WB4SON

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Owning a Flex-6600M is a mixed bag

Posted: 10 Jun 2021 09:57 AM PDT
https://wb4son.com/wpblog/?p=4429


A lifetime ago (in other words the year before the pandemic,), I purchased
a FlexRadio Flex-6600M, along with a Maestro Control Console for remote
operation.Â* My first year of use was plagued with problems with things that
seemed basic to me; like the internal tuner simply didnt work (refused to
find solutions to situations that presented a 3:1 SWR).Â* The software was
flaky, often requiring cold boots, and it corrupted an internal flash card
several times.Â* While certain parts of the radio fascinated me, it was so
frustrating to use that I left it unused almost a year.Â* That was very
disappointing, as it was the only radio I was aware of that allowed for
remote CW (although CW on a Flex is VERY glitchy).

A couple of months ago, Flex introduced a new firmware upgrade that fixed
the tuner issue (after a year of complaints).Â* It now works flawlessly, and
appears to handle a 10:1 situation.Â* In many ways, the radio seemed more
stable, but after a few weeks of operation the radio would refuse to work
on power-up.Â* Flex service responded, saying the radio needed a cold reset
(a rather long process).Â* That restored operation, but it would fail again
after a few days.Â* A promised firmware update fixed that issue, and
introduced other problems, which is typical of FlexRadio a fix often
results in other broken things.

So here is my dilemma, I really like the Flex6600M it is a fantastically
versatile receiver (multi-receiver, actually), and it has the best Noise
Reduction Ive ever used on 80 meters.Â* I love being able to use it from an
iPad or iPhone, remotely.Â* And important to me, it is the only radio that I
know of that allows for remote CW operation (my Yaesu FTDX-101MP with LAN
adapter does not).Â* However, Flex software updates tend to be buggy, and it
appears that no one who understands a CW operator was involved in the
development of the software (no ability to adjust weight, for example, and
missing or shortened elements while in break-in).

The latest software update, to fix some latency issues, and hopefully to
resolve the need for cold-resets, dropped a couple days ago.Â* Updating the
Flex6600M was fairly simple.Â* Updating the remote Maestro Control Console
was a major pain in the backside.Â* The process took over four hours and
requited user responses at least three of the times it applied a partial
update.Â* Flex blames it on Microsoft.Â* That may be true, but sounds more
like a poor design choice up front to me.



I still love it, and use it every week to participate in a late night CW
contest.Â* Like many things in life, it is a mix of good and bad.Â* I just
with FlexRadio would get serious about their software development, and get
it to the point where it was two steps forward and zero steps back.