[hpsdr] Patience with HPSDR

[Steve Ireland]

G'day

 

It has been interesting to read some of the emails about HPSDR and the
possible creation of a single board alternative.

 

Being the writing partner of Phil VK6APH (we write a monthly column in the
RSGB's RadCom magazine on SDR) and close friends, I get to see the
prototypes of HPSDR boards come together in Phil's workshop and to play with
them.  Having seen/heard the performance of Mercury, I believe it is well
worth waiting for.

 

Those brave few who have been involved in the development of the HPSDR
boards, firmware and software are at the top of their professions and hold
positions of responsibility within them.  This means that whilst they are
the best people to develop HPSDR, there are lots of other calls on their
time which have to take precedence. 

 

As Phil VK6APH has said, he would like to see a single board HPSDR one day,
but the building block approach suits the level of experimentation that
needs to take place right now.  It also suits the amount of time that the
developers like Phil are able to put in - one technical issue/SDR facet can
be dealt with at a time, in a thorough manner.

 

At present, we could see Penelope boards before we see ones for Mercury,
because the 'human resources' necessary to complete the development of the
former are available right now, but in the case of the latter, perhaps not
for several weeks.  This is just one of those things, as after all, we might
be obsessive about HPSDR but it is still a hobby and something that is done
in whatever spare time is available.

 

Whilst some may be frustrated about the progress of HPSDR, as someone who
has spent a lot of their career writing about technological developments
(and some considerable time working in research and development departments
upon them) my belief is that even the biggest electronic company wouldn't
have made half the progress on HPSDR that the small development team has
made so far in their spare time.  Also, monitoring what is appearing on the
commercial SDR market, it looks to me as though HPSDR is still well ahead of
the game.

 

Let's bear this in mind when we get a bit impatient about the progress of
HPSDR.  This is probably the biggest and best cooperative technical
development to ever take place in amateur radio.

 

Vy 73

 

Steve, VK6VZ

 

       

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