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Without trying to start again a discussion on the philosophy behind the
HPSDR project I'll put a flag up to underline the evidence that a
modular construction means no more no less, its r&d character, not
an intention to produce a commercial grade unit as somebody on this
list claims to desire (ok, there is nothing bad in hoping such final
result, some day). <br>
Taking this in mind I'd consider HPSDR a good training platform for
those willing to be involved in <u><b>Software</b></u> Defined Radio
development and for those liking to use their brains to get all the
best of what industry offers in terms of hardware.<br>
<br>
The modularity concept of this project makes it very flexible and prone
to support every upgrade in both the software and hardware areas.<br>
This is a characteristic that no commercial product may ever offer, so
far my understanding of the market requirements based on the requests
of the masses.<br>
<br>
We OM are used to adopt this typology of construction since we exist
and it is a good thing we will remain in the habit.<br>
<br>
I'd answer to those saying that SDR is too complex for OM and that only
a handful of us are able to deal with such technologies.<br>
Au-contraire! There are a lot of. As an example academic students are
dealing with this technologies as we thirty years ago (and more) dealt
with analogic circuits and start working with digital technologies.<br>
<br>
The reason of the apparent low participation on the HPSDR project has
its origin in some facts I'll resume hereby:<br>
<br>
<ol>
<li>the electronic industry is just one step away from the start line
with its electronic products (say SDR support related components); some
projects (e.g. mine) are based on components already announced by
the industry, and there is nothing as un-trustworthy as the actual
strategic decision made by companies dealing with new technologies;<br>
</li>
<li>the software (the first word of the acronym SDR, remember?),
already depends strongly from the hardware used, so portability (and
its possibility to be reused in other projects) is a concept already
far to come;</li>
<li>most interested guys are already working on new ideas and are
willing to expose them to the public when there areresults of
reasonable research maturity (as some OM groups I know and me are
doing!);</li>
<li>as shortly stated on this list, time is a rare good, so sometimes
it is preferred to use the time usually spent to answer to questions
submitted by the spectators, in pure development;</li>
<li>resources are mostly rare too (and not only the human type ;-)),
so some good ideas can't start because of lack in development equipment
(hardware and software) and this is often the most important aspect
retaining a project to start (sig!).</li>
<li>...</li>
</ol>
Considering especially the point 5. (in other words, money) I strongly
suggest to give the opportunity to get the PCBs and eventually the
critical components as separate kits for those being able to deal with
soldering tasks (and don't think the latter is a hard nut, believe me,
there are simple, verified solutions for SMD soldering!).<br>
Components as the Linear D/A (90$) used on the Mercury board can be
obtained requesting a <u><b>free</b></u> sample directly from Linear
compiling the form on their webpages (as I usually do with success not
only with Linear).<br>
<br>
The Mercury board is the real SDR development platform, please offer it
so that the much possible people can acquire it!<br>
<br>
vy 73s de ik2wqi - Andreas Troschka<br>
<br>
<br>
Steve Ireland wrote:<br>
<br>
Omissis...<br>
<blockquote id="mid_000801c8062b_e17e2480_6401a8c0_wordforc271aa6"
cite="mid:000801c8062b$e17e2480$6401a8c0@wordforc271aa6" type="cite">
<div class="Section1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-AU">Those brave
few who have been involved in the
development of the HPSDR boards, firmware and software are at the top
of their
professions and hold positions of responsibility within them. This
means
that whilst they are the best people to develop HPSDR, there are lots
of other
calls on their time which have to take precedence. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-AU"><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font face="Arial" size="2"><span
style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;" lang="EN-AU">As Phil
VK6APH has said, he would like to see a
single board HPSDR one day, but the building block approach suits the
level of
experimentation that needs to take place right now. It also suits the
amount of time that the developers like Phil are able to put in – one
technical issue/SDR facet can be dealt with at a time, in a thorough
manner.</span></font></p>
</div>
</blockquote>
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