[hpsdr] Type of kits forthcoming?...

[Jason Hitesman]

If the price difference between options A and C truely did come down to only
$20 then C would be quite attractive.  But I've never seen any case where
the price difference between a kit and an assembled product really did work
out to be that small.

In addition I fall under the class of hams who would much rather do
something ourselves than pay to have it done...even if it ends up costing
more to do it ourselves.  I truly enjoy the hands-on experience and feel
that I get far more out of it than any cost associated with it in learning
new skills as well as gaining a deeper understanding of how the item in
question works.

All that said I only enjoy SMT work up to a point.  I still have a DDS-60
that's been sitting here unassembled for several months while other projects
have come and gone across my bench simply because I dread having to solder
that AD9851.

So my vote would be for option B with the small pitch parts already
populated.

My second vote would be for A but if the price between A and C really did
work out to be $20 or less then C could take my second choice vote.

I don't think option C along with a bare board only option would be very
usefull.  Some of the parts planned for this are simply too difficult or
impossible to source in small quantities.  At a minimum a bare board with
hard to find parts would have to be offered.

Similar to what the MegaSquirt project I posted about previously did - they
sold boards in conjunction with parts that were difficult to find or not
available in small quantities or required pre-programming with hardware most
builders would not have available nor would they be able to justify the cost
of.  Then for the rest of the parts they made webpages that would batch
submit pre-built orders for the rest of the components making it very easy
for builders to get what they needed to complete the final product.  Perhaps
this should be considered as an option A.5 :D  Or  combined with option C to
create an option D.

If the only option ends up being C I for one will be quite dissapointed as
that was not what I thought I was getting into with this project.  I would
have just bought an SDR-1000 if I wanted a mass produced pre-assembled
radio.  I'm in this for the build as much as I am for the final product and
very much look forward to melting my own solder as much as possible.
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