makes things much more comfortable during long Flex sessions like a contest. My neck appreciates it, hi. If I look straight ahead I'm looking at just slightly below the top of the monitor.
Rich - N5ZC
Finally cleaned the shack to be somewhat presentable. Behind me are three additional tables for the Collins S-line, Drake C-line, and my vintage Collins station and R390A. And to my left is a laboratory of spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, and signal generators. Retired electronics engineer/packrat ..
W7NGA
Seaside, Oregon
W7NGA
Seaside, Oregon
Gorgeous. I spent much of 1968 and parts of 1969 with my headphones plugged into an R-390. 12 on 12 off. I love those radios.
My wife asked me why so many displays. Why are you doing this she asks?
W7NGA: 'Because I can ...'
seems reasonable to me!
W7NGA: 'Because I can ...'
seems reasonable to me!
(Edited)
George Molnar, KF2T, Elmer
Remote shack. Keeps me connected at work!
Flex 6700 in the lower right corner in the Flex6700/KAT500/KPA500 stack.
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Hey Guess What... The new 2019 FlexRadio Calendar is out now for only $12 Free Shipping!
The 2019 FlexRadio calendar is filled with awesome photos from Flex customers showing us how they Flex!
David Decoons wo2x, Elmer
LoL!
6300 dead on the floor - two fan failures at just under 3 years old. I daresay that under European consumer legislation I could have some comeback against the supplier (but not the manufacturer) but, quite frankly, it's less hassle to buy replacement fans myself and get it running again.
Just very surprised that Flex, while seemingly admitting that the original fans didn't really meet their quality expectations, are quite happy to let their customers foot the bill for their quality assurance failures.
I would have expected a company with their reputation to be falling over themselves to resolve the fan issue, but it dosen't seem that this is the way they think.
My experience with fan failures is that yours made it an extraordinarily long time at 2 in 3. Congratulations and condolences!
For about the last eighteen months I left the 6300 powered up 24/7 (it is a "server" after all) and sometimes wonder whether that was wise.
Anyhow, my PC is twice the age and has been running non-stop with zero CPU fan failures. To have two identical fans fail simultaneously is another indication that the component is not fit for purpose (which happens to be the criterion that consumer protection law is based upon in Europe).
Had the unit been maybe a few months out of warranty I would certainly have pursued the legal angle further.
As it is, I am just extremely disappointed that Flex seem to refuse to man-up and accept some responsibility. I believe that they even fitted the known unsuitable fans under warranty until they ran out of stock! Presumably so that the (inevitable?) failure further down the line would be outside their guarantee period.
Anyhow, my PC is twice the age and has been running non-stop with zero CPU fan failures. To have two identical fans fail simultaneously is another indication that the component is not fit for purpose (which happens to be the criterion that consumer protection law is based upon in Europe).
Had the unit been maybe a few months out of warranty I would certainly have pursued the legal angle further.
As it is, I am just extremely disappointed that Flex seem to refuse to man-up and accept some responsibility. I believe that they even fitted the known unsuitable fans under warranty until they ran out of stock! Presumably so that the (inevitable?) failure further down the line would be outside their guarantee period.
My experience, both with electronics and electro-mechanical devices and mechanical devices has always been that the states of change, either starting up, changing speed or current, or shutting down are by far the highest chances of failure.
As a flight instructor for many years of my life and airline pilot for a short time we always taught students and ingrained in ourselves that the most likely time of an engine failure is that time of stress and change.
Airplane engines are under some stress anytime they are producing power. This includes idle. Obviously the most stress is at METO or full power. The four engine failures I had all occurred in two specific places:
1) The point of reducing power after take off
2) The point of reducing power approaching to land.
Three of my failures occurred in #1 which is the worst possible case. One failure occurred in #2. However because I had always expected failures during these periods I was prepared for them.
Two of the failures that occurred in #1 were luckily at airports with really long runways so I just put it back down on the same runway. I ALWAYS demanded full length for take off. The other was in a Beech Kingaire 200B turbo-prop and we had plenty of power to continue the climb on one engine and return to the airport.
The failure during #2 was almost laughable. I had planned my landing so I would never need more power, so the loss of power was just fine. Glided in with no issue and even managed to coast off the active runway onto a taxiway. This was actually in a Piper Navajo that doesn't fly well at all on one engine so I reduced the good engine to idle and just landed.
