see note 1

IU0EBV Mini review of the SDR FLEXRADIO 8600

updated 02mag2025

1feb25 Here follow my first impressions of this new radio after two months of use in CW and RTTY untill 3feb25 and comparing the RX signals with the Yaesu FT1000mkV_Field , there were many expectations and with some disappointment about that state-of-the-art rig.      follow this link for info on improvements done to FT1K-Field : until now either the 1kField and the 8k6Flex have listen the same signals , with a better noise rejection of the sdr-radio... but the comparison goes ahead... Tuning: the front panel of the Oldtimer analog radio undoubtedly still has its charm (at least for me...)    over a mouse-only gesture TRX like the 8k6 and a completely blank front panel .    my opinion: an extra window with configurable and most used commands\buttons would be of great help      and satisfyng the eyes ... PROs: all the SDR_Rig improvements over the old Analog Rigs NR_Noise_Reduction, it works too gently, two NR options HARD\GENTLE would be much better,       I give for now a + more to the Colibri_Nano NR functions AGC: not sure but it works only on the audio part making difficult to remove electrical noises ...     LABEL :  why not print on the button AGC-F or M or S or O(for off) and not only OFF_FAST_MID_SLOW SPLIT function : much better than on the analog radio ,     ... the discover goes ahead ... CONs :    in no order and new features wished :    no-boot on second day of use ... terrible, but solved by a cold_boot after a while with a lot of fear. This eventuality is like having a toothache and waiting for the hardest blow to come ... anyway no more troubles from this side during this period of use. 1) Fans noise 9 of them are in the shack at the present time : the Flex with its single fan makes 40-45db of a steady tone at abt 280Hz due to the air compression in the chassis ,    a link to couple of videos are downward ... the SPE-Pa makes no noise on ST.by and audible just in TX, the PC goes at levels about 30-35db of noise . Gone are the times using a Radio in a silent shack (at least for me). thank goodness I didn't choose the Flex version with the monitor screen ... As there are no buttons and rotary pots, per sure I will close that expensive rig in a silentiated box ! 2) DUST FILTERS : there is no option to install them by default. The pics show how dirty were the blades of the fan after only one month of use, then I added external pc sponge-filters on all the intakes and here is clearly shown after only one month of use ... That means I should\must open the chassis a couple of times per year to blow out the dust , the Support replayed to an email from me : When the radio is used in a dusty environment it may be necessary to periodically blow out the accumulated dust, but "to blow-out" does it mean opening the chassis by losing the warranty ... or no !? I have a NAS which needs that the fans are cleaned by removing them from the box otherway the blades are not cleaned sufficiently this 8k6 radio has not such option... 3) ON/OFF BUTTON possible improvement, a) lack of a software button to switch the RIG ON\OFF directly in the soft , as already used in other brands, b) hard switch_off : much better&safer a delayed OFF than a dangerous INSTANT_Off , c) in the mean time I have invented a TURN_AROUND solution , see the pic at the beginning of this page... 4) lack of GOTO previous tuned frequency with a possible list of at least the last 5to10 positions, 5) lack of AUDIO_Paste option in the RECORD\Play function and very unpractical to use an external audio software,     lack of AUDIO_auto_save with timestamp, 6 & 7) intermittent behaviour : nothing to say ... 8) hotkey_combination    the usb FlexControl has limited knobs and there is no possibility to define more hotkeys     this option is available only via the thirdparty programs    ...    I have purchased a ShuttlePro2 rotary mouse to move the tuning bar with various speeds, which is a very usefull option,     but there are still more unused buttons to whom I cannot address any other function.     the writing of a new frequency in the tuning panel is ok 9) S_Meter goes never under a certain level to ZERO without a signal, changing the idle level from band to band ranging from S3 to S5-S6 , not quite usefull at least for me; 10) GPS led flashing continuosly without the gps antenna; ok for a while but after some seconds should go off . . . 11) Temperature: the inner thermometer, which is shown by the FR_Stack software, during a normal RTTY session driving the RF amplifier     at 8Wout level went well above the 41° Cels. I have not tried at higher levels. Of course the temp goes back at lower temps    in a short time but making still more noise with its fan, almost like an hair-dryer.

...

Loud HISS :   in search of a possible solution. The HISS coming from the radio-chassis is very annoying, a search with an Audio-Spectrum analizer Android app has revealed that a steady tone of about 280Hz is generated and is audible and measured at a distance of 3 meters in the room and makes difficult to listen to the radio AF without an headphone. what and how to do: by the hardware a fan model change should be also tried, also a change in the fan-speed software routines should be worth to be tried, as now the fan stays never at the lower speed other than few second after the start but it goes directly at the one i have heard as to be the second speed going to the third speed when "intensive" transmitting periods... I have measured more that 41° at just 8Wout in RTTY... ..... one thing is sure : that hiss makes me very nervous and that is not good... ----- my anti_HISS solution: the upper half of the box has been opened in search of the noisy HISS, it is held by the means of 14 screews ... I have discovered that fixing the upper half-box with ONLY two screews  (one x side red circled ) makes the offending tone not appear...  ....(well almost not).... what that means : the chassis resonates by the air compression and leaving the screews holes empty let some air flow away from the designed path. follow this link the Flex noise video coming soon ... Right or wrong I am using the radio in this way .... I will add some pics ASAP.

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