[hpsdr] backup boards?

[Rob Frohne]

Hi Jason,

I really like your web pages.  I like your idea of including other
sources too.  Can you select quantity 0 (zero) if you have some parts
already on hand and don't want to order more of those?

Good work on this.  This is the first time I've seen a web page set up
to do the ordering for you on one of these projects.  It is a splendid
idea, and makes the sellers do the parts sorting, etc. which makes
making up a kit of parts much easier.  Again, thanks for what you have
done!  

73,

Rob

On Fri, 2007-03-02 at 11:35 -0700, Jason Hitesman wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> 
> On 3/2/07, Philip Covington <p.covington at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> >
> > On 3/2/07, Eric Ellison <ecellison at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > As to the problem of components becoming unavailable - well, can't do
> > too much about that...
> 
> Well there is a little.  This is another place that my idea to build
> an interactive BOM for the bare board people could be helpful.  If it
> turns out to be viable, which is looking up, I got some suggested
> modifications to the official BOM which sources more parts from mouser
> instead of digikey so they can be purchased in reasonable quantities,
> I just won't have time to roll it into my pages until next week.
> Anyway if these pages do prove to be viable then there are a couple of
> things they could lead to.
> 
> One is this could help keep interest alive past the initial buy since
> it would help lower the barrier of entry to those who want to build
> their own.  The big issue there would be continued availability of the
> bare boards (and special parts as for Janus.)  I'm hoping that making
> it easy for people to buy parts for the boards will help convince TAPR
> or someone else (this is an open project after all) that more runs of
> boards will be purchased and it is worth their time/money to do
> another run.
> 
> It's also possible that a builder community could develop.  If people
> keep building these boards then as parts become unavailable then those
> who are currently building will investigate substitute parts and share
> their findings.  The interactive BOM page could even be setup to read
> a CSV file that's kept in the wiki so anyone who can edit the wiki
> would be able to contribute changes to the "live" BOM.  (Though for
> reliability having someone act as a gatekeeper on the BOM that
> suggested changes go through would probably be better.)
> 
> So if interest in this can be kept up (and I have a feeling that once
> some RF boards start to become functional interest WILL pick up even
> faster) then a page like the one I'm working on could become a great
> repair reference when something like the original poster asked about
> happens.
> 
> I'm cautiously optimistic that this initial group buy through TAPR is
> just the tip of the iceberg of what this project can become.  Getting
> functional boards into a sizable number of hands is the kick-start
> that will help speed software development and RF development.  Once
> more progress is made interest will rise even faster - and if we don't
> want that interest to die off then a means of getting more boards into
> peoples hands will have to arise.
> 
> So a few years down the road rather than a static BOM that was put
> together two years ago when the initial build was done and hasn't been
> updated....we could have a live BOM that is a living document
> constantly updated with current information to account for parts
> availability.
> 
> ----
> Jason Hitesman
> N8INJ
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-- 
Rob Frohne, Ph.D., P.E.
E.F. Cross School of Engineering
Walla Walla College
100 SW 4th Street
College Place, WA 99324
(509) 527-2075
http://www.wwc.edu/~frohro/


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