[hpsdr] N210 Comparison

[Steve Bunch]

Harry,

Those weren't "short-answer" questions, and only you can decide what matters to you.  But here's the "short, short" answer:  HPSDR is optimized for high-quality amateur communication on frequencies below 54MHz.  N210 is optimized for general-purpose radio experimentation.

The HPSDR website has some specs.  The ettus.com website has data on the N210.  Neither is very complete.  Ettus is very happy to answer specific questions on their mail list, as are people on the HPSDR list, but neither list will typically answer really-general questions.

There are a lot of tutorials out there on SDR radio principles.  There are a few comparisons that I've seen on the commercial products.  Google is your friend -- look up SDR-IQ, QSR SDR receiver, Perseus SDR, HPSDR, FlexRadio, SoftRock SDR, keywords like that -- that'll get you started.  There's a lot to learn before you will be able to understand whether the differences in particular SDR approaches are relevant to you or not, so you'll need to do some reading and study -- reviews are good places to get an idea of what other people consider important, so it's a good place to start, but there aren't that many.  QST magazine product reviews are excellent sources of quantitative information on the commercially-available SDR radios that they've reviewed (N210 is not a "radio", and HPSDR isn't "commercially available"). 

There are similarities between HPSDR and the N210, and many of the other SDR options.  They're all impressive and have a lot of parts in them that have the same names ("FPGA", "ADC", "DAC", "Firmware", "Ethernet Interface", ...), but they were designed with different goals and each of those components is different in important ways when you look closer.  The HPSDR equipment implements a near-turnkey communications radio optimized for very good dynamic range, good noise figure (needs a preamp on higher bands), low spurious signals, in the <54MHz range, and has several high-quality pieces of software that support it to perform that function well.  The N210 implements a toolkit of radio capabilities, but if you're not a programmer you'll probably not get your money's worth out of it - it's not a turnkey communications radio.  You've asked about Flex and others, but I'll leave those for others to comment on.

Good luck!

73,
Steve, K9SRB

On Aug 2, 2011, at 2:22 PM, Harry A wrote:

> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
> 
> If I'm stepping on any toes, or if this starts the wrong kind of discussion, or if I'm asking the wrong question of the wrong list,  please say so and ignore my request.  :)  
> 
> Is it possible for someone to do a "generalized" or "simplified" comparison of the hpsdr product(s) and the N210 product(s)??  Or maybe it already exists and I just haven't found it yet.  Specs, band range, etc.  
> 
> I have just a little understanding of the sdr subject and I'm aware of a multitude of products out there and would like to further understand how they all compare.  I'm mainly interested in the ham areas and maybe a comparison would just be in the 0-1ghz range or ??  
> 
> You can assume I'm a beginner and I'm asking if I should buy an antique crystal radio or super het because I don't understand the specs regarding sensitivity, selectivity, band range, limitations,  potential for upgrading, etc., of what's out there.  
> 
> What would be even more beneficial to me would be to also lump in some of the commercial products like Flex in this comparison.  
> 
> Again, I'm just trying to better understand what the options are and where I should get started without trying to buy one of everything out there and evolve from there.  I have a small start on the atlas project right now but I see so many things out there.  
> 
> Most of the "How to get started" sdr things I see out there generally relate to the project/product that is the subject of the web page.  I think hpsdr is the best way to go but because of how little I know on the subject, there may be better starting points???
> 
> Thanks for any assistance.  
> 
> Harry
> KD0LQE
> 
> 
> 
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