September 27, 2025 • 27 mins
FlexRadio just announced SmartSDR Plus subscriptions starting at $199/year. Time for an impromptu Saturday morning coffee chat! Join James (K8JKU), Jim (N8JRD), and Rory (W8KNX) as we discuss what this means for ham radio and share our honest opinions.
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The Everyday Ham Podcast is hosted by James Mills (K8JKU), Jim Davis (N8JRD), and Rory Locke (W8KNX) – three friends who dive into the world of amateur radio with a casual, lighthearted twist.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Good evening.
Good morning.
It's the Everyday Ham, and we'redoing a little bit of something
different here today.
We've all got our coffee.
It is Saturday morning at 10o'clock in the morning, which is
earlier than I like to be up,I'm not going to lie.
But we thought we'd get togetherand do a little coffee chat this
morning because the Flex Radiofolks made a fairly significant
announcement this week relatedto how they're licensing their
(00:24):
software moving forward.
And so what I wanted to do waskind of sit down and James and
Rory and I talked about this alittle bit beforehand and talk
about what that new licensingmodel looks like, how it's going
to impact those Flex Radiousers, and decide whether or not
we think it's a good idea ornot.
So before I get into it, acouple of folks with me today,
James Mills, K-H-J-K-U, RoryLocke, W8KNX, and myself, Jim
(00:48):
NHJRD, Jim Davis, if you care.
So let's get right into it,guys.
Flex Radio this week announcedtheir new subscription service
for their radios.
And subscription service is abit of a um, I'm not going to
call it a misnomer, but it's aninteresting way to describe what
they're calling a new licensingmodel.
So we'll dive into it a littlebit further, but the flo the the
brass tacks of this is they havetwo levels.
(01:08):
Uh you'll be able to spend$199annually, so once a year, uh,
and you'll have access to thenew Smart SDR Plus service, uh,
which will give you the mostrecent version of their Smart
SDR software.
And if you're interested inbeing a sort of early adopter of
all things Flex Radio, you cango up to their$299 tier, which
(01:29):
is the Smart SDR Plus earlyaccess tier.
And that'll give you access tofeatures as they're being
developed, as they're beingtested, and that'll let you see
some of the new things that arecoming out on the platform
before they go to fullproduction.
So it's a really interestingmodel, and I want to get uh kind
of some of your initial blusheson it.
But what we'll what we'll sayright out loud before we get too
(01:51):
far into this is if you aresubscribed to Smart SDR, uh
you're you're gonna get accessto all of these features,
whatever they bring to us uh inthe next year.
Uh but if you're not subscribed,you're still gonna have access
to their latest major versionrelease, which is actually what
makes this a little bitinteresting for those folks that
aren't willing to shell out themoney.
(02:11):
So I don't know what you guyshave looked at yet, but I'll be
curious what your first blush ison smart SDR going to a
subscription service.
SPEAKER_02 (02:19):
If it's got a plus in the name, then it's gotta be
a benefit, right?
That that's how that works nowin the naming conventions.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
Rory, do you have any?
I think it's so much just likeeverything else we're seeing in
every every software model atthis point.
Whether, you know, a lot of usdeal at work, yeah, Jim, it's
what you kind of do for aliving.
I am on the purchasing andmanagement side of it.
James, I know, interfaces withwith certain amount of
technology at work too.
(02:48):
Um, we're seeing this more andmore.
And I know from a from a workstandpoint, it's something that
we now have to budget for isthings that were used to be a
one-time purchase have becomesubscription-based or um
software as a service typething, or whatever you want to
call it.
So it's it's kind of um I see ittwo ways.
One, I think if I owned a flexand I truly was interested in
(03:13):
it, I think I would probably beokay with it.
I would probably annoy me, but Iwould probably subscribe and
just deal with it because it'swhat I want to have in my shack.
But I also know that I would beannoyed with another thing
that's gonna cost me money withanother, another, you know, any
sort of frequency, whether it'sannually or monthly or whatever.
But if it also means that it'sgoing to stabilize their
(03:36):
business model and make themmore sustainable going forward
and give them some more cashflow to do better things, we'll
hope that's where it's going.
We'll hope it's not just astagnant, the plus doesn't show
up and that's the onlyimprovement that they make.
There we go.
We we I hope that they actuallyhave, and you may have looked
into this, Jim, you have to letus know.
I hope there's some solid plansof where they're taking this and
(03:56):
what their ideas are.
If they're actually going toimprove it and keep the business
model going, it doesn't hurt myfeelings too bad.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
So I I do have a question on the was it$200 a
month model?
$199 is the uh the base model,and then$299 a year is the early
access model.
And it gives you early access.
SPEAKER_02 (04:14):
So are you paying money to be a beta tester or are
they giving you flushed outtechnology at that point as
well?
Because as Rory said, a lot ofcompanies do this because RD is
expensive to continuouslydevelop software is very
expensive.
So you know you're trying tocreate some recurring income to
have that cycle in.
But am I paying to be theprivilege of a beta tester?
And I guess that is going to bepart of the question.
SPEAKER_01 (04:36):
Yeah.
Well, you're asking the questionthat many of the flex radio
enthusiasts on Facebook in theirgroup are asking as well, which
is to say, uh, does paying theextra hundred dollars just make
me a beta tester for Flex?
And I think it's a fair questionto be honest with you.
Because the the answer is youare getting pre-release access
to some of these features in theway that they're describing it
right now.
(04:56):
Um, this is still a very freshchange for Flex, so it will
really remain to be seen howthey execute in the first year
and the transition from um whatis a perpetual license software
model or uh you know a anoccasional upgrade model.
Flex has only twice in the pastuh charged for upgrades from
major versions, right?
From uh two to three, forexample, uh major version
(05:18):
release.
They charged old radio users uha fee to upgrade.
But it is it is a very fairquestion.
And the answer is uh I thinkthat you kind of are at the$290,
uh$299 tier.
But uh the cool thing about thatis you do get to help shape some
of that development if they'reactually open to hearing
(05:39):
feedback, which we at this pointbelieve that they should be uh
if you're in that kind of uhtest group.
SPEAKER_02 (05:44):
I would hope if I'm paying some money to pay to play
there, that they would belistening to my feedback on how
the technology is evolving.
I I also question if this goesagainst sort of the ham ethos,
if you will.
Uh, hams are are kind ofnotoriously frugal, not calling
anyone out here.
I'm also a ham.
Hams are cheap.
Hams are cheap.
And we we like to build our own.
And and I know the flextechnology has always been a
(06:07):
radio system, and I can honestlysay I'm not a flex user, so
don't come at me.
I understand that I maybe don'tunderstand what I'm talking
about exactly.
Um but flex has always kind ofgone and it's more of a premium
product.
You're you're paying fortechnology, you're paying for
the SDR experience and theremote experience.
But does this kind of go againsteverything that is ham?
I mean, you're now paying for asoftware license, and I guess
(06:30):
the the question is the otherthing Hams have always kind of
and I'm interested in the chatif anyone feels this way.
We radios have always had a longlead development cycle.
