[hpsdr] SDR Cost Comparisons vs Hermes

Thu Feb 23 14:25:40 PST 2012

Oops, the N2ADR design uses a TI 5500 ADC, not Analog Devices.  My bad....

If you start off with the one critical piece, the ADC, costing over $100 in 
single quantities, the parts cost alone jumps quite a bit.  Then, add the 
cost of a four-layer PC board versus two-layers, and then the costs to build 
it, I guess the end-user price would be high.

I too was taken aback by the $900 estimate at first, but my openHPSDR 
boardset cost more than that.  After adding up various parts estimates, a 
decent PC board, and building the board, I have resigned myself to that 
price.

(sorry for the double-post, but I wanted to correct the ADC error in my 
first message)
Terry, WB4JFI

-----Original Message----- 
From: Terry Fox
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 4:08 PM
To: hpsdr at openhpsdr.org ; Scott Cowling
Subject: Re: [hpsdr] SDR Cost Comparisons vs Hermes

***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

Don't forget the HiQSDR from Germany, probably about $700-$800 US, depending
on exchange rate.  It is based on James Ahlstrom (N2ADR) design, it is a
single-board DDC/DUC using a 14-bit Analog Devices ADC, the same
(universal??) DAC (AD9744), and Altera FPGA.  It's primary software support
at this point is Quisk - both Linux and Windows versions.

I expect the slightly higher cost of the HiQSDR complete board versus parts
list is probably due to US->Germany->US parts costs, along with VATs, stc...
The board is a very nice design.  It doesn't have quite the RF power out of
the Hermes, and the FPGA is not programmable via the ethernet connection.

See James' web site for original info: http://james.ahlstrom.name/  and the
HiQSDR web site at: http://www.hiqsdr.org/
There is also a Yahoo group (n2adr).

Just in the sake of completeness....
Terry, WB4JFI

-----Original Message----- 
From: Scott Cowling
Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 2:21 PM
To: hpsdr at openhpsdr.org
Subject: [hpsdr] SDR Cost Comparisons vs Hermes

***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****

Hi all,

Here is a list of some other SDRs to help evaluate the cost of Hermes.

This is a non-definitive list.

Note that all of these (except for the FLEX-1500 and HPSDR) are RECEIVERS
ONLY.

The FLEX-1500 doesn't really compare to the HPSDR
entries, since it is a mixer design. But, the
FLEX-1500 is a great value for a QSD/QSE transceiver.

If you want an HPSDR transceiver, Hermes is the
cheapest transceiver offering so far in the HPSDR lineup.

$500 (USA - Universal Radio)
RF Space SDR-IQ (receive only, including case)
RX type: direct sampling 14-bit ADC at 67Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: USB
http://www.rfspace.com/RFSPACE/SDR-IQ.html

$650
FlexRadio Systems FLEX-1500 (5W TX, with enclosure)
RX type: QSD (baseband sample rate 48ksps)
TX type: QSE (baseband sample rate 48ksps)
PC interface: USB
http://www.flex-radio.com/Products.aspx?topic=F1.5k_features

$850
Quicksilver QS1R, (receive only, including case)
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 122.88Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: USB
http://www.srl-llc.com/

$895
HPSDR Hermes single-board 500mW transceiver estimated cost
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 122.88Msps
TX type: direct up conversion 14-bit DAC at 122.88Msps
PC interface: 10/100/1000 Ethernet
http://openhpsdr.org/wiki/index.php?title=HERMES

$900
WinRadio G31DDC Excalibur (receive only, including case and AC adapter)
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 100Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: USB
http://www.winradio.com/home/g31ddc.htm

$1000 (USA - Universal Radio)
Microtelecom Perseus (receive only, including case)
RX type: direct sampling 14-bit ADC at 80Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: USB
http://www.ssbusa.com/perseus.html

$1221
HPSDR Atlas-based 500mW transceiver
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 122.88Msps
TX type: direct up conversion 14-bit DAC at 122.88Msps
Includes: $399 Pennylane; $469 Mercury; $279
Metis; $35 Atlas (kit); $39 LPU (kit)
PC interface: 10/100/1000bT Ethernet
http://tapr.org/hpsdr_index.html

$1450
RF Space NetSDR (receive only, including case, base unit, no options)
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 80Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: 100bT Ethernet
http://www.rfspace.com/RFSPACE/NetSDR.html

$1650
WinRadio G31DDC Excalibur Pro (receive only, including case and AC adapter)
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 100Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: USB
http://www.winradio.com/home/g33ddc.htm

$2985 (UK - Nevada Radio £1899)
SSB Electronic LAN SDR (receive only, including case)
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 66.66Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: 10/100bT Ethernet
http://www.ssb.de/product_info.php?info=p2497_SSB-LAN-SDR.html

$3000 (USA - Universal Radio)
RF Space SDR-IP (receive only, including case, base unit, no options)
RX type: direct sampling 16-bit ADC at 80Msps
TX type: n/a
PC interface: 100bT Ethernet
http://www.rfspace.com/RFSPACE/SDR-IP.html

73,
Scotty WA2DFI

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