[hpsdr] SDR Cost Comparisons vs Hermes

[Rob Frohne]

Hi All,

I apologize.  I guess I caused some grief and misunderstanding.  It was 
not my purpose.  All I wanted to do was let those with limited budgets, 
overseas or here know that there were lower cost options that were 
planned by TAPR and the designers.  Phil sent email to all of us who 
didn't get one of the prototype boards, and said that production bare 
boards would be available.   George and/or everyone else who felt 
offended, you have my apology.  I did not mean to say that a built board 
was not worth every penny of $900.  I just can't afford it, and I was 
sharing what I was considering to be able to afford one.  Kirk, KD7IRS 
still has my HPSDR setup.  He put it to good use developing a lot of the 
Verilog code in HPSDR, doing video tutorials for us all. etc., and I 
haven't asked for it back, because he may again do some more 
development.  I'm using one of Tony's affordable Softrock Ensemble RXTX 
units for my play and software development.  I enjoyed building it, 
though it would have been easier and faster for me if it had been all 
surface mount.

Again, my apologies!  Email can easily be misunderstood, and I hope that 
was the problem, and that you will forgive my errors.

73,

Rob
KL7NA

On 02/24/2012 01:13 PM, Rob Frohne wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
>
> 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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-- 
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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