[hpsdr] FR$ Moderated message

[Lyle Johnson]

Hello Phil!

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Now if the 5000c was the price of the 5000a, I'd say the price is
> about right.  But for a radio that still must be tethered to a PC like
> the 5000a, I don't think the price is justified for the majority of
> potential customers.  There is a lot less hardware in the 5000a than
> even the cheapest of offerings (~$700-$800) from the big three.

Gerald did the right thing at the right time.  He is a very good 
businessman, and he is building a business.  He will likely continue to 
sell into the Amateur market, but I think Flex is focused on the larger 
market, not the Amateur radio market.  For those clients, the 5K is 
cheap.  Amateur radio is merely a proving ground.

Even within Amateur radio, if Flex can convince the turf protectors at 
Homeland Security, there'll be a 5K in every county Emergency Operations 
Center in America paid for by your tax dollars and mine.  Compared to 
the proverbial $500 hammer, the 5K is a bargain.  If you price it too 
low for those people, they won't buy it.  It lacks credibility.  And 
when you factor in all the BS the government attaches to purchases, you 
need a big markup to deal with the legal garbage.

Ask yourself why our tax dollars are paying for a substantial part of 
the core software development.  When you think about it, the answer is 
pretty clear.  There is nothing hidden or shady or unethical about it.

Having said all that, Gerald has also found a way to finance his 
company's expansion at zero interest, and guarantee his sales: prepaid 
orders.  There are enough people sufficiently interested, at least for 
now, for this to work.  On the business side, it is a no-brainer.  Small 
companies are almost always cash-starved, and production ramp-up is high 
risk (will there be sufficient sales?) and high cost (buying parts, 
filling the pipeline, signing contracts, tuning the mfg process, ...) 
and usually means heavy borrowing (whether from the personal assets of 
the owner, a bank, venture capital or wherever -- the business carries a 
large debt during this period).

What amazes me is that there is no one making and selling an "SDR-1K" 
replacement. I don't mean the German single-board 1W clone, I mean a 
100W HF or HF+6M rig that runs on the PowerSDR platform.  It seems to me 
such a radio could be profitably marketed for $995 to $1395 including 
"soundcard."

With HPSDR we are making building blocks.  I am disappointed that there 
is no Phoenix yet, or any sort of ISD/ISE receiver + exciter.  Penelope 
is ready for production and Mercury won't be far behind, so we'll have 
direct digital operation at QRPp levels.  We still need a decent 100W rf 
deck + T/R switching system + preamp/attenuator to make it all work as a 
mainstream device.

Wow!  Did I ramble, or what?

73,

Lyle KK7P


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