[hpsdr] Software Developer Looking to contribute

Mon Jul 30 21:19:41 PDT 2012

I'm sure you will get 100 different answers.   I do software for a
living also.  Here is my opinion

Use this Open Source project to learn something new.  You employer
would not liley let you try something completely different from what
you do now so use an Open Source project for that.

One thing ham radio REALLY needs is new ideas.  I hate to say it but
just look at the typical ham SDR, he is using the new SDR technology
simply as a replacment for a 50 year old analog radio.  The new ADC
chips can over-sample an entire HF band.  Why not detect and
demodulate every transmitter in the band and extract the call signs.
Liley you can later do some fun stuff be tracking the call sign and
placing them on a map or a time line.

One other thing we needs is better interfaces between the various
components so that end users can use components like legos.  Currently
people are using special purpose protocol that they invent for
everything.     We should be using XML, Jason, MIDI and Jack for
everything

One idea I've wanted to implement is to copy an idea from the music
industry.  It turns out all of the "control surfaces" in the market
use MIDI.  Acontrol surface is a box with physical knobs, switches and
sliders and dials and small indicators and when you move one the box
sends a message over the cable using MIDI.   All the music software
works about the same:  You select some on-screen control, say a gain
or volume control or a filter setting and then you twiddle a knob on
the conrol surface and from then on that funtion is mapped to that
knob. (you have better have some post-it notes ready if yo have 50+
knobs programmed.)   This concept is perfect for SDR.   Many ham
operator hate using a mouse and allowigany control surface to be
mapped to on-screen functions would be very good.

Next.  Please.  Any new code must be portable and should run on the
more common operating systems.  Get a copy on VMware or Virtual Box
andrun a few OSes on your computer test, at least in a virtual
environment.

All these use the same MIDI interface.

Look at the two video onthe "launch pad"  One an SDR you could make it
a hands-on waterfall or a matric switch.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Launchpad/

Here is a much more conventional and lower priced unit that uses the
SAME communication protocol.  The video explains it
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/nanoKON2bk/

With a good, responsive interface I should be able to jump all over
the band and select which signals go to the speaker/phones and which
are time delay recorded and swap around as fast as I can move my
fingerers.   Also with a standard data format I can swap out thebrand
of control surface.

I want to be able to try a filter and if it does not work like I want
and it looses the signal I want to be able to get the recording of the
signal.  I want to listen to one signal while recording the others and
op back in time to re-listen to what I missed.   I'd like to control
it all with something like that "launchpad."

Always remember that quote from Henry Ford.  He said if he asked his
customers what they wanted, they would have asked him for a faster
horse.   So don't ask.   The thing  with Open Source projects is you
can take a risk and move way out in front of where your users are and
do something none of them have thought of yet but will find they can't
live without once thy see it.   Save the boring stuff for the day job.
 No need for doing that at home.

What am I doing.   I've always wanted to try and mix micro-controllers
and vacuum tubes, have a few audio projects that try and do that.

On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 8:19 PM, chris at chrismitchellhome.net
<chris at chrismitchellhome.net> wrote:
> ***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
>
>
> Hello all,
>
> I'm a software developer with a lot of experience in C# and C++, specifically in performance and scalability optimization.  My day job for the last 10+ years is mainly in C#.   I've also just recently pre-orded a Hermes/ANON-10 and would like to give back to the OPENHPSDR community.  As I'm new, I don't have a laundy list of features I want, but instead am willing to throw myself to the community and ask the main contributors to PowerSDR and KISS (or others)  if there are ways I can help in a coordinated way (and specific areas within the the projects where this help is welcome).
>
>
>
> Ideas:
>
> Code cleanup/reorganization/factoring (coordinated with others to prevent howling)
>
> Bug fixes
>
> Performance consluting/fixing
>
>
>
> All of these (and others) would allow me to get some familiarity with the codebase and and the same time contribute.  I'm not comfortable yet with main algorithms in DSP, however.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris Mitchell KE9M
>
> Seattle, WA (soon to be moving, however, to Oslo, Norway)
>
>
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-- 

Chris Albertson
Redondo Beach, California

 1343708381.0