[TenTec] Flex Radio for Contesting

[Duane Calvin]

Thankfully, the Flex filters do not ring.  I think Barry is right - because
of their sharp shoulders, they tend to sound "hollow", however I've not
found that it affects my ability to hear a signal better - something that
with normal filters which do tend to ring as they get narrower can't be
said.

	73, Duane

Duane Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas
ac5aa at ac5aa.com 


-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Brown
Sent: Wednesday, December 9, 2015 11:38 AM
To: tentec at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Flex Radio for Contesting

On Wed,12/9/2015 3:12 AM, Barry N1EU wrote:
> The bottom line, as far as I can tell, is that Flex engineering made a 
> clear decision, at this point anyway, of providing only ULTRA steep 
> (i.e.,
> vertical) filter slopes resulting in higher latency.  I make the 
> argument that shallower filter slopes are often preferable and should be
an option.

I haven't heard a Flex, but I suspect that you are right on target, Barry.
Filter slope can have huge impact on the useability of a filter
-- the "wrong" slope results in severe ringing, making it difficult to copy
in the presence of noise.

One of the more valid criticisms I've heard of Flex and some other SDRs is
that the designers and authors of firmware/software are computer-techies but
not operators -- they might make a dozen QSOs per year if they operate at
all -- so they have no idea how radios work or how hams use them. A few
months ago, one of those guys who lives near me, did me the favor of showing
me an ANAN radio that I hoped to use for spectrum measurements. He falls
into that category -- he fires up every few weeks to rag chew with his
buddies. When I asked him to send a series of dits so we could look at a CW
signal, he didn't have a paddle. 
He didn't even have a bare TRS plug that we could short contacts to produce
dits.

73, Jim K9YC




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