Hi, Steve; Thank you for responding to my note, that really wasn't necessary since I was just speculating/dreaming about something really groovy to do with the 6700 series radios. Furthermore, presuming that this point isn't already obvious, my thoughts about combining a 6700 and 6700R for improved receive performance were completely without a technical basis for understanding how such a combination would be made possible.
However, it seems from your response that there may be, at least at some point in the future, a possibility of this becoming reality. I'm pretty confident the receive performance of a stand-alone 6700 would meet the needs of most amateurs (case in point, my Flex 1500 seems to be suiting my needs just fine.) I was thinking of this from the view of a stake-holder in the company, wouldn't it be groovy if instead of selling a single radio to the high-end amateur, Flex could sell two or four? That would have to be a positive outcome for all involved, including those of us still happily puttering around with 'legacy' radios. Rick On Sun, Aug 19, 2012 at 8:00 AM, Stephen Hicks, N5AC <[email protected]>wrote: > Rick, > > There are many forms of combining signals for better reception. In the > 6700(R), the two SCUs are completely synchronized (ALL LOs are > synchronous). This is not a trivial assertion -- there are very few radios > that can make this assertion and no other commercially available amateur > radios. This gives rise to some exceptionally easy combining that gives > immediate benefits in terms of sensitivity and dynamic range. > > The 6000 series also has an optional GPS module that is designed to help > in the synchronization of receivers that are or are not next to each other. > Combining signals that are generated with a separate LO/sampling clock, > that have not been synchronized is a harder problem. The GPS makes this > easier, but also allows us to send signals across the Internet and combine > signals knowing both where and when they originated. The benefits from > this will come later as the software is developed. > > Incidentally, our CDRX-3200 is a blade-architecture receiver that can > synchronize 32 receivers. It also costs in the mid-five-figures. The cost > of developing and build a blade-architecture system is significantly more > than what we came up with in the 6000-series. We did consider a blade > system, but every time we added up all the connectors, separate PCBs, > hardware and sheet metal we would realize that the ME's in the office were > getting more than their fair share of the product cost. We want product > cost to stay in the EE/SW side of the house. And we wanted the radio to be > as affordable as we could make it. ;-) > > Steve > > Stephen Hicks, N5AC, AAR6AM > VP Engineering > FlexRadio Systems™ > 4616 W Howard Ln Ste 1-150 > Austin, TX 78728 > Phone: 512-535-4713 x205 > Email: [email protected] > Web: www.flexradio.com > > > > *Tune In Excitement™* > PowerSDR™ is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems > > > > > On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 8:50 AM, Rick McClelland, AA5S <[email protected] > > wrote: > >> Well, we can ignore that part of my posting (it was 2 am, after all), I'm >> curious as to whether there would be any real, tangible benefit to lashing >> together a 6700 and a 6700R? This is certainly within the reach >> (economically) of a fair number of hams. >> >> >> On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 2:13 AM, Dan Parsons <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> > You just described what they already make for the government :) >> > >> > >> > Dan >> > >> > On Aug 3, 2012, at 1:08 AM, "Rick McClelland, AA5S" < >> [email protected]> >> > wrote: >> > >> > > I notice in the Flex 6700 brochure: >> > > >> > > >> > > Each of the two Spectral Capture Units allows simultaneous reception >> from >> > > their own respective antenna or the two can be optimally combined to >> > > deliver increased dynamic range. In addition, dual SCUs provide the >> > > capability for diversity reception, >> > > >> > > beam steering, noise mitigation, and multi-antenna monitoring. >> > > >> > > >> > > If we can combine two SCUs for increased dynamic range or diversity >> > > reception, etc., how about combining a Flex 6700 with a Flex 6700R >> such >> > > that a single client utilizes four SCUs, two optimized for dynamic >> range >> > > and two for diversity reception? Of course if we can do that, let's >> > ditch >> > > the 6700 form factor altogether and put two SCUs in a half height >> blade >> > and >> > > the same with a 500w transmitter module and stuff these into a HP >> c7000 >> > > series enclosure. We could have sixteen 500w transmitter modules and >> 96 >> > > SCUs in a single rack for the ultimate 8kw transceiver. >> > > >> > > Just a thought, I guess I should stop dreaming and get back to bed. >> > > >> > > -- >> > > Rick McClelland, AA5S >> > > Fort Collins, CO >> > > _______________________________________________ >> > > Flexedge mailing list >> > > [email protected] >> > > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >> > > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >> > used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >> > experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Flexedge mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >> > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >> > used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >> > experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> Rick McClelland, AA5S >> Fort Collins, CO >> _______________________________________________ >> Flexedge mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz >> This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is >> used for posting topics related to SDR software development and >> experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software. >> > > -- Rick McClelland, AA5S Fort Collins, CO _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software.