They develop them, they put themout, they put a lot of RD into
them, and then they have a longlife cycle, multiple years,
decades even.
If you look at the 7300, forexample, does this help
accelerate shorter developmentcycles?
(06:51):
Are we gonna get newer radiotechnology quicker?
Therefore, Hams will be morehappy, or are we just spending
money to spend money and thiswon't work?
SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
I wonder if they're going to continue to focus on on
the hardware as much as thesoftware too.
You know, what what where doesthat land?
I I wonder what their long-termplans are for su uh for hardware
development.
Um I know on on Jim's Flex thatuh we'll go full transparency on
has been moved along from theshack with interesting timing.
(07:21):
I don't know if Jim had insiderinformation.
I know he did not.
I'm I shouldn't even I shouldn'teven speculate.
I know he did not.
It was just a uh a timing thingthere.
Um and I I hear the neighborsare out with their dogs because
of course why wouldn't you dothat while I'm trying to record
a podcast?
SPEAKER_02 (07:37):
I mean it is it is beautiful outside though.
SPEAKER_00 (07:39):
You can't okay.
So I I that made me lose mytrain of thought, which is
great.
But I hope they're with playingwith Jim's Flex, the hardware,
the hardware side of it.
I I learned to enjoy thesoftware side of it.
The hardware side of it, though,I think had some work to do.
At least on the version you had,the receiver wasn't what I would
expect it to have been, and acouple other minor things.
So I hope they're gonna continueto spend uh development time on
(08:01):
on both sides with this withthis subscription model.
SPEAKER_01 (08:04):
Well, there's a couple of things you guys asked
there that I think we shouldclarify, and and I encourage
anybody that's actually uhimpacted by this flex change,
which uh if you own a flexradio, essentially you will be
impacted in some way.
And of course, you couldcontinue to run Smart SDR 31010,
which is where I ended up uhwith the last major release, was
uh was on my radio, and that'llbe perpetually available to you.
(08:26):
But two things to say here.
If you decide not to buy intothe the smart SDR plus uh
subscription model, what Flex ispromising is that you get a
smart SDR version that is thenext major release, so they're
not gonna leave you stuck backon version three, for example.
You're gonna get version four,which is the next planned major
release, uh, but you won't getany of the new features that are
(08:49):
developed in version four.
So you'll get all of the corefunctionality of your radio that
came from three version three,but you won't get any of those
new fancy features.
What you'll see is essentiallyuh like buying a car with a
lower trim spec, you see allthose blank buttons uh in the
dashboard, right?
You're gonna see that same thingin Smart SDR.
Those those buttons will begrayed out for you.
(09:10):
You won't have access to them.
SPEAKER_02 (09:11):
And is it gonna pop up with ads that you can hit
this button if you upgrade now?
Because we're gonna be atraining experience.
SPEAKER_01 (09:17):
They make a comment that there is a tool tip that
suggests that you subscribe whenyou hover over the button.
But I don't know what that lookslike yet, and I'm not sure that
that vision is fully executed.
So we'll we'll find out what thehow intrusive the the
subscription part of thatreminder is.
Uh, but for me, that's one ofthe things that would stand out
as a bit of a concern, right?
When we go to subscriptionsoftware, we don't it it there
(09:39):
is a benefit to the company, ofcourse, to encourage you to go
subscription.
I work in a uh in a businesswhere we recently did uh
transition into subscription,and obviously there's huge
recurring revenue benefits uhfor many reasons that we've
touched on in brief here alreadytoday.
So yeah, you'll you will get uhif you're not a subscriber,
version four.
And the other cool thing thatFlex is doing.
SPEAKER_02 (10:00):
So you're getting security up, not to interrupt
you, Jim, but you're gettingsecurity updates is basically
what they're gonna give you inthe latest version.
They're gonna tease you with newfeatures and you're getting
security updates, which is good.
SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
But you get core radio fun core radio
functionality, you won't loseanything that you have right
now, right?
And you get bug fixes.
Bug fixes and security updatesso that the platform stays
secure, which I can appreciatethat, right?
Instead of having folks hangingout back on old versions because
they refuse to upgrade, you givethem the base model and you let
them let them operate.
(10:29):
So, yeah, you're gonna get smartsmart SDR version four, uh, even
if you don't subscribe, butyou're gonna have the advantage
of seeing these new features.
Now, I want to go back tosomething that Rory asked, which
I think was an extremely fairask and something that Flex has
yet to prove to us, which isshow us a roadmap if you are
going to start charging asignificant or a premium fee.
(10:50):
And$200, and I understandthere's a lot of Flex Radio
folks that are well to do andhave money.
And I've I've seen folks uh inthe Flex Radio Enthusiast group
defending this move, saying,well, 200 bucks is, you know,
just like your cable bill forthe year, or just, you know, and
comparing it to other thingsthat they consider to be menial.
$200 to one ham is a little bitdifferent than$200 to another
(11:11):
ham.
It really depends on yourfinancial situation.
And if you're a flex user now,uh it could feel a little bit,
you know, like, yeah, you'repushing it under the rug calling
$200 an inexpensivesubscription.
It depends on the the user.
So all that being said, theroadmap, back to the roadmap
here, has not been revealed forwhat we will see in premium.
And I do think that if you aremoving to this platform, there
(11:35):
will be an expectation of highertransparency when it comes to
what you're doing with thesoftware development.
And let's hope that Flex hasthat in the plan.
Because right now, when we comewith, hey, we're changing to
subscription service, you reallydo have to sell the user on what
the benefit of if of going tothat$200 platform is.
SPEAKER_02 (11:53):
Well, and even individuals let's say have the
money to spend.
We've seen this model in otherindustries be laughed at.
Uh, let's look at BMW sellingsubscription services and
Mercedes selling the heatedseats.
Yeah.
The heated seats or in theelectric vehicles, uh, the range
extender.
It's the bigger battery, but youcould have to pay more money for
the range extension.
And those are premium vehiclesat premium prices that people
(12:14):
are purchasing and would not paythe extra premium just for a
subscription to get heatedseats.
So I'm I'd be curious to see howit plays out.
But also, Flex is no strangerto, let's say, a more uh not say
controversial, butnon-traditional path to releases
or models in the ham community.
We look at the Aurora releaseand how they were were
(12:35):
scheduling those distribution ofradios.
They had sort of a tiered systemfor how much you pay is when you
get your radio uh based on yourpre-release deposit.
Uh that wasn't interesting atthe time, and and now they're
doing subscriptions.
And I think there's a place forflex in the ham radio world.
I'm curious to see how thisworks out for them, though, and
what the pushback is.
SPEAKER_00 (12:54):
You know, that I had forgotten about that.
We we all had conversation aboutthe the way that they uh
released their their radiosbased on on your payment or or
deposit.
That that was an interestingbusiness model we all discussed.
I think we had that conversationat Dayton when we were walking
through their um theirdemonstration there.
That was that was that wasinteresting.
Now I'll tell you, I didn't carefor that presentation.
(13:16):
I'm I'm I'm more open to asubscription fee than than being
put further down the linebecause of how I paid or or
chose to uh purchase my radio.
