Here is my question on the subject of 4 or 8 slices. I have 14 monoband
antennas 160 - 2 meters. With my switching matrix I can have any two
going to the two transmit ports of the Flex 6700 or one going to the one
transmit port of the 6500. How am I going to hear much on some other
slice with a totally non-resonant antenna feeding those slices, assuming
I am not listening on the same band?

Sure I could put up a G5RV, but why would I chose to do that? Yes I have
a Wellbrook 20-foot circumferential broadband loop I can put on the RX
port, but it doesn't hear like a 5-element yagi at 70 feet.

I am confused as to how to really use more than two slices. One friend
has an 8-band vertical, so he is in good shape. He can hear equally
poorly on all bands.

Rob, NC0B

Sent from my iPad

On May 6, 2014, at 11:31 PM, "harry latterman" <harrylatterman@...
<mailto:harrylatterman@...>> wrote:

Keith,

Keep in mind that I am just speculating on the time frame. This is a
radio that is very advance with extremely powerful insides that
requires a lot of thought and software development. What has been
unleashed is very impressive. But it is still in the early stages.
Just look at the simple K3, P3, KPA500, KAT500, KX3 and how many
things have been fixed and added the past few years. I say simple,
because you really can not compare the computing power and code in the
Flex to that of all the Elecraft products combined and get even close
to what goes on every microsecond during operation.

The Flex is one neat system, but I will stick with the K3....K-Line
family I have and the KX3 and soon the PX3. One band is enough for me.
For the price of just one 6700 I can have more then one K3/P3 and/or
KX3/PX3 and look at more then one band. Right now at my QTH I have the
K3/P3 doing all the heavy lifting and the IC-756PROII doing the light
stuff, like keep a eye on 10 or 6 meters. When I see wiggle I switch
the K3 and turn off the PRO or put it on another band. Have up to 8
bands at one time is neat, but when you step back and look at it
logically it is just plane silly. ...That is the way I look at it.
Others might not, but we all have our opinion of what works for us.

The Flex 1500 I had until recently was nice, fun and did little
compared to the K3/P3. That is why I am excited and jumped on the
first run of the PX3. A QRP radio that a tech at Flesystem described
the KX3 to me as a SDR radio like the 1500, but with knobs and a
screen. With the PX3 I got a bandscope/panadaptor. What more could I
ask for...

I guess my 35+ years in the electronic engineering field and 50 years
as a ham operator sometimes gives me a perspective that comes in handy
once in a while. (has been know to get me in trouble and flamed to.
Find that fun also..LOL)

GN 73 Harry K7ZOV

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 9:29 PM, Keith Heimbold <ag6az@...
<mailto:ag6az@...>> wrote:
Thanks for the heads up on a 3-5 year wait for the flex to become
stable from a software perspective. Guess one must weigh more seamless
remote integration against a software product that will require years
before it is beyond beta. I am disappointed to hear as such.
Definitely an even more expensive toy to play with than other mature
albeit older technology options. Plus no knobs. Hmmmm.

Keith
AK6ZZ

Sent from my iPhone please excuse typos

On May 6, 2014, at 7:46 PM, "harry latterman"
<harrylatterman@... <mailto:harrylatterman@...>> wrote:

The Flex-6000, as I stated before, has more computing power then even
some high end servers. From what I have been able to find the unit
has a ARM Cortex-A8/Neon CPU, Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA
(Field-Programmable Gate Array) and tucks along at 317 GMAC (Giga
<billion> Multiply-Accumulate Operations per Second) and 121 GFLOPS
(Giga <billion> Floating Point Operations Per Secon). So what does
this mean? The Flex-6000 is a bloody Super Computer. Makes the
Fastest PC or MAC look like a hand held calculator in comparison.
That means not your typical software. The complexity of this radio as
far and above anything I have ever seen, except in the commercial and
military equipment market.

So based on this level of complexity it is understandable to me that
they need to recover some of the costs of software development. This
radio is light years ahead of the Flex-5000/PSDR radio in many ways.

If you want a super computer for a radio you will pay for it in many
ways. It is a radio technology that is a work in progress. In maybe 3
-5 yrs from now it should be a stable design when it comes to the
software. For now it is a very advance radio with a ways to go and
those who jump in now will have a interesting ride and a hole in
their pocket book...LOL

Harry K7OZV

On Tuesday, May 6, 2014 5:14 PM, "ne1rd@...
<mailto:ne1rd@...>" <ne1rd@... <mailto:ne1rd@...>> wrote:
Upgrades (major upgrades) are often offered at a cost. Microsoft
Office, Adobe Design Suite, Autodesk, and any number of other
software packages are offered for a price and small "dot release"
upgrades are offered for free. But, major releases cost money.

Software costs money to write. Even people who give away their
software (like me) invest time where they could have been doing
something else to enrich their life. The expectation that all
software should be free because some of it is free is not a good
argument.

It is terrific when software releases (even major ones) are offered
for free, but asking all users who benefit from the new capabilities
to contribute financially to its development is not unreasonable. If,
for example, a new software release gives your radio a new feature,
why shouldn't the developer offer to sell it to you (and not be
compelled to just give it away)?

Few of us have unlimited funds for the hobby. We must budget for the
things that make our stations effective. One of those categories of
things is software: software for your logging, software for
propagation prediction, and software for your radio and other
devices. Elecraft has (so far) allowed us to budget zero for this --
but that decision should not be conflated to mean software is
cost-free to develop. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I'm
sure Elecraft has invested thousands of hours in software development
for their various products. I respect that commitment and respect
their right to charge for upgrades, should they ever do it. Flex, of
course, has that same right.

-- Scott (NE1RD)

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