I bought a partially-assembled SDR kit a few years ago. It's an older
Softrock Xtall Lite 9.0 with the optional electronically-switched BPF,
designed by Tony Parks. Well under $100 for the kit. I just "knew" that it
had to be a cheap, compromise SDR receiver prone to overload, birdies, and
anything else you can think of. The expensive ones like the Flex must run
circles around it; you get what you pay for, right? ...
Well, in the process of learning what I need to know to finish this little
tiny SDR and get it working, I'm hearing that it beats the receivers in the
Flex 5000(A?) and the Flex 1500. (Owners of expensive Icom transceivers
with SDR RX are using it for receive because the Softrock is superior.) The
sources of this info appear to be reliable, but of course time will tell.
(Newer versions of the Softrock are basically the same as what I have, but
with attenuators in series with the 160 and 80 BP filters. And some
transceive.)
As for the Flex 6300, a friend of mine has one. Maybe it has a better
receiver than the earlier Flex SDRs, but its SSB signal is absolutely awful
to my ears, no matter what mic he uses or how he adjusts the audio EQ
settings. His is not the only one. You can read all about it at
www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=104013.0
73, Mike
www.w0btu.com
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