[RTTY] Flex 6300 in low power RTTY contests; Maestro

[Michael Therrien]

Ken,

I have both the Flex-6700 and the 6300. I also recently acquired a Maestro.
The serial number on my 6700 is #29 so I am an early adopter/user/owner of
the 6000 series.

I use the 6700 for RTTY contests and I run a lot. I use the radio as an
exciter for an amp. I never run more than 400 watts from the amplifier
(Alpha 9500) in contests so the 6700 is usually putting out 10-20 watts. I
have had no problems under these conditions.

I run the 6300 barefoot. The longest stretch I have done with RTTY with the
6300 barefoot is Field Day two years ago. I ran all weekend but used no
more than 75-80 watts. I have experienced a blown diode with a Yaesu in the
past running RTTY at 100 watts (full power) and have vowed I would never do
that again. The 6300 worked fine during FD at the reduced power without
overheating but I would advise that it is prudent not to run full power. I
also monitor the Flex radios temp and the amplifier temp using DDUtil,
which is a nifty program that runs separate from SSDR or the Maestro on
your PC and allows all sorts of utility procedures with the Flex radios. By
monitoring the temp with DDUtil, I can adjust my run cadence to keep the
radio out of trouble with overheating.

I have used the Maestro to contest in a RTTY contest and a CW contest. It
is slick! You need to get used to the look and feel of the GUI, the menu
system, and the like but I found the learning curve not to be steep. I have
been a Flex radio user since 2009 so I am used to "knobless" life but
contested for years before that with knobbed radios. I never had a problem
with losing the knobs with the Flex SDRs except for tuning (the FlexControl
knob took care of that problem). That being said, I am very enamored with
the Maestro and many not go back to using SSDR alone as my contesting GUI.
For me, the Maestro is intuitive and fun. Your experience may be different
but that is the beauty of software defined radio, I think.

Finally, I urge you to get on the Flex Radio Systems Community Forum, if
you have not already done so. There is lots of experience there and it is a
treasure trove of information on the radios and the peripheral devices.

73
Mike N1MD

On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 9:28 AM, Kermit (aka Ken) via RTTY <
rtty at contesting.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I would like to hear from anyone who has used a Flexradio  6300 barefoot at
> 100w in low power RTTY contesting, especially if you run a  lot.
>
> The reason is some of the reviews in eHam.net mention  the 6300 has
> overheating problems.
>
> I would want to use it for extended, heavy duty RTTY contest  activity.
>
>
>
> I'm not concerned about fan noise.
>
>
>
> I'd also like to know about anyone's experience with the  Maestro
> interface.  I kneed knobs.
>
> Thanks & 73,
> Ken,  AB1J
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