In my electronics days the vast majority of failures occur on current inrush. Some on shutdown and some while running and usually those are heat related.
Fans I treat just like plane propellers. The most likely time to have a failure is when it first spins up. During that time the bearings are cold and can often get messed up.
So I leave most electronic and equipment on 24/7 when I can.
Mark - WS7M
As a flight instructor for many years of my life and airline pilot for a short time we always taught students and ingrained in ourselves that the most likely time of an engine failure is that time of stress and change.
Airplane engines are under some stress anytime they are producing power. This includes idle. Obviously the most stress is at METO or full power. The four engine failures I had all occurred in two specific places:
1) The point of reducing power after take off
2) The point of reducing power approaching to land.
Three of my failures occurred in #1 which is the worst possible case. One failure occurred in #2. However because I had always expected failures during these periods I was prepared for them.
Two of the failures that occurred in #1 were luckily at airports with really long runways so I just put it back down on the same runway. I ALWAYS demanded full length for take off. The other was in a Beech Kingaire 200B turbo-prop and we had plenty of power to continue the climb on one engine and return to the airport.
The failure during #2 was almost laughable. I had planned my landing so I would never need more power, so the loss of power was just fine. Glided in with no issue and even managed to coast off the active runway onto a taxiway. This was actually in a Piper Navajo that doesn't fly well at all on one engine so I reduced the good engine to idle and just landed.
In my electronics days the vast majority of failures occur on current inrush. Some on shutdown and some while running and usually those are heat related.
Fans I treat just like plane propellers. The most likely time to have a failure is when it first spins up. During that time the bearings are cold and can often get messed up.
So I leave most electronic and equipment on 24/7 when I can.
Mark - WS7M
Steve, you must have missed this? Flex Radio has secured a new heat sink and fan combos for the 6300, 6500, 6700 radios.
And do you know as a fact they repaired radios with unsuitable fans?
And do you know as a fact they repaired radios with unsuitable fans?
(Edited)
Bill,
Am I right from my reading that these new fans/heat sink should be done at Flex, not in the field due to the heat sink being changed? I have a "new to me" 6300 and will likely need to know one day.
Don, WB5HAK
Am I right from my reading that these new fans/heat sink should be done at Flex, not in the field due to the heat sink being changed? I have a "new to me" 6300 and will likely need to know one day.
Don, WB5HAK
It is strongly recommended to send it to Flex because of the heat sinks. You need to take great care to remove the old ones and they are stuck on really good.
Indeed, they say that the new fan/heatsink combination should only be installed by their workshop. At what would seem to be full cost for parts and labour charged to the customer, which is my gripe.
As for continuing fitting of original short-life part, that was from a comment direct from Flex on this forum. Basically saying the old stock would be used before they started fitting the new design.
As for continuing fitting of original short-life part, that was from a comment direct from Flex on this forum. Basically saying the old stock would be used before they started fitting the new design.
Indeed, they say that the new fan/heatsink combination should only be installed by their workshop. At what would seem to be full cost for parts and labour charged to the customer, which is my gripe.
As for continuing fitting of original short-life part, that was from a comment direct from Flex on this forum. Basically saying the old stock would be used before they started fitting the new design.
As for continuing fitting of original short-life part, that was from a comment direct from Flex on this forum. Basically saying the old stock would be used before they started fitting the new design.
Thanks, Bill. I thought I read that last month when I first got the 6300, but wanted to confirm it.
Don
Don
Finally had some time to take some pictures of the shack! Robert
One More Picture,, Robert
Just returned to the hobby after several years. Was a 5000A user and recently sold that and upgraded. Could not be more pleased with how the platform has matured. I'm a big fan of how minimal you can be with the new 6000 series.
The "shack" is super simple and consists of a rack in the garage:
And my laptop and a Maestro:
I intend on filling the extra space in the rack with an HF amp (potentially KAT500) and would also like to add a 2M transverter.
Dave
N7DMM
The "shack" is super simple and consists of a rack in the garage:
And my laptop and a Maestro:
I intend on filling the extra space in the rack with an HF amp (potentially KAT500) and would also like to add a 2M transverter.
Dave
N7DMM
(Edited)
If I show my new-to-me 6300 now, you all will demand I return it. Give me a couple of days to rearrange shack and I ́ll post the photo...jajaja
Santiago
HI8SMX
Santiago
HI8SMX