[CQ-Contest] Flex radios

[Ria Jairam]

There are very few Flex users who use them on DXpeditions. I suspect there
is simply distrust in a radio that is primarily computer based rather than
a radio with knobs. Elecraft is a known quantity and has knobs even though
I find the front panel to be not as elegant as say, an icom or Kenwood.

At the Thursday contest and DX presentation Flex touted the Maestro as
having a more simplified "knobs" UI than traditional radios. However I
suspect that most DX and contest hams will still see it as a niche product.

Bouvet is going to use them, maybe opinions will change, or maybe not.

I am 100% sold on them, partially because I don't really like knobs and I
find the computer UI to be much easier to use. But also they've cleaned up
a whole lot of wires I had strewn all over the place and I can operate
remotely very easily.

Ria
N2RJ

On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 10:44 PM, <john at kk9a.com> wrote:

> I would imagine that the user interface is the biggest difference. It is
> not
> clear to me if you have the Elecraft K3 or K3S. I have the latter and even
> though is a small transceiver and most buttons do double duty, there are
> buttons to press and knobs to turn I find it nice to have a physical
> transceiver. Both are easy to carry on an airplane, although I do not know
> of anyone carrying a Flex to the Caribbean. Flex and Elecraft now have
> matching lightweight legal limit amplifiers which is a very nice accessory.
>
> John KK9A
>
> To:     cq-contest at contesting.com
> Subject:        [CQ-Contest] Flex radios
> From:   Bill via CQ-Contest <cq-contest at contesting.com>
> Reply-to:       cqtestk4xs at aol.com
> Date:   Mon, 22 May 2017 10:07:36 -0400
>
> At the hamfest last weekend I had some extra time Sunday and wandered over
> to
> the Flex radio site. and had a long sit down with one of the reps.  I did a
> hands on with the 6500  and was truly impressed, especially with how "easy"
> it
> was on the ears.
>
> I currently have a pair of K-3s for SO2R and have kicked around replacing
> these
> with the 6500.  I know K9CT as well as a couple others who use the Flex
> stuff.
> I really would like to hear from them and others about these radios and how
> they compare to the K-3s in a contesting and Dxing situation...ease of use,
> operator friendly, audio quality for listening as well as transmit etc.
> Any
>
> comments would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Bill K4XS/KH7XS
>
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