XPost: rec.radio.amateur.equipment, rec.radio.amateur.moderated

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

///////////////////////////////////////////
Programming is hard

Posted: 03 May 2022 01:46 PM PDT https://www.kb6nu.com/programming-is-hard/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email


I own a FlexRadio 6400, and overall, Im quite happy with it. Its probably
the best-performing radio that Ive ever used, Having said that, its not perfect.

Recently, Flex released an update to SmartSDR, and for some folks, the
update caused their radios to quit working. This appears to be happening
for those who havent installed new SDR cards in their radios. SDR card corruption is a known problem for some FlexRadios.

There has also been some discontent with the speed at which Flex addresses
bugs in the software and releases new features. This prompted one fellow to post to FlexRadioSmartSDR@groups.io:

Ive had my 6400M for a couple of years now and have seen very few new
features added to it (smartcontrol & memory functions)via software update.  Most software updates have centered around fixing bugs. This platform has
so many possibilities, but Flex is not living up to the hype of its advertising. Its more like new software = same old radio OR new software = brick your radio.

I replied:

I agree with Dennis that the FlexRadio platform has a lot of potential, and
Im a little surprised that there arent more third-party developers. I think that there maybe be two reasons for that:

FlexRadios arent cheap. As a result, maybe there arent enough of them out
there for a third-party developer to make any money developing third-party apps. Im thinking thats the reason that Flex themselves havent added more features. The return on investment just isnt there.
Developing this kind of software is hard. It takes a lot of expertise and a
lot of time. I thought about trying to develop a better Free DV waveform
after reading about its limitations somewhere. I quickly realized, however, that I currently do not have the skills to do that, nor do I want to spend
the time developing those skills.


Does the Flex live up to its hype? Id say so, but I can see how some users could be disappointed. Nothings perfect, however. I guess that if you want something thats more plug and play, you should get something like an ICOM IC-7610.

Ive decided to wait a bit before upgrading my SmartSDR software. That
should give things time to settle down a bit.



The post Programming is hard appeared first on KB6NUs Ham Radio Blog.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)