[hpsdr] ray of hope

[Marc OLANIE]

Hi Sid & All

>One question David raised with me was how come the Hermes-Lite2 was so low cost when the parts count is larger than the ODY-2 - meticulous pursuit of low cost without any serious performance compromise.

Well Sid, that's not exactly "without any serious performance compromise" (this just for list members who didn't hat the time to dig into both sdr architectures) 

- The size and power of the fpga is definitely not the same. And, by consequences, the price per unit? (it's even worse if your compare it with an Angelia-class fpga: 350 USD vs 35 USD).
- the HL2's ADC and DAC (only one, not two) is/are integrated in a dedicated and unique component used by "cable guys"... in other words addressing a very large market.
- David followed the Hermes/HiQSDR logic and architecture, using independent 16 bit ADC... Hermes Lite is a 12 bits rig, that means at least 24 dB less in term of dynamic under the same decimation conditions
- the HL2's ADC is a 60 MSPS, not a120 MSPS
- Size of the pcb is far smaller, 4 layers only (I think David's one is a 6 layer ? ) 
- Even if HL R&D is mainly driven by Steve, the community gave some help during the design and development process... on an other hand, Odyssey is the work of one man only. Even if there is no real money involved, dev costs have an impact on design (and have an influence on the openness of the project... HL2 is fully open, this is not completely the case of David's work) 
Etc.... 

Both niche market are definitely different. The HL2 really is a good "starter" for people wishing to play with DDC/DUC architecture without paying and arm and a leg. 
 I just finished an HL2 BOM for a local group of ham. Gess how much for a 10 board run ? less than 85 euros per board (almost same price in USD). This cost don't include the passive (caps and resistors) and the pcb (4,5 USD per board). That's terribly incentive for newcomers looking for a rather orthodox HPSDR compliant board.  

But I wouldn't put it in the same bag as the Odyssey or any version of the HiQSDR (And even more so the Hermes family). David don't have to worry, HL2 users are potentially Odyssey future clients

73'
Marc f6itu