Dont buy a flex radio...

[The Slab Bacon]

October 24, 2009 8:28pm EDT

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Geeeezzeeee! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !  Whatz this world coming to? ? ?  

2-meter slopbucket, joining the ARRL, Next thing you know he'll be givin up the BC rigs and buying a ricebox   

[The Slab Bacon]

Looking gently at the SDR users, I bet they're swept up in the same enthusiasm they want to share with others.  
I agree however, that it's a legitimate complaint if such users deliberately put down other rigs to try to make theirs look better.

Kinda like the "class-E" boys    

[KF1Z]

Looking gently at the SDR users, I bet they're swept up in the same enthusiasm they want to share with others. 
I agree however, that it's a legitimate complaint if such users deliberately put down other rigs to try to make theirs look better.

Kinda like the "class-E" boys    

nice..........

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Or the "I run a broadcast transmitter" snobs.

Looking gently at the SDR users, I bet they're swept up in the same enthusiasm they want to share with others. 
I agree however, that it's a legitimate complaint if such users deliberately put down other rigs to try to make theirs look better.

Kinda like the "class-E" boys    

[W2PFY]

Think I'll join the ARRL tonight, I ain't feeling right.

I think I figured out why Paul has had a problem with ARRL. Yesterday I was over at my son's place and he was having a problem with a control circuit on a model car. A 330 uf cap at 16 volts broke off the control board. My son who has little electronic  knowledge always refers to a 1995 ARRL handbook I gave him when he runs into areas where he is unsure of something. I was paging through it and in the beginning  of the book, there is WA3VJB's picture with his equipment in the background sporting a goatee. Did they stop using your image after that? Is that the problem

[WA3VJB]

That shot is kinda scary.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I remember one Sunday morning around 6AM at Gathersburg, after a Saturday night meditation session, when we all looked scary.

[KX5JT]

"...there is WA3VJB's picture with his equipment in the background sporting a goatee."

I wonder if my equipment would better sporting a goatee? Hmmmm......

[W2PFY]

I wonder if my equipment would better sporting a goatee? Hmmmm......

Absolutely. I know a lot of males these days are into that clean shaven look, but hair on your equipment may not only be the norm, but be required according to sociologists studying this more recent  phenomenon, not to mention baggy pants.    

[WA3VJB]

Hair on an organ.

[w1vtp]

Here's my 2 cents:

Last night I met an old friend (Crackers, ssb, 3921).  He said "Al see you after the net."  OK, so after the net I saw that a 4 land QSO on 3920 would be much better avoided if we slid up a couple KC.  So I said to my friend "Al (yes, two Al's talking to each other) it's clearer a couple KC up -- see you there."  I called him and things were progressing great until 7:28 and some 4 land net guy said "This is W4??? standing by for the (whatever) net."  A co-channel problem in the making.  I noticed that 3917 was clear so I said "There's a clear spot on 3917, see you there."  Brought up the cross hairs and put it on 3917 left clicked  - instant QSY and we picked up without skipping a beat.  The rest of the QSO went on uninterrupted.   I love that feature plus the excellent performance of the Flex 5000.

Didn't have to ask "is this frequency in use?" because I knew it wasn't -- a habit that a Flexer develops - watching the band for what's on for activity.

Regards, Al  VTP

[K6JEK]

Could be anything. For some it is anything with tubes, for others it may be an over-rated St James Grey box.

The question I asked was was, what were the Bottom Feeder Transmitters?
I don't know which ones Carl had a bad experience with or heard? Gonset, Heath, I just don't know. There was a lot of nice transmitters back then because it was mostly before repeaters and there could have been some really cheap stuff I hadn't heard of.  Maybe there is a new thing going around that might be labeled as the FLEX TREATMENT. I noticed when I operate remotely from a site in CT, people are not very enthused by the concept probably because I'm using a computer to talk to them via the internet.   

I'm enthused or at least interested.  What is your remote set up?

Jon

[W2PFY]

I'm enthused

 Well it's a fellow ham in CT who is using a TS-2000. I haven't been using it lately because he was sighting the cost of electricity and the fact that now that winter is approaching,he is using the system more often.

Send me a PM and I'll give you his call sign, perhaps he'll let you use his stuff. It was over two months before I received an invite.He was very nice about talking me through the set up. You will need Skipe to make it work and another program called Log Me In.

Hello AL  

Didn't have to ask "is this frequency in use?" because I knew it wasn't -- a habit that a Flexer develops - watching the band for what's on for activity.

Do you know anyone about 99 years old that has one and would put me in their will

That must be a very handy feature.

[W2PFY]

Looks like this would be in reach of many of us poorer hams. Just the thing to drive a 4-400.

FLEX-1500™ QRP Software Defined Radio will start shipping in Dec 2009.



http://www.flex-radio.com//Products.aspx?topic=F1.5k_features

Here is the comparison of the others Flexers compared to the 1500

http://www.flex-radio.com//Products.aspx?topic=SDR_Feature_Matrix

I think I'm hooked  They use a term called TBD?? Maybe to be determined??