SPEAKER_02 (13:25):
And and we did ignore when we talked about
hardware.
This is, you know, they do havethe Aurora and some other more
cutting-edge hardware that theywere developing and spending RD
on and coming out with as well.
So we we should give them somefair credit there that that is
something that's they're pushingforward, I guess, the market a
little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Yeah, so a couple other things I think that are
are kind of worth mentioninghere, and and and as I've
monitored the flex community'ssort of feedback on this, it's
been sort of mixed, right?
Uh and and I think that Flex istaking a fairly reasonable
approach to the subscription.
So I'm gonna say that I'm nottotally against it.
When I first saw uh that theywere going subscription, uh,
(14:02):
that word subscription hasconnotations for me that don't
feel consumer friendly all thetime.
So I really had to understand byreading what they were saying uh
whether or not I felt okay aboutit.
And the answer is ultimatelyafter reading this, and I again
I encourage you to go read uhexciting news, a smarter SDR
licensing model over in the FlexCommunity Forum, because it is
(14:24):
really, really uh well thought,it tells you what you need to
know.
Uh, and they are answeringquestions.
They are trying to be astransparent as possible.
But the answer is I I think thisis a pretty fair model, and I'll
tell you why I think that istrue.
If I decide right now, if Istill had my Flex 6400 ATU,
right, if I decided to go aheadand pay that first year
subscription for uh$199, I'm notgonna be an early adopter, but
(14:47):
I'm just gonna pay the basesubscription model.
Anything that gets released, andI'm hoping that they have a
couple of cool things lined upfor the first year, right?
Because that would make me feelgood as a first year subscriber
to this new model, right?
Would be mine even after my mysubscription ended.
And I do like that approach toit.
So everything that gets releasedfor the 12 months after your
(15:07):
subscription, they're saying youwill be entitled to perpetually
afterwards.
So for me, that feels like apretty diplomatic approach to
subscription.
Uh, it is not going to say, oh,no, at the end of your$199
12-month subscription, you goback, you go back to the base
model, right?
You've essentially bought allthe features that were released
during that 12-monthsubscription.
(15:28):
So for me, that is the bigsaving grace here.
And I think that's why I'm notfeeling so terrible about this,
this, this flex radiosubscription model.
And I do think that that is theone thing here uh that really
does feel uh consumer first fromthis perspective that I have on
it, is I can perhaps wait thatfirst year out and see what
other folks get out of it.
(15:49):
And then I can subscribe in thesecond year and get all the
advantages because theyretroactively add the features
that you missed in the firstyear according to their document
that they've provided.
They're going to give you accessto all the things you missed in
that first year if you subscribein the second, plus all of the
second year, right?
So I can wait a year, see howthings look, and then go ahead
and subscribe if I think thatthey're doing a good job.
(16:10):
So that would be my uh sort ofcalculated approach to this.
I wouldn't be an early uhadopter of Flex's subscription
model because right now I don'tthink that they have a track
record yet for uh showing usthat they can develop.
Um, they are have beentraditionally rather slow to
release major uh versions, andthey have claimed that it is, of
course, finite resources.
(16:32):
And so by adding thesubscription model, we're gonna
hopefully free up some of thoseresource problems and get some
uh attention on the on the onthe software.
Now, one other thing to thinkabout here, the flex 6000
series, of course, hasessentially been outmoded by the
8000 series and of course nowthe Aurora.
Uh, and if you are still on thatold Flex uh uh platform, and we
(16:53):
talked hardware early in thisconversation, uh it it remains
to be seen whether or not you'regoing to see any benefits from
the new features that theyintroduce.
And I will be very curious uh ifsome of the new noise reduction
stuff that people have beenasking for for years or more at
this point is going to bebackwards compatible.
If I were flex and I could makeit work on the processor that's
(17:15):
in the 6400, I certainly would Iwould certainly be uh uh
providing that to my mycustomers.
I think that there's onlyadvantage because we know that
the hardware is no longer wherefolks are making money, right?
In this business, it's thesoftware.
And and as a recurring revenuemodel is concerned, uh, that is
exactly where I think they'rethey're gonna be banking on
making it.
SPEAKER_02 (17:36):
Did they mention that if you buy, so I'm ponying
up the full dollar amount for anAurora on a pre pre-order,
right?
Let's say I'm on the top tier inthe reservation list.
Do I get a year of thesubscription included or two
years of the subscriptionincluded?
Because I feel like, you know, II should with my new radio
purchase.
And that's usually how theyentice you.
Here's all the features, but Iguess if they're not going to
(17:56):
take features away, like yousaid, then maybe maybe not.
But I'm curious if that's gonnabe part of it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
Yep.
It's it's a great question.
And actually it's one that'sbeen asked in the uh Flex Radio
Enthusiasts uh conversationthere.
I haven't seen the answer yet,so I'll be curious to know what
they're going to do.
I think that a uh a baselinetype of thing, and and this is
my this is how I would like tosee it done, and I think exactly
what you're describing here aswell, is if you buy a brand new
(18:22):
radio, it would be nice to seethat you're entitled for a year
uh to the the radio updates, uh,and then you go from there,
right?
You've just dropped uh for theAurora close to eight, seven,
seven thousand dollars, I think,or eight thousand dollars and so
yeah, it would be nice to seethat included for the first
year, and then moving forward,uh, I could be expected to pay.
But it that's one of thosethings where I think the
(18:43):
business really needs to look atthe optics of when I'm buying a
premium product and the Aurorais a premium product, even the
8,000 series is a premiumproduct.
You can argue with me whether ornot you believe that now that we
see both of them side by side,but these are both premium radio
products.
I think that it would be nice tosee that one-year subscription,
but I don't that has not beendetailed specifically uh in this
(19:03):
particular um an early pressrelease on the topic.
SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
So I I guess I'd I'd like to ask the audience, what
do they think?
Where are they at with thesubscription model, not just for
Flex, but across all the radiomanufacturers?
Uh is this something you'd liketo see?
Getting more features, gettingfaster RD time?
Uh where are you at?
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
And is this going to trickle down to our other uh,
you know, radio manufacturers?
Flex is a smaller player in thegame right now, and they have
been for a long time, but theyare certainly not one that we
can we can discount, right?
Flex has been around a longwhile.
There are many uh enthusiastFlex users.
I thought the radio was anexcellent radio.
I moved it along because Ichanged around a little bit my
(19:42):
system, and I'm quick to move onradios as it goes.
But uh, I'd be really curious,you know, is this something that
is a signal to the radio marketin a in a much bigger way?
Uh, is this where we're headed?
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
It makes me wonder.
SPEAKER_01 (19:55):
You're looking, you're watching.
SPEAKER_00 (19:56):
It makes me wonder as well.
You know, one of our our topicsback several one of our earlier
episodes is where artificialintelligence is going to come
into amateur radio.
And who knows, maybe maybethey've got some plans for
adding some of the more advancedsoftware things that we see
elsewhere, not just radiorelated, into their platform,
which would be interesting tosee.
