Gear Reviews and Articles

FlexRadio’s Aurora series folds a full software-defined transceiver, a 500-watt amplifier, an automatic tuner, and a power supply into one compact chassis. Its real novelty is the transmitter: instead of a linear amplifier, Aurora uses polar modulation, a technique dating to the 1950s but only now reaching production HF hardware from a major manufacturer. The claimed efficiency of up to 80 percent promises far less heat and weight. Early owners report the radio stays cool even at full power, though independent lab measurements are still pending and skeptics question the price. A known principle, commercialized at genuinely meaningful power.