All that for $579.00. I guess this would be below the snooty range

[flintstone mop]

Hair on an organ.

OR tulips on an organ!

Is that the infamous Hammond B3?? With the Leslie cabinet?
Fred

[WA3VJB]

Hair on an organ.

OR tulips on an organ!

Is that the infamous Hammond B3?? With the Leslie cabinet?
Fred

HA  -- remember that one --
What's better than Roses On A Piano ...


Yes, that's a 1960 B-3 that we bought from a woman in Baltimore, who had been playing it at a bar near Fells Point for many years. All kinds of cigarette burns and drink rings on that lid.  In the background was ANOTHER Hammond, a rare two-generator job whose bearings were shot on the tonewheel shafts. Too bad. Drilled a couple holes underneath and sprayed WD-40 every so often to shut it up. 

[K5UJ]

I'd check the tx frequency response on AM before getting a 3000 or 1500.  you might become yellerfied 

Rob

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I'd check the tx frequency response on AM before getting a 3000 or 1500.  you might become yellerfied 

Rob

Did you see the specs on the Flex-1500? Last I heard, they hadn't published them yet because their testing wasn't completed.

[W2PFY]

Did you see the specs on the Flex-1500? Last I heard, they hadn't published them yet because their testing wasn't completed.

That must be what that "TBD" means  I'm going to send them an emial today and ax them about the freq response on AM. Maybe they'll tell me. Has anyone ever axed them a question?

[W2PHL]

I guess they feel the need to differentiate the product line. Everyone was assuming the TX bandwidth on the 3000 would be the same as the 5000 but it seems Flex is limiting it to 3.6Khz via the firmware, not cool. Applying Flex-logic the 1500 should be limited to 1.8Khz! I might have to cancel my 1500 order.

[K5UJ]

What I know is that on SSB tx the 5000 allows narrow to wide response; the 3K restricts the tx response to (I thought it was 3000 hz but is it 3.6 KHz?  okay) and I heard the 1500 would be the same.  Now, of course AM may be different.  And, compared to SSB, 3600 Hz on AM is not, to me at least, intolerable, and there are plenty of times when it is desirable but I would like the option of being able to go for a higher fidelity response for certain circumstances, narrowing the baseband audio instead.

Rob

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

I spoke with Jay - N3WWL in the past week. He was running his new Flex. If the audio bandwidth was limited, it was not noticeable on his signal. I don't doubt that on a quiet band and a wide receiver, some difference would be noticable. But more often than not, the RX bandwidth is not available (either due to receiver limitations or due to QRM) to hear the difference.

[W1AEX]

I would definitely agree with Steve on this. I was very skeptical about the Flex 3000 with its firmware imposed 3.6kc bandwidth limitation, but Jay sounded very nice in the AM mode. The audio was smooth, well balanced, and pleasant to listen to. As Jay pointed out, it's actually 3.6 + 3.6 = 7.2kc in the AM mode, so that's not too far off from the typical 5 + 5 that many guys run with the Flex 1000/5000 series. I wish I had taken the time to record a few minutes of his audio.

There was a very nasty thread in the Flex forum back about 6 months ago, regarding Flex's decision to limit the TX bandwidth in the 1500/3000 series. One Flex forum rep made it clear that it was not done as a result of any pressure from the FCC, but he steered away from giving any rationale for their decision. The thread was locked when the "Thou shall not exceed 2.4kc" bandwidth preachers became very agitated by the concept of a transceiver being sold that might exceed their desires for a narrower world. Speculation was that the decision might make the Flex 1500/3000 series more compatible with the requirements of overseas markets, but no one could confirm this. It appears that most of that original thread was deleted by the moderator(s).

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Need to read the specs:
Flex 5000A or 5000C - For AM operation, the transmit audio response is from 10 Hz to 20 kHz, since it's controlled by the software. http://kc.flex-radio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50044.aspx

Flex 3000 - For AM operation, the transmit audio response is from 10 Hz to 7.3 kHz, since it's controlled only by the firmware. http://kc.flex-radio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50352.aspx

Flex 1500 - No published specs yet but now have a picture of what it will look like:


If you want to compare the different features between them, go here:
http://www.flex-radio.com/Products.aspx?topic=SDR_Feature_Matrix

[flintstone mop]

What is the problem with the AMFONE web site? If I try to quote a long response, the window to type my reply along with the Quote jumps and I cannot get to the bottom of the quote to start typing...................Happens on every computer I use to access AMFONE. Three home computers and a work computer 33 mi. from home.

I was going to quote Rob about the display from SDR being a distraction. I find it pretty useful using my simple SoftRock Lite board that I can enable the proper filter or move the I.F. around to get away from an offending signal or broad signal or splatter from an A.M. QSO 4 kc away. And the listening pleasure resumes, instead of cursing and swearing.

Fred