Lot's to choose from. All of the current Flex radios are good. And their soon to be released, 6000 Series are nice too. I got to try one out (6700) at the Belton, Tx
hamfest a few weeks ago. Did not get to transmit with it as their antenna was a long
wire on the ground. BUT, the receiver was hot and having so much spectrum to look at
was really nice. And the software (SmartSDR) while not completed at that time, seemed to work well. From what I have been told, the current "Flex Insider" Newsletter, states that the 6000 radios have begun to ship. Possibly to a few that ordered at Dayton. But, I have yet to hear of anyone, other than some beta testers, actually having one in hand yet.
Then there is the Anan series radios from Apache Labs. The latest one of those to ship is the Anan 100 and the 100D. Quite a few people here in the states are getting them now. (they are manufactured in India and shipped via FedEX here) There are several software packages that will work with the Anan radios, including a highly modified version of PowerSDR. Do a search on You Tube for the Anan-10 or 100D, or even their older radio the Hermes. And you'll find a lot of interesting videos and different versions of software for them. Prices for the Anan radios run about half or less, of the 6000 Series radios, depending on which radio you get. The Anan-10 is a ten watt radio and the 100 and 100D are 100 watt radios. The Anan radios use similar technology to the Flex 6000 Series radios. BUT, unlike the Flex 6000 radios which do all the processing within the radio, the Anan radios depend on an external PC for a lot of processing.
Similar to the older Flex radios, 1500,3000, and 5000. But, the Anan radios, because of the type of conversion they use, can display much greater bandwidth than the older Flex radios. And they are network enabled. The Anan radios have the ability to work at
full gigbit speeds on the network. Currently because of software, they are limited to 100Mb speeds on the network......but, that is soon to change as new firmware and software is coming out to up the speed. So, at the prices listed for the Anan radios, they are very competitive with Flex. And the Anan radio's software is Open Source and
FREE, unlike SmartSDR which will cost $200 a year for upgrades from Flex. (no charges for bug fixes, just for new features and abilities)
SDR is really starting to take off and I think, prices will drop. Don't know if the Flex radios will drop in price anytime soon, but, if enough competition shows up, like the Anan radios, then they just might drop sooner than later!
trucker