Howard Great video, thanks!
David Schutz Sent from Smartphone On Apr 21, 2013, at 4:28 PM, "Dr. Howard S. White" <[email protected]> wrote: > I have posted a video of the Visalia DX Convention with the First Public > Demonstration of the Flex 6700 > > http://youtu.be/vLXjL6hoIYg > > Not too much about the Convention but mostly the radio in operation… > > The Flex 6700 radio was definitely working but clearly it was a beta test > unit. > > I did manage to crash the software at least once and many features are yet to > be fully operational. > > For the uninitiated… the radio software is now a simple browse that does NOT > need a major computer system > All the processing is now done inside the radio with its own computer power… > it should even ultimately be able to run on your iPad or other simple device… > > Interestingly it was interfaced directly to N1MM Contest Logger, a SteppIR > DB-18 and an Alpha 9500 so it clearly was set up for contesting. > While I am not the contest Ultra Maven… I personally found the clean simple > interface much more intuitive for contesting than my Flex 5000 > as you really never need to have your hands leave the logger keyboard. I can > see where the Flex will finally be more than competitive, if not excel the K3 > for contests. > > In spite of the limitations of the beta test software, the receiver > performance was astounding. > It appeared that the radio was hearing down to -142dBm (or about S0 – 15db or > almost 2 ½ S Units below S0) > BUT what was more astounding was that they introduced DSP gain into the > system so that it could hear down to -149 dBm or about the phase noise > levels. I am not sure how to measure down to those levels as the thermal > noise in my test equipment is higher than that. (The figures are > un-calibrated- we will see what Sherwood says) > > Adjacent Channel rejection appeared be out of the world….you could totally > block an S9+40db signal 100Hz away….. > This would be especially important in multi-stations…. AND you do not Need > to use any Roofing Filters > > Of course it was really cool to be able to listen to several slices of the > band at the same time and easily jump from band to band without losing any > information. > They had 4 spectral operational but could only receive on 2 slices… (It will > be 8 slices in the final model) > > > Real World Performance… > Several times we had Armchair copy in QSO’s with Hams who had could barely > copy our signals due to their poor antennas and outdated equipment > We definitely could easily copy the very weak DX Stations… > > Although I am not a CW Operator .. The CW ops I talked to said it was full > QSK with no delays whatsoever… > > > Delivery > Flex said they hoped to ship production units within 30 days (maybe by Dayton > anyone?) however I am skeptical that they can get everything 100% by then as > clearly there is still a lot of software to get right. I suspect that in > order to meet that tight schedule, they will ship the first units with a > reduced feature set. The good thing about a SDR is that you can easily > upgrade in a matter of seconds. > > Bottom Line: > When I read the specs and placed my order at Dayton 2012, I knew that this > was going to be the radio that will set the bar for the next standard in Ham > Radio > > However, I was personally astounded by the performance which even in Beta far > exceeded my expectations. > > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > Howard S. White Ph.D. P. Eng., VE3GFW/K6 ex-AE6SM KY6LA > Website: www.ky6la.com > "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" > "Ham Antennas Save Lives - Katrina, 2003 & 2007 San Diego Fires, 911" > _______________________________________________ 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 innovation and other technical SDR topics.