I'm being super hopeful thatthat this money for the for the
(20:19):
subscription-based service isgiving them a pool for pool for
development and a pool to toimprove things and take it to
the moon.
Because really, with the cashflow of that, to get get a few
more dollars in on a recurringbasis, I'm sure they can hire a
few more people, hire a few morespecialists, I would hope, and
and bring some new stuff onboard.
So I'm I'm staying hopeful aboutit.
I I didn't we all know we talkedabout the flex.
(20:42):
I I'm like, what am I what wouldI ever do with a flex, uh an SDR
HF rig that I gotta controlthrough my screen?
And I ended up I ended up likingit for for the for the time that
I got to play with it.
So uh could one appear in myshack someday, potentially.
And uh, would I subscribe to it?
I think I would subscribe to itif I owned one.
(21:03):
So there's there's the two centsfrom my side.
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
Couple couple last thoughts on this, because I know
if you're just hearing this forthe first time, uh, you're
probably wondering, and we'retrying to cover everything as
fairly as we can on this topicbecause it is one of those
topics that gets people workedup.
Um if you have multiple flexradios, and this is another fair
question that got asked (21:22):
do I get one subscription and get to
upgrade all of my flex radios?
Because in many cases, uh youbuy one and uh, well, one is
none as a ham radio operator.
So if I have two or four, I'veI've seen people with four flex
radios, if you can believe it.
Uh, do I get one subscriptionand then does everything get
upgraded?
(21:43):
Flex is tying a subscription toan individual piece of hardware.
So that for that for me was uhone of the things that I was
yeah, I was a little bummed onthat front.
Yep.
Um done.
And and the reason I say thatout loud is uh, you know,
subscription has advantages, ofcourse, for the seller, right?
For the business.
Uh if we are going to say, okay,Jim, uh, go ahead and buy the
(22:07):
subscription, and I'm happy tobuy it in this this uh fictional
case, right?
And I have four flex radios, Iexpect to have my back scratched
a little bit too.
So uh I agree with James on thisone.
I would like to see them handlemultiple radios uh to a single
registered owner uh in a betterway.
Uh and I don't know if thatmeans you know my baseline
subscription is$299, and theneach of my add-on radios is
(22:30):
another$50 to keep it on the uh,you know, most often on the
Apple subscription model.
Yeah.
Right, right.
Because the because hitting mefor$300 on each radio uh as a
single user, that feels lessawesome.
SPEAKER_02 (22:44):
So is my subscription then transferable?
If I sell the radio, is thatthen transferable to the next
owner since it's tied to theradio?
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
That is a good question, and it's not covered
in anything, but I think that'sa good question.
Somebody should be asking.
Yep.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
So I'm buying that subscription to that device.
I think it would be somethingthey they should look at.
That would be a critical thingfrom my side for people that you
mentioned that have two and fourand have multiple flex radios.
There's probably a good reason.
Those people dumped a ton ofmoney on the hardware.
Yeah.
Give them a break and do somesort of enterprise license for
(23:17):
for something or a family planor or something.
I think I think that's a littlelittle short-sighted.
I can see them wanting to, youknow, kind of keep track of it
and not have friends sharinglicense keys with with each
other and keep that, you know,from sure.
But uh I think if you've got uhyou know uh an older version of
NHJRD who's moved north and hasfour barns across his 80 acres
(23:40):
with a flex in each barn, givethe guy a break.
SPEAKER_02 (23:43):
Well, and and can I transfer it?
Can I transfer radio?
So let's use the gym example.
I have a summer home, I have avacation home on the lake.
Can I can I transfer my licenseto my radio up north, you know,
on my vacation home, and thentransfer it back to my home
radio?
Or or no?
I mean, it raises so many morequestions as well in the
practicality of it.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
So I think we'll we'll wind it down here because
uh I do leave it, and Jamesalready posed some of the
questions to you guys as theaudience.
What do you think ofsubscription?
Do you think it's coming toradios other than Flex?
And what do you think of Flex'sapproach to it right here?
Because I do think there's somediplomacy here, uh, but I do
think that they have some thingsthat still need to be
understood, ironed out, and uhproven to us as consumers uh so
(24:25):
that we know that it's worth ourmoney.
But the answer really is uhgoing to subscription is hard
for the company that is going tosubscription.
We just went through thistransition uh at the business
that I work at.
It's a tough, it's a tough road.
Uh, and there's a lot involvedin going to subscription and
making all of the things workthe way that your uh consumers
are going to expect.
And so I think Flex has some uhtough questions still to answer.
(24:48):
I hope that they've got a uh ateam on this thing and that
they've already uh have theforesight uh to uh have gotten
some of those things writtendown.
If they made the announcementand they're still trying to
figure those things out, theannouncement feels a little
early to me.
But again, uh you know, going tosubscription is tough, and I
think that uh we're gonna seesome of this uh uh mold and
change uh as we get thatcustomer feedback.
(25:10):
And so I'm I'm glad we had theconversation this morning, guys.
I think this just gets more uhmore folks on the topic thinking
about it and perhaps givingfeedback to Flex uh so that they
can make the right decisionsmoving forward.
But that's the f go ahead, Jim.
Rory, are you are you in or out?
SPEAKER_00 (25:26):
I would be in.
And yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:29):
I'm uh I'm in on the second year and uh I'm out after
that uh until they show me someanother other features, right?
What I'm doing is essentiallyI'm gonna buy the full feature
package uh in the second year,uh get myself all upgraded, and
then I'm gonna put it on pauseagain.
SPEAKER_00 (25:43):
Right.
That would have been the parttwo of my my being in is is I
would be in long enough to makesure that it's the value is
there and the and they'redelivering like I would expect
them to.
That would be that would be thecaveat to me being in.
You're out, James?
SPEAKER_02 (25:57):
I'm out.
Out, out, out.
I don't like it.
I I'm gonna be a grumpy old man.
I I don't like the change.
Yeah.
That's fair.
SPEAKER_00 (26:07):
You never did have a chance to work the flex, though.
SPEAKER_02 (26:09):
Uh I wonder, I wonder I didn't I'm not
hypnotized by the magic of theflex.
SPEAKER_00 (26:14):
I wonder if that has to do with your decision there.
It would be a tough call for me.
But like I said, if the productis delivering, I would I would
be open to it.
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
I j I just I I don't like it.
I don't I it raises too manyquestions.
I I I I just I just don't likeit.
But that's my that's me.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
Post down in the post down in the comments, guys,
if you're in or out on on Flexuh and subscription too.
We just be curious.
Uh it's a good uh it's a goodtopic.
But thanks for sharing a cup ofcoffee this morning with us.
Yeah.
This is the Everyday Ham.
Uh we'll be back with ourregularly scheduled episode here
in the coming week.
Uh, we have dropped quite a bitof new content this month,
trying some new things.
(26:51):
We have a Poda Rove out there.
If you haven't checked it out,uh I encourage you to do so.
Uh, we're continuing tobrainstorm uh on good ideas.
So feel free to uh join us onthe Discord uh or uh find us at
everydayham.com uh where you canfind all of our social media
links.
