Flex 1500

[Mudfoot]

Still sitting at the Aladdin Hamfest in Columbus, Ohio. Just bought a 2 month old Flex.

Don't know a whole lot about it yet, just seeing how many here have one in case I need help.

Picked it up for $550.

 

[trucker]

Not a bad price on the Flex 1500. Bought mine new a few months ago. $639 shipped.
Surprisingly good radio. I run mine with a Core i5 processor, 32Gigs ram and Win7 64bit. (my main computer) Receive wise, it is on-par with my recently acquired TenTec Jupiter. Even at 5watts the radio does pretty good. I talk to a group of guys on 40 meters off and on, and when I got the 1500, and they talked me thru setting up the audio a bit differently, everyone said the audio was great. And one guy said I must be running much more than 5 watts as I was really hitting him hard. (S9 +10) I told him NO, only 5 watts a MFJ-986 manual tuner and a wire dipole up around 30'. I'm sure conditions between him and I were the reason. And we were probably 400 miles apart too.
Even with the 48Khz tuning bandwidth, I find myself zooming in to look at signals closer in to me. I don't know if having the bandwidth on the display like that of the 5000 (192Khz) would really be of use to me.
I asked one of the Flex guys at the Last Belton Hamfest I attended, which amp he suggested if I wanted to add an amp to the setup and he said the RM Italy HLA-300.
Or even the HLA 150. But, that the HLA 300 would be better because, with 5 watts drive I would still get around 200+ watts output and still have a clean signal. Using the HLA-150 would drop that down to around 100 watts.
He also said that even using those amps with the 1500, IMD would still be within FCC accepted specs. And he said driving those amps with any more power than the 5 watts would cause problems IMD wise. So, I might try and find one of them to add some extra punch with the Flex 1500.
Overall, I think for the money, the 1500 is a good way to get into SDR.
trucker

 

[Mudfoot]

It's going to take some time getting used to this thing, definitely gonna have to read the manual. I got it mostly for CW work, but I need to figure out what kind of microphone to get. I can't stand wearing headsets so that's out of the picture. I like the receiver so far, and much of the user interface is striaght forward and somewhat easy to figure out, but I see a bunch of stuff that makes me scratch my head. I just need some time to figure it all out.

I will take microphone suggestions though.

 

[Robb]

Congrats! I think you will find the receive on this radio addictive. That was my experience. So is using the panadapter. So is adjusting the filters. So is the overall FLEXibility. You will be hooked; and it won't take long.

Getting over the initial settings will take a little while. Maybe a day or two; it does have a learning curve. You have the manual; so the info you need should be in there. The previous owner may also have notes in it too.

Microphone? Any decent mic will work great. The better the mic; the better it will sound. A MXL-990 is cheap and an OK place to start. Running it at 2.8 or 3.5kc's wide on a busy band is easier to do; as the filter cutoff rate/slope is REALLY sharp. When the band isn't busy on 10m; try running your TX width @ 6kc's wide and talk to the Kenwood TS-950SDX boys - and just blow them out of the water. I am NOT kidding either.

Use the 20m WWV station to set up the freq alignment.

EDIT:
Use the 30m WWV station to set up the freq alignment.
It will be on 10.000mhz - exactly.

 

[Robb]

Now if you could just find a used RM Italy HLA 300V Plus or something similar; I think you will really be in business.

I use headphones (Sony MDR-7506) with mine; but not a headset.

 

[Mudfoot]

Yeah, those are expensive. I'm waiting on my dad to let me have/use one of his amps. He has a nice Johnson Thunderbolt that'll mate up nicely.

The receiver is really nice on this thing. Getting easier by the moment.

 

[Mudfoot]

$75 to transfer the warranty.

That's not very nice.

EDIT: After thinking about it some more...Actually, I think $75 to transfer the warranty is absolute total bullshit. others may disagree, but I feel it's downright rude.

 

[trucker]

$75 to transfer the warranty.

That's not very nice.

Nope it isn't. That is why, when someone tells you it's still in warranty,
(in the case of a Flex Radio anyway) it's better to just ignore that part.
And that is also the reason, I went ahead and bought new, instead of
used. Around $550 seems to be the going price for used 1500's.
And right before Christmas, Flex had a sale going and dropped the price
to where it was $639 (tax and shipping included..........I live in Texas so
I had to pay sales tax).
As for the microphone, I use a Yaesu MD-100 desk microphone. It has
a reversible cable on it for the round 8 pin connector to the RJ45 style of
connector that the Flex has. Seems to work really good.
As for speakers, I use a cheap pair of powered Computer speakers for
the audio. You can purchase software called VAC ( Virtual Audio Cables)
that will allow you to use speakers attached to your computer. I'm cheap and I already had the set of powered speakers (from an old system). Surprisingly enough, they work pretty good and no issues from RFI.
If you like QRP, you will like the 1500. As for CW, it does have it's issues.
No full break in like a lot of radios. The current release of PowerSDR helps
with that issue pretty well. Join the Flex Yahoo group and you will find a
lot of useful info there. Have fun with your new toy!
trucker

 

[Mudfoot]

I was thinking I could have bought new as well. The only issue I have so far is I can't get the headphone jack to work. Not sure if it's a hardware issue or software setting. I did buy it for CW use so I'll have to see how that goes.

Edit: Headphone audio fixed. Software setting was unchecked, my bad.

 

[Robb]

I thought that all FlexRadio's were the same as far as the audio TX width adjustments are concerned. Seems that they vary a bit. The 1500 is supposed to have an audio TX width of no more than 3kc's.

m42duster; can you confirm?

 

[Mudfoot]

Out of town at present.

Haven't messed with transmit audio settings yet as I have no mic, just paddles.

Don't even know where to check yet to verify width. I am still befuddled by the complexity of the damn thing.

 

[Mudfoot]

From the Flex Site:


The differences in max TX bandwidth of the radios are as follows.


Flex 1500 - 3650 hz per sideband or 7300 hz DSB or AM

Flex 3000 - 4600 hz per sideband or 9200 hz DSB or AM

Flex 5000 - 9999 hz per sideband or 19998 hz DSB or AM

I wouldn't want to transmit any wider than 3.6 anyways. 2.8kHz is good enough for me.

Wish it had a SWR bridge.

 

[6meter]

Plus one for using a Yaesu MD-100 microphone.

The Flex 1500 is blast to use and has a great receiver.
I had some fun making HF SSB contacts running the 5 watts. I usually had to work at it a bit more but could still get through.

My perception of the $75 warranty transfer is that Flex has more support costs with new flex owners and answering their questions. I wouldn't worry about transferring the warranty unless you actually had hardware issues.

 

[Mudfoot]

Went to universal Radio today, picked up a new LDG Z11Pro autotuner and a used yaesu MH-31 hand mic. The hand mic got good reports so far and I haven't messed with any audio settings yet.

The CW sidetone latency is a bummer. The unit has an internal keyer, but I can't use it. I have to use my external keyer for a sidetone and disable the on board sidetone. There are adjustments that helps with the delay, but is still disconcerting to listen to. Maybe I missed some settings, but I have read a few articles on this matter without remedy. If I send below 20 wpm it's tolerable, if I send above 30 wpm it just messes with my head. Using my external keyer this is a non issue.

I want to use the built-in keyer.

 

[trucker]

The internal Keyer sidetone latency is one of the most talked about problems with the 1500. It is supposed to be improved in the latest version of PowerSDR. But, most say just as you do that if you keep your speed down, it is tolerable, but, not enjoyable.
trucker