FlexRadio Flex-5000 Frequency Stability

I was asked what the FlexRadio Flex-5000a stability was like by a mate and it occurred to me I had never tested it separately from my VHF/UHF kit. So this little clip is a quick demonstration to show how accurate the radio is both without an external frequency Standard and also with one. Needless to say the outcome didn't come as a surprise...

Over time I have never observed the radio change without the reference utilised (after warm-up) and of course it never changes with the reference turned on; 5 seconds after power-up I can be running with 0 Hz drift.

Turns out the radio is as stable as the reference driving it...

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• FlexRadio
• Flex-5000
• SDR
• frequency
• standard
• stability
• g7cnf
• k3
• elecraft
• software radio
• software defined radio
• analysis
• electronics
• ham radio
• ham
• yaesu
• icom
• kenwood
• transceiver
• frequency standard
• reference
• ppm

[ender06026]

Nicely done! In fact, it was so entertaining that I will forgive you for wearing a NY Yankees hat instead of a Boston Red Sox hat! Very nice examination of the lab-grade stability of the Flex. I do rely upon it for calibration of other rigs in the station. The BITE (built-in test equipment) features of PowerSDR make it a potent piece of bench gear. 73, Rob W1AEX

[ariebomba]

Hi Nige,

Good and funny video. One thing though. You dit not measure stability here :-)

Stability is about how well it stays on the same frequency during a certain time, say one hour.

Anyway, it will be stable enough even without the freq standard.

For your measured result: 18 Hz off freq on 50MHz is super!

Thanks for the video.

73

Arie PA3A

[gcljohn]

Background music was a slow version of "The arrival of the Queen of Sheba" by Handel, from Solomon. Interesting dem BTW. G0GCL/KC2TAJ.

[k3roj]

Yes, the Flex Radio is a piece of test equipment in itself if you use an accurate 10 MHz reference such as the Z3891A.

[birthoftime]

A wonderful radio!  I want to purchase one. What was the music in the back ground?