SmartSDR™ FlexRadio Systems‪®‬ 4+

After decades of working with Windows I Purchased this app to use with my new Mac Mini . It comes highly recommednded by many Flex Radio users. I must say that the software is superb . There are a few differences compared to the Windows version, DAX and CAT take a little getting used to but work fine for most common ham usage. I must take issue with a past review that says it does not work well for digital modes. The author mentions Loopback and Blackhole applications for audio routing. I tried both and found the free Blackhole to be the easiest to use. I use SmartSDR for Mac OS with Fldigi . For FT8 and RTTY I simply use the native "tool" that Marcus has built in ... because the FT8 tool performs as well as WSJTX and I think is visually more appealing. The POTA tool and DX Cluster features are also very well implemented. I have used 4 instances of the FT8 tool at the same time using a Flex 6600 and the FT8 implementation that Marcus designed. My Mac Mini M2 handles this well. The CAT port implementation in SmartSDR does not seem as flexible as the Windows version of SmartSDR CAT but I am not sure all that is needed. I am using SmartSDR for Mac with Yuri UT4LW's SDC Software Defoned Connectors . The two apps work well together and SDC allows me to use the Mac with SDC's CW and RTTY servers, plus SDC's contest modules.

Steve Jobs said, “It Just Works.. Seamlessly.” The same applies to SmartSDR for Mac. This is what Flex users with Macs have been waiting for, and it is well worth the money. I downloaded the app just a few minutes past midnight on the launch day. I fired up my Flex 6700 and 16” MacBook Pro, and I was off to the races. It literally took just a few minutes after downloading to get on the air. The app worked the first time with the settings in the same state that I had left the Flex in when I last used SmartSDR for Windows. A Mac version of FT8 is integral to the program via a drop-down from Tools on the menu bar. The functionality is very close to the WSJT-X standalone version for Windows. Other Tools include a Midi Controller (to replace the USB FlexControl dial which does not work with Mac), a helpful Network Stats pop-up, a Band Plan chart, a call sign lookup function, DX Cluster (your choice of a dozen), and a log book. So far, everything is working just as it should. I have not done any remote operating, however, due to coronavirus travel restrictions, but the SmartLink log-in is part of the app and always available. 73 de NV4NV

SmartSDR Mac not only works impeccably but includes several functions that require additional software using the Window SmartSDR (not to mention the sometimes strained integration under Windows). FT8 comes to mind but there are other 'Tools' included which Just Work.

The Tools menu content tells the tale: CW Keyer, Keyboard, Controller, Genius Devices, Band Plan, Frequency List, Call Lookup, DX Cluster, POTA, PSK Reporter, Recording, Voice Macros, Alerts, Logbook, CW Decoder, HF-Fax, RTTY, FT8.

Excamples. Genius Devices are fully integrated to include the ability to manually define. Call Lookup is basic but includes the ability to call the full info from your source (such as QRZ). The integrated logbook is no DX Labs but being fully integrated and plenty capable it's all we mostly ever need. (You can integrate with various external logs too. Including DX Labs). CW Decoder works as well or better than any. FT-8s set up the radio and panadapter with one mouse click.

Finally. I've personally had one or two glitches. (Nothing that affected operation really). Support response from the developer has been superb. Flex support is nothing to compalin about. But SmartSDR Mac software support will actually come back with something like '... your issue is fixed ... it will be some time before Apple publishes ... look on the AppStore in the next few days".

Well worth the $159. Peanuts to compliment a sevral thousand dollar radio.