This is NHJRD saying 73s 73,guys.
(27:12):
Bye-bye.
Good evening.
Good morning.
It's the Everyday Ham, and we'redoing a little bit of something
different here today.
We've all got our coffee.
It is Saturday morning at 10o'clock in the morning, which is
earlier than I like to be up,I'm not going to lie.
But we thought we'd get togetherand do a little coffee chat this
morning because the Flex Radiofolks made a fairly significant
announcement this week relatedto how they're licensing their
(00:24):
software moving forward.
And so what I wanted to do waskind of sit down and James and
Rory and I talked about this alittle bit beforehand and talk
about what that new licensingmodel looks like, how it's going
to impact those Flex Radiousers, and decide whether or not
we think it's a good idea ornot.
So before I get into it, acouple of folks with me today,
James Mills, K-H-J-K-U, RoryLocke, W8KNX, and myself, Jim
(00:48):
NHJRD, Jim Davis, if you care.
So let's get right into it,guys.
Flex Radio this week announcedtheir new subscription service
for their radios.
And subscription service is abit of a um, I'm not going to
call it a misnomer, but it's aninteresting way to describe what
they're calling a new licensingmodel.
So we'll dive into it a littlebit further, but the flo the the
brass tacks of this is they havetwo levels.
(01:08):
Uh you'll be able to spend$199annually, so once a year, uh,
and you'll have access to thenew Smart SDR Plus service, uh,
which will give you the mostrecent version of their Smart
SDR software.
And if you're interested inbeing a sort of early adopter of
all things Flex Radio, you cango up to their$299 tier, which
(01:29):
is the Smart SDR Plus earlyaccess tier.
And that'll give you access tofeatures as they're being
developed, as they're beingtested, and that'll let you see
some of the new things that arecoming out on the platform
before they go to fullproduction.
So it's a really interestingmodel, and I want to get uh kind
of some of your initial blusheson it.
But what we'll what we'll sayright out loud before we get too
(01:51):
far into this is if you aresubscribed to Smart SDR, uh
you're you're gonna get accessto all of these features,
whatever they bring to us uh inthe next year.
Uh but if you're not subscribed,you're still gonna have access
to their latest major versionrelease, which is actually what
makes this a little bitinteresting for those folks that
aren't willing to shell out themoney.
(02:11):
So I don't know what you guyshave looked at yet, but I'll be
curious what your first blush ison smart SDR going to a
subscription service.
SPEAKER_02 (02:19):
If it's got a plus in the name, then it's gotta be
a benefit, right?
That that's how that works nowin the naming conventions.
SPEAKER_00 (02:28):
Rory, do you have any?
I think it's so much just likeeverything else we're seeing in
every every software model atthis point.
Whether, you know, a lot of usdeal at work, yeah, Jim, it's
what you kind of do for aliving.
I am on the purchasing andmanagement side of it.
James, I know, interfaces withwith certain amount of
technology at work too.
(02:48):
Um, we're seeing this more andmore.
And I know from a from a workstandpoint, it's something that
we now have to budget for isthings that were used to be a
one-time purchase have becomesubscription-based or um
software as a service typething, or whatever you want to
call it.
So it's it's kind of um I see ittwo ways.
One, I think if I owned a flexand I truly was interested in
(03:13):
it, I think I would probably beokay with it.
I would probably annoy me, but Iwould probably subscribe and
just deal with it because it'swhat I want to have in my shack.
But I also know that I would beannoyed with another thing
that's gonna cost me money withanother, another, you know, any
sort of frequency, whether it'sannually or monthly or whatever.
But if it also means that it'sgoing to stabilize their
(03:36):
business model and make themmore sustainable going forward
and give them some more cashflow to do better things, we'll
hope that's where it's going.
We'll hope it's not just astagnant, the plus doesn't show
up and that's the onlyimprovement that they make.
There we go.
We we I hope that they actuallyhave, and you may have looked
into this, Jim, you have to letus know.
I hope there's some solid plansof where they're taking this and
(03:56):
what their ideas are.
If they're actually going toimprove it and keep the business
model going, it doesn't hurt myfeelings too bad.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
So I I do have a question on the was it$200 a
month model?
$199 is the uh the base model,and then$299 a year is the early
access model.
And it gives you early access.
SPEAKER_02 (04:14):
So are you paying money to be a beta tester or are
they giving you flushed outtechnology at that point as
well?
Because as Rory said, a lot ofcompanies do this because RD is
expensive to continuouslydevelop software is very
expensive.
So you know you're trying tocreate some recurring income to
have that cycle in.
But am I paying to be theprivilege of a beta tester?
And I guess that is going to bepart of the question.
SPEAKER_01 (04:36):
Yeah.
Well, you're asking the questionthat many of the flex radio
enthusiasts on Facebook in theirgroup are asking as well, which
is to say, uh, does paying theextra hundred dollars just make
me a beta tester for Flex?
And I think it's a fair questionto be honest with you.
Because the the answer is youare getting pre-release access
to some of these features in theway that they're describing it
right now.
(04:56):
Um, this is still a very freshchange for Flex, so it will
really remain to be seen howthey execute in the first year
and the transition from um whatis a perpetual license software
model or uh you know a anoccasional upgrade model.
Flex has only twice in the pastuh charged for upgrades from
major versions, right?
From uh two to three, forexample, uh major version
(05:18):
release.
They charged old radio users uha fee to upgrade.
But it is it is a very fairquestion.
And the answer is uh I thinkthat you kind of are at the$290,
uh$299 tier.
But uh the cool thing about thatis you do get to help shape some
of that development if they'reactually open to hearing
(05:39):
feedback, which we at this pointbelieve that they should be uh
if you're in that kind of uhtest group.
SPEAKER_02 (05:44):
I would hope if I'm paying some money to pay to play
there, that they would belistening to my feedback on how
the technology is evolving.
I I also question if this goesagainst sort of the ham ethos,
if you will.
Uh, hams are are kind ofnotoriously frugal, not calling
anyone out here.
I'm also a ham.
Hams are cheap.
Hams are cheap.
And we we like to build our own.
And and I know the flextechnology has always been a
(06:07):
radio system, and I can honestlysay I'm not a flex user, so
don't come at me.
I understand that I maybe don'tunderstand what I'm talking
about exactly.
Um but flex has always kind ofgone and it's more of a premium
product.
You're you're paying fortechnology, you're paying for
the SDR experience and theremote experience.
But does this kind of go againsteverything that is ham?
I mean, you're now paying for asoftware license, and I guess
(06:30):
the the question is the otherthing Hams have always kind of
and I'm interested in the chatif anyone feels this way.
We radios have always had a longlead development cycle.
They develop them, they put themout, they put a lot of RD into
them, and then they have a longlife cycle, multiple years,
decades even.
If you look at the 7300, forexample, does this help
accelerate shorter developmentcycles?
(06:51):
Are we gonna get newer radiotechnology quicker?
Therefore, Hams will be morehappy, or are we just spending
money to spend money and thiswon't work?
