[hpsdr] SDR Cost Comparisons vs Hermes

[Rob Frohne]

Hi All,

I am convinced that the $900 news isn't as bad as you all think.  Hermes 
will be released as NCL at least, which means that it can be duplicated 
on a small scale by anyone who wishes to.  TAPR has said there will be 
circuit boards available, and Phil was selling prototypes for the 
reasonable price of $40 each, which is about what the other boards from 
TAPR cost.  I have the BOM, and while I haven't priced everything out, 
nobody else who has will share this information, and Scotty is now 
running a for profit business to sell Hermes.  He has to make money to 
make his business run and if everyone knew what it cost Scotty, it would 
make some unhappy.  In the past, Scotty has donated thousands of hours 
to the HPSDR projects, and he deserves some payback, if he desires or 
needs it.   I bet you can build you own Hermes board for less than half 
Scotty's price, and if you ask for Engineering Samples, even a whole lot 
less.  It is actually very easy to build surface mount boards like this, 
even easier than through hole boards, by using a solder stencil, paste, 
and an ordinary toaster oven.  See for example our video on building the 
Softrock_40_R here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FHvikd3BkY> and here 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCWVUdBO0kg&feature=relate>.  I could 
probably make some solder stencils and those who want to build their 
boards could mail them to the next person in line.

So, if you are willing to do a little home brew, like the developers, 
you too can have a Hermes for a price that is much closer to what Kevin 
and the others who started this project envisioned.

73,

Rob
KL7NA

-- 
Rob Frohne, Ph.D., P.E.
E.F. Cross School of Engineering
Walla Walla University
100 SW 4th Street
College Place, WA 99324
(509) 527-2075			http://people.wallawalla.edu/~rob.frohne

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