Flex-6000, new generation of SDR transcievers

Flex Radio Systems introduced yesterday at the Dayton 2012 Hamvention the all new Flex-6000 series of transcievers, called “Signature Series”. These are the first comercially available SDR products intended for HF amateur use that employ Direct Digital Conversion, sampling RF directly thanks to the high-performance Analog Devices AD9467 ADC without the need for mixers such as the Tayloe detector that was the heart of the previous generations of SDR equipments.

But this is not the only thing the FLEX-6000 series brings: it’s purpose seems to change a bit towards better integration into the modern digital world as a shared resource. If until now a transciever was a piece of equipment one operator would use at a time, the FLEX-6000 series is a computer network equipment anyone can use (either on LAN or via Internet), allowing up to 8 virtual 384KHz bandwidth recievers in the 0.03-77 MHz range to be created and operated simultaneously. Ideal for club stations or conditions that require remote operation (Radio Arcala comes to mind), even though the transmission is limited to one user at a time.

Other hardware key points are the pair of Mitsubishi RD100HHF1 finals conservatively pushing out 100W at 13.8V, a rather unusual choice considering the other top manufacturers start moving towards 100V operated final stages wich offer better IMD figures and are easier to work with. Also, the main CPU is a Texas instruments ARM Cortex A8 1.2-1.4 GHz CPU with NEON coprocessor and 1.0-1.2GHz DSP processor. There will be 3 models available, the top dog FLEX6700 transciever, the FLEX-6700R reciever and the FLEX-6500 transciever, with rumored prices os US$7000, US$6000 and US$4000.

More details in the FLEX-6000 series presentation sheet.