SPEAKER_00 (07:00):
I wonder if they're going to continue to focus on on
the hardware as much as thesoftware too.
You know, what what where doesthat land?
I I wonder what their long-termplans are for su uh for hardware
development.
Um I know on on Jim's Flex thatuh we'll go full transparency on
has been moved along from theshack with interesting timing.
(07:21):
I don't know if Jim had insiderinformation.
I know he did not.
I'm I shouldn't even I shouldn'teven speculate.
I know he did not.
It was just a uh a timing thingthere.
Um and I I hear the neighborsare out with their dogs because
of course why wouldn't you dothat while I'm trying to record
a podcast?
SPEAKER_02 (07:37):
I mean it is it is beautiful outside though.
SPEAKER_00 (07:39):
You can't okay.
So I I that made me lose mytrain of thought, which is
great.
But I hope they're with playingwith Jim's Flex, the hardware,
the hardware side of it.
I I learned to enjoy thesoftware side of it.
The hardware side of it, though,I think had some work to do.
At least on the version you had,the receiver wasn't what I would
expect it to have been, and acouple other minor things.
So I hope they're gonna continueto spend uh development time on
(08:01):
on both sides with this withthis subscription model.
SPEAKER_01 (08:04):
Well, there's a couple of things you guys asked
there that I think we shouldclarify, and and I encourage
anybody that's actually uhimpacted by this flex change,
which uh if you own a flexradio, essentially you will be
impacted in some way.
And of course, you couldcontinue to run Smart SDR 31010,
which is where I ended up uhwith the last major release, was
uh was on my radio, and that'llbe perpetually available to you.
(08:26):
But two things to say here.
If you decide not to buy intothe the smart SDR plus uh
subscription model, what Flex ispromising is that you get a
smart SDR version that is thenext major release, so they're
not gonna leave you stuck backon version three, for example.
You're gonna get version four,which is the next planned major
release, uh, but you won't getany of the new features that are
(08:49):
developed in version four.
So you'll get all of the corefunctionality of your radio that
came from three version three,but you won't get any of those
new fancy features.
What you'll see is essentiallyuh like buying a car with a
lower trim spec, you see allthose blank buttons uh in the
dashboard, right?
You're gonna see that same thingin Smart SDR.
Those those buttons will begrayed out for you.
(09:10):
You won't have access to them.
SPEAKER_02 (09:11):
And is it gonna pop up with ads that you can hit
this button if you upgrade now?
Because we're gonna be atraining experience.
SPEAKER_01 (09:17):
They make a comment that there is a tool tip that
suggests that you subscribe whenyou hover over the button.
But I don't know what that lookslike yet, and I'm not sure that
that vision is fully executed.
So we'll we'll find out what thehow intrusive the the
subscription part of thatreminder is.
Uh, but for me, that's one ofthe things that would stand out
as a bit of a concern, right?
When we go to subscriptionsoftware, we don't it it there
(09:39):
is a benefit to the company, ofcourse, to encourage you to go
subscription.
I work in a uh in a businesswhere we recently did uh
transition into subscription,and obviously there's huge
recurring revenue benefits uhfor many reasons that we've
touched on in brief here alreadytoday.
So yeah, you'll you will get uhif you're not a subscriber,
version four.
And the other cool thing thatFlex is doing.
SPEAKER_02 (10:00):
So you're getting security up, not to interrupt
you, Jim, but you're gettingsecurity updates is basically
what they're gonna give you inthe latest version.
They're gonna tease you with newfeatures and you're getting
security updates, which is good.
SPEAKER_01 (10:09):
But you get core radio fun core radio
functionality, you won't loseanything that you have right
now, right?
And you get bug fixes.
Bug fixes and security updatesso that the platform stays
secure, which I can appreciatethat, right?
Instead of having folks hangingout back on old versions because
they refuse to upgrade, you givethem the base model and you let
them let them operate.
(10:29):
So, yeah, you're gonna get smartsmart SDR version four, uh, even
if you don't subscribe, butyou're gonna have the advantage
of seeing these new features.
Now, I want to go back tosomething that Rory asked, which
I think was an extremely fairask and something that Flex has
yet to prove to us, which isshow us a roadmap if you are
going to start charging asignificant or a premium fee.
(10:50):
And$200, and I understandthere's a lot of Flex Radio
folks that are well to do andhave money.
And I've I've seen folks uh inthe Flex Radio Enthusiast group
defending this move, saying,well, 200 bucks is, you know,
just like your cable bill forthe year, or just, you know, and
comparing it to other thingsthat they consider to be menial.
$200 to one ham is a little bitdifferent than$200 to another
(11:11):
ham.
It really depends on yourfinancial situation.
And if you're a flex user now,uh it could feel a little bit,
you know, like, yeah, you'repushing it under the rug calling
$200 an inexpensivesubscription.
It depends on the the user.
So all that being said, theroadmap, back to the roadmap
here, has not been revealed forwhat we will see in premium.
And I do think that if you aremoving to this platform, there
(11:35):
will be an expectation of highertransparency when it comes to
what you're doing with thesoftware development.
And let's hope that Flex hasthat in the plan.
Because right now, when we comewith, hey, we're changing to
subscription service, you reallydo have to sell the user on what
the benefit of if of going tothat$200 platform is.
SPEAKER_02 (11:53):
Well, and even individuals let's say have the
money to spend.
We've seen this model in otherindustries be laughed at.
Uh, let's look at BMW sellingsubscription services and
Mercedes selling the heatedseats.
Yeah.
The heated seats or in theelectric vehicles, uh, the range
extender.
It's the bigger battery, but youcould have to pay more money for
the range extension.
And those are premium vehiclesat premium prices that people
(12:14):
are purchasing and would not paythe extra premium just for a
subscription to get heatedseats.
So I'm I'd be curious to see howit plays out.
But also, Flex is no strangerto, let's say, a more uh not say
controversial, butnon-traditional path to releases
or models in the ham community.
We look at the Aurora releaseand how they were were
(12:35):
scheduling those distribution ofradios.
They had sort of a tiered systemfor how much you pay is when you
get your radio uh based on yourpre-release deposit.
Uh that wasn't interesting atthe time, and and now they're
doing subscriptions.
And I think there's a place forflex in the ham radio world.
I'm curious to see how thisworks out for them, though, and
what the pushback is.
SPEAKER_00 (12:54):
You know, that I had forgotten about that.
We we all had conversation aboutthe the way that they uh
released their their radiosbased on on your payment or or
deposit.
That that was an interestingbusiness model we all discussed.
I think we had that conversationat Dayton when we were walking
through their um theirdemonstration there.
That was that was that wasinteresting.
Now I'll tell you, I didn't carefor that presentation.
(13:16):
I'm I'm I'm more open to asubscription fee than than being
put further down the linebecause of how I paid or or
chose to uh purchase my radio.
SPEAKER_02 (13:25):
And and we did ignore when we talked about
hardware.
This is, you know, they do havethe Aurora and some other more
cutting-edge hardware that theywere developing and spending RD
on and coming out with as well.
