New Flex 6700 - anyone at Dayton?

[Mike O'Dell]

Which radio is this? (HPSDR Hermes)

The Quicksilver does 8 receive channels now in the FPGA.
It's just a matter of gate real estate. There is the question of
how to get from the QS-1E exciter board up to power that
qualifies as QRP instead of the QQQQRP output level of
the barefoot board. Several folks that have the exciters are
working that problem. The good part is that the QS-1R with
the QS-1E "factory installed" is about $1200 all-in (if i remember
correctly - not off by too much if wrong). Then the xmit PA
chain can be added incrementally. the Phil's software already
supports the TX functions.

it's actually pretty interesting to compare the F-6X00 with
the Quicksilver.  There will certainly be some back-and-forth
about who did what first, but by my read, the QS did multiple
receive channels first (that's been working for quite a while
and the interfaced with the web server so multiple remote
users can look at multiple bands - i believe the multiple
channels was first hacked into the Verilog by a user!),
Phil has had the CW keyer with direct sidetone and waveform
synthesis all in the FPGA since the very first protos of the exciter.

Here we have a classic example of "leap-frogging". each successive
product can move the bar significantly because of the newest
parts they get to design with. Sometimes the competitor that
starts 6 months *after* the first-mover has a significant advantage
precisely because he could design with better/faster/denser/cheaper
parts than when the first-mover had to freeze the design. They may
even hit the market at almost the same time in spite of a large
difference in elapsed calendar and total cash burned. This is why
being too early to a market is easily just as fatal as being late.

The new FPGAs are an interesting point of comparison viz this issue.
I believe the QS uses the FPGA it does because it's the biggest part
he could get (at the time) that was leaded - everything denser used
Ball Grid Array. I suspect that decision was driven by the hopes
of offering the QS as a kit, not to mention the expense of building and
debugging BGA prototypes on a shoestring budget.
(BGA debug daughters are available but are not cheap and require a seriously
expensive socket on the prototype board and still precludes a lot of 
"blue-wire"
and "dead-bug" hacks as seen in most protos.) as the QS is now 
line-assembled
and given the engineering experience if Phil did it again today (QS-2???),
i suspect the BGA issue might not loom as large as it did then

Radio History question:
i have seen references suggesting that the arrival
of the Collins rigs with out-of-the-box SSB support  (and the adoption by
SAC!) might represent the tipping point where SSB transitioned from
the darling of the hard-core hackers to mainstream, as in you didn't have
to build something to run sideband.

IS THIS TRUE? What was the first generally-available rig that came out
of the box with solid SSB support?

my point is whether the FLEX 6x00 radios is a parallel to, eg, Collins,
that SDR has arrived at the tipping point. Clearly Very Not Cheap, but
now clearly packagable as an "appliance" and not an exercise in
technology exploitation for the industrious.

     -mo




On 5/18/12 9:03 PM, Tom Azlin N4ZPT wrote:
> Hi Terry,
>
> Yea, the simpler single digitizer unit looks more affordable but I 
> guess they are trying to beat the FT-5000 ( but not 200 watts) with 
> the 6700.  The dynamic range possibility is really nice. I too was 
> very surprised about the software. But then if they publish the API 
> and only display/control is via the PC software then maybe will be 3rd 
> party software. Maybe the new HRD guys will adapt?
>
> I am likely to just wait for the HPSDR Hermes radio.
>
> I presume the software keeps running and you just do not get support. 
> Or pay as you go if all are lucky.
>
> 73, tom n4zpt
>
>
>
> On 5/18/2012 8:06 PM, wb4jfi at knology.net wrote:
>> It appears the 6500, with only one A/D RF deck(?) is only $4,000. That's
>> more in line with what I might be able to afford. And, I don't really
>> need to monitor ten bands at once, five would do just fine. For an extra
>> $3,000, I can give up internal 2 Meters as well.
>>
>> The other concern is the $200 per year cost for the software and
>> support. If you forgo the $200/year, does the software still work, but
>> you don't get upgrades? Or, if you don't pay, you can't play?
>>
>> Darn, I was starting to tally up what I could sell to get the $4,000,
>> until the little software fee showed up.
>> Terry
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Mike O'Dell
>> Sent: Friday, May 18, 2012 7:50 PM
>> To: Tom Azlin N4ZPT
>> Cc: tacos at amrad.org
>> Subject: Re: New Flex 6700 - anyone at Dayton?
>>
>> It does have impressive specs and certainly represents
>> a high-end design that will have long legs - a real
>> "stake in the ground".
>>
>> I believe it will also create what we call a "price umbrella".
>> I suspect we won't have to wait terribly long for others to
>> develop product that does some large fraction as much for much lower 
>> cost.
>> the components used are all going to slide down the learning curve
>> pretty quickly because of their use in LTE base stations and access 
>> points.
>> (the success of LTE is going to hinge on Mini-, Micro-, Pico-, and
>> Femto-Cell
>> systems. yes, those all exist. The FonHedz have every intention of
>> co-opting
>> WiFi in service of their coverage extension plans, so be prepared to 
>> supply
>> your Internet connectivity free of charge to the Picocell your 
>> carrier will
>> try to foist on you in the name of "better service".)
>>
>> -mo
>>
>> On 5/18/12 4:38 PM, Tom Azlin N4ZPT wrote:
>>> Plus $200 a year for the software? 73, tom n4zpt
>>>
>>> On 5/18/2012 3:05 PM, Lee Wood wrote:
>>>>
>>>> If I interpret their their web-site correctly:
>>>> http://cart.flexradio.com/Signature-Series-Radios_c_17.html
>>>> the regular price of a FLEX-6700 is $6999, requiring a deposit of
>>>> $2,100.
>>>>
>>>> __________________
>>>> Lee_Wood at shaw.ca
>>>> VA7BZZ
>>>> Latitude : 49.263
>>>> Longitude : -123.155
>>>> Grid : CN89kg
>>>>
>>>> On May 18, 2012, at 10:00 AM, tacos-request at amrad.org wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> The new Flex radios have been announced on their web site. It looks
>>>>> REAL good, but someone said the price was $7k, and delivery is 4th
>>>>> quarter. Can someone at Dayton confirm this, especially the price?
>>>>> If it?s that high, I will continue to play with the lower-cost
>>>>> options. It may be worth that (to government agencies and the
>>>>> independently wealthy), but that?s way beyond what I can/want to
>>>>> spend on a rig.
>>>>> Terry, WB4JFI
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>>>>
>>>
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>>
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