[hpsdr] first report from Dayton

[george byrkit]

Dear Sid,

The last sentence, that I was tired and my feet hurt, is most applicable
here!  As was my warning that I didn't want to get too specific, lest I omit
some detail of great import to someone.  I most likely omitted a lot of
detail.  I was really only trying to indicate how well the presentations
went at the forum, and how much interest the TAPR booth fielded.  And that
it was a gathering of the clan.

Yes, Hermes (USB though) was there, along with an Apollo board that Kjell
brought with him from Norway.

You may remember that the next pre-build of boards (Gamma, I think they
called it a few weeks ago) was slated to be received and built up just after
Dayton.  Scotty is a very busy person...  So is Phil...

Hermes was mentioned, and often discussed, as an 'easier way in' to HPSDR
than Pandora, Atlas and a selection of boards from TAPR and iQuadLabs.
Someone from the US Navy in fact stopped by and was most curious as to when
Hermes/Apollo might be released (general release).  The thought was it was
likely 'later this year', most likely in the autumn.  There is, after all,
Alex to get out the door, and iQuadLabs to get Mercury and PennyLane boards
available for those who need them.

And Phil, VK6APH, would like to see a bit more testing on Metis, because the
Hermes that ships will use the Metis ethernet PHY and its verilog code.
This is why largely Hermes is taking longer, because the decision was made
(in January, I think) to move Hermes from USB to Ethernet, to better support
putting the box 'at the antenna' for those so inclined.  Practically
impossible with USB, a piece of cake with Ethernet.  The more beating we get
on the ethernet code we get before Hermes is released the better!

73,
George K9TRV


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