So we we should give them somefair credit there that that is
something that's they're pushingforward, I guess, the market a
little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (13:40):
Yeah, so a couple other things I think that are
are kind of worth mentioninghere, and and and as I've
monitored the flex community'ssort of feedback on this, it's
been sort of mixed, right?
Uh and and I think that Flex istaking a fairly reasonable
approach to the subscription.
So I'm gonna say that I'm nottotally against it.
When I first saw uh that theywere going subscription, uh,
(14:02):
that word subscription hasconnotations for me that don't
feel consumer friendly all thetime.
So I really had to understand byreading what they were saying uh
whether or not I felt okay aboutit.
And the answer is ultimatelyafter reading this, and I again
I encourage you to go read uhexciting news, a smarter SDR
licensing model over in the FlexCommunity Forum, because it is
(14:24):
really, really uh well thought,it tells you what you need to
know.
Uh, and they are answeringquestions.
They are trying to be astransparent as possible.
But the answer is I I think thisis a pretty fair model, and I'll
tell you why I think that istrue.
If I decide right now, if Istill had my Flex 6400 ATU,
right, if I decided to go aheadand pay that first year
subscription for uh$199, I'm notgonna be an early adopter, but
(14:47):
I'm just gonna pay the basesubscription model.
Anything that gets released, andI'm hoping that they have a
couple of cool things lined upfor the first year, right?
Because that would make me feelgood as a first year subscriber
to this new model, right?
Would be mine even after my mysubscription ended.
And I do like that approach toit.
So everything that gets releasedfor the 12 months after your
(15:07):
subscription, they're saying youwill be entitled to perpetually
afterwards.
So for me, that feels like apretty diplomatic approach to
subscription.
Uh, it is not going to say, oh,no, at the end of your$199
12-month subscription, you goback, you go back to the base
model, right?
You've essentially bought allthe features that were released
during that 12-monthsubscription.
(15:28):
So for me, that is the bigsaving grace here.
And I think that's why I'm notfeeling so terrible about this,
this, this flex radiosubscription model.
And I do think that that is theone thing here uh that really
does feel uh consumer first fromthis perspective that I have on
it, is I can perhaps wait thatfirst year out and see what
other folks get out of it.
(15:49):
And then I can subscribe in thesecond year and get all the
advantages because theyretroactively add the features
that you missed in the firstyear according to their document
that they've provided.
They're going to give you accessto all the things you missed in
that first year if you subscribein the second, plus all of the
second year, right?
So I can wait a year, see howthings look, and then go ahead
and subscribe if I think thatthey're doing a good job.
(16:10):
So that would be my uh sort ofcalculated approach to this.
I wouldn't be an early uhadopter of Flex's subscription
model because right now I don'tthink that they have a track
record yet for uh showing usthat they can develop.
Um, they are have beentraditionally rather slow to
release major uh versions, andthey have claimed that it is, of
course, finite resources.
(16:32):
And so by adding thesubscription model, we're gonna
hopefully free up some of thoseresource problems and get some
uh attention on the on the onthe software.
Now, one other thing to thinkabout here, the flex 6000
series, of course, hasessentially been outmoded by the
8000 series and of course nowthe Aurora.
Uh, and if you are still on thatold Flex uh uh platform, and we
(16:53):
talked hardware early in thisconversation, uh it it remains
to be seen whether or not you'regoing to see any benefits from
the new features that theyintroduce.
And I will be very curious uh ifsome of the new noise reduction
stuff that people have beenasking for for years or more at
this point is going to bebackwards compatible.
If I were flex and I could makeit work on the processor that's
(17:15):
in the 6400, I certainly would Iwould certainly be uh uh
providing that to my mycustomers.
I think that there's onlyadvantage because we know that
the hardware is no longer wherefolks are making money, right?
In this business, it's thesoftware.
And and as a recurring revenuemodel is concerned, uh, that is
exactly where I think they'rethey're gonna be banking on
making it.
SPEAKER_02 (17:36):
Did they mention that if you buy, so I'm ponying
up the full dollar amount for anAurora on a pre pre-order,
right?
Let's say I'm on the top tier inthe reservation list.
Do I get a year of thesubscription included or two
years of the subscriptionincluded?
Because I feel like, you know, II should with my new radio
purchase.
And that's usually how theyentice you.
Here's all the features, but Iguess if they're not going to
(17:56):
take features away, like yousaid, then maybe maybe not.
But I'm curious if that's gonnabe part of it.
SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
Yep.
It's it's a great question.
And actually it's one that'sbeen asked in the uh Flex Radio
Enthusiasts uh conversationthere.
I haven't seen the answer yet,so I'll be curious to know what
they're going to do.
I think that a uh a baselinetype of thing, and and this is
my this is how I would like tosee it done, and I think exactly
what you're describing here aswell, is if you buy a brand new
(18:22):
radio, it would be nice to seethat you're entitled for a year
uh to the the radio updates, uh,and then you go from there,
right?
You've just dropped uh for theAurora close to eight, seven,
seven thousand dollars, I think,or eight thousand dollars and so
yeah, it would be nice to seethat included for the first
year, and then moving forward,uh, I could be expected to pay.
But it that's one of thosethings where I think the
(18:43):
business really needs to look atthe optics of when I'm buying a
premium product and the Aurorais a premium product, even the
8,000 series is a premiumproduct.
You can argue with me whether ornot you believe that now that we
see both of them side by side,but these are both premium radio
products.
I think that it would be nice tosee that one-year subscription,
but I don't that has not beendetailed specifically uh in this
(19:03):
particular um an early pressrelease on the topic.
SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
So I I guess I'd I'd like to ask the audience, what
do they think?
Where are they at with thesubscription model, not just for
Flex, but across all the radiomanufacturers?
Uh is this something you'd liketo see?
Getting more features, gettingfaster RD time?
Uh where are you at?
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
And is this going to trickle down to our other uh,
you know, radio manufacturers?
Flex is a smaller player in thegame right now, and they have
been for a long time, but theyare certainly not one that we
can we can discount, right?
Flex has been around a longwhile.
There are many uh enthusiastFlex users.
I thought the radio was anexcellent radio.
I moved it along because Ichanged around a little bit my
(19:42):
system, and I'm quick to move onradios as it goes.
But uh, I'd be really curious,you know, is this something that
is a signal to the radio marketin a in a much bigger way?
Uh, is this where we're headed?
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
It makes me wonder.
SPEAKER_01 (19:55):
You're looking, you're watching.
SPEAKER_00 (19:56):
It makes me wonder as well.
You know, one of our our topicsback several one of our earlier
episodes is where artificialintelligence is going to come
into amateur radio.
And who knows, maybe maybethey've got some plans for
adding some of the more advancedsoftware things that we see
elsewhere, not just radiorelated, into their platform,
which would be interesting tosee.
I'm being super hopeful thatthat this money for the for the
(20:19):
subscription-based service isgiving them a pool for pool for
development and a pool to toimprove things and take it to
the moon.
Because really, with the cashflow of that, to get get a few
more dollars in on a recurringbasis, I'm sure they can hire a
few more people, hire a few morespecialists, I would hope, and
and bring some new stuff onboard.
So I'm I'm staying hopeful aboutit.
I I didn't we all know we talkedabout the flex.
(20:42):
I I'm like, what am I what wouldI ever do with a flex, uh an SDR
HF rig that I gotta controlthrough my screen?
And I ended up I ended up likingit for for the for the time that
I got to play with it.
So uh could one appear in myshack someday, potentially.
And uh, would I subscribe to it?
I think I would subscribe to itif I owned one.
(21:03):
So there's there's the two centsfrom my side.
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
Couple couple last thoughts on this, because I know
if you're just hearing this forthe first time, uh, you're
probably wondering, and we'retrying to cover everything as
fairly as we can on this topicbecause it is one of those
topics that gets people workedup.
Um if you have multiple flexradios, and this is another fair
question that got asked (21:22):
do I get one subscription and get to
upgrade all of my flex radios?
Because in many cases, uh youbuy one and uh, well, one is
none as a ham radio operator.
So if I have two or four, I'veI've seen people with four flex
radios, if you can believe it.
Uh, do I get one subscriptionand then does everything get
upgraded?
(21:43):
Flex is tying a subscription toan individual piece of hardware.
So that for that for me was uhone of the things that I was
yeah, I was a little bummed onthat front.
Yep.
Um done.
And and the reason I say thatout loud is uh, you know,
subscription has advantages, ofcourse, for the seller, right?
For the business.
Uh if we are going to say, okay,Jim, uh, go ahead and buy the
(22:07):
subscription, and I'm happy tobuy it in this this uh fictional
case, right?
And I have four flex radios, Iexpect to have my back scratched
a little bit too.
So uh I agree with James on thisone.
I would like to see them handlemultiple radios uh to a single
registered owner uh in a betterway.
Uh and I don't know if thatmeans you know my baseline
subscription is$299, and theneach of my add-on radios is
(22:30):
another$50 to keep it on the uh,you know, most often on the
Apple subscription model.
Yeah.
Right, right.
Because the because hitting mefor$300 on each radio uh as a
single user, that feels lessawesome.
SPEAKER_02 (22:44):
So is my subscription then transferable?
If I sell the radio, is thatthen transferable to the next
owner since it's tied to theradio?
SPEAKER_01 (22:51):
That is a good question, and it's not covered
in anything, but I think that'sa good question.
Somebody should be asking.
Yep.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
So I'm buying that subscription to that device.
I think it would be somethingthey they should look at.
That would be a critical thingfrom my side for people that you
mentioned that have two and fourand have multiple flex radios.
There's probably a good reason.
Those people dumped a ton ofmoney on the hardware.
Yeah.
Give them a break and do somesort of enterprise license for
(23:17):
for something or a family planor or something.
I think I think that's a littlelittle short-sighted.
I can see them wanting to, youknow, kind of keep track of it
and not have friends sharinglicense keys with with each
other and keep that, you know,from sure.
But uh I think if you've got uhyou know uh an older version of
NHJRD who's moved north and hasfour barns across his 80 acres
(23:40):
with a flex in each barn, givethe guy a break.
SPEAKER_02 (23:43):
Well, and and can I transfer it?
Can I transfer radio?
So let's use the gym example.
I have a summer home, I have avacation home on the lake.
Can I can I transfer my licenseto my radio up north, you know,
on my vacation home, and thentransfer it back to my home
radio?
Or or no?
I mean, it raises so many morequestions as well in the
practicality of it.
SPEAKER_01 (24:03):
So I think we'll we'll wind it down here because
uh I do leave it, and Jamesalready posed some of the
questions to you guys as theaudience.
What do you think ofsubscription?
Do you think it's coming toradios other than Flex?
And what do you think of Flex'sapproach to it right here?
Because I do think there's somediplomacy here, uh, but I do
think that they have some thingsthat still need to be
understood, ironed out, and uhproven to us as consumers uh so
(24:25):
that we know that it's worth ourmoney.
But the answer really is uhgoing to subscription is hard
for the company that is going tosubscription.
We just went through thistransition uh at the business
that I work at.
It's a tough, it's a tough road.
Uh, and there's a lot involvedin going to subscription and
making all of the things workthe way that your uh consumers
are going to expect.
And so I think Flex has some uhtough questions still to answer.
(24:48):
I hope that they've got a uh ateam on this thing and that
they've already uh have theforesight uh to uh have gotten
some of those things writtendown.
If they made the announcementand they're still trying to
figure those things out, theannouncement feels a little
early to me.
But again, uh you know, going tosubscription is tough, and I
think that uh we're gonna seesome of this uh uh mold and
change uh as we get thatcustomer feedback.
(25:10):
And so I'm I'm glad we had theconversation this morning, guys.
I think this just gets more uhmore folks on the topic thinking
about it and perhaps givingfeedback to Flex uh so that they
can make the right decisionsmoving forward.
But that's the f go ahead, Jim.
Rory, are you are you in or out?
SPEAKER_00 (25:26):
I would be in.
And yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (25:29):
I'm uh I'm in on the second year and uh I'm out after
that uh until they show me someanother other features, right?
What I'm doing is essentiallyI'm gonna buy the full feature
package uh in the second year,uh get myself all upgraded, and
then I'm gonna put it on pauseagain.
SPEAKER_00 (25:43):
Right.
That would have been the parttwo of my my being in is is I
would be in long enough to makesure that it's the value is
there and the and they'redelivering like I would expect
them to.
That would be that would be thecaveat to me being in.
You're out, James?
SPEAKER_02 (25:57):
I'm out.
Out, out, out.
I don't like it.
I I'm gonna be a grumpy old man.
I I don't like the change.
Yeah.
That's fair.
SPEAKER_00 (26:07):
You never did have a chance to work the flex, though.
SPEAKER_02 (26:09):
Uh I wonder, I wonder I didn't I'm not
hypnotized by the magic of theflex.
SPEAKER_00 (26:14):
I wonder if that has to do with your decision there.
It would be a tough call for me.
But like I said, if the productis delivering, I would I would
be open to it.
SPEAKER_02 (26:22):
I j I just I I don't like it.
I don't I it raises too manyquestions.
I I I I just I just don't likeit.
But that's my that's me.
SPEAKER_01 (26:30):
Post down in the post down in the comments, guys,
if you're in or out on on Flexuh and subscription too.
We just be curious.
Uh it's a good uh it's a goodtopic.
But thanks for sharing a cup ofcoffee this morning with us.
Yeah.
This is the Everyday Ham.
Uh we'll be back with ourregularly scheduled episode here
in the coming week.
Uh, we have dropped quite a bitof new content this month,
trying some new things.
(26:51):
We have a Poda Rove out there.
If you haven't checked it out,uh I encourage you to do so.
Uh, we're continuing tobrainstorm uh on good ideas.
So feel free to uh join us onthe Discord uh or uh find us at
everydayham.com uh where you canfind all of our social media
links.
This is NHJRD saying 73s 73,guys.
(27:12):
Bye-bye.
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