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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>I was very excited
when I first saw the Hermes concept. I waited several years for the Hermes
to come to fruition. While waiting, I build a softrock emsemble RxTx, a
softrock Ensemble II receiver, a homebrew 50 watt amp from the ARRL homebrew
challenge, a penywhistle 20 watt amp, a LPF from the HF packer amp 4, and
several other small projects. When I saw the expected price of the Hermes,
I was fairly disappointed. One can argue about component costs, etc but
the real question is how is it going to do in the
marketplace?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=419311911-24022012></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>For about the same
cost, you will soon be able to purchase an Elecraft KX3 (base model) that is a
much better value for about the same price. Not as high performance but
certainly excellent performance, already packaged, self-contained processing,
built-in amp, built in filters, nicely packaged, extremely low power in receive
for portable operation, etc.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=419311911-24022012></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>All of the high end
SDR transceivers or receivers appear to be in the same price class and and, IMHO
not a vary good value compared to conventional transceivers from the big three
and you have to do your own packaging and add another module and a package
around it</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=419311911-24022012></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>I just recently
purchased and built a Genesis Radio G11 which is a 5 band QSD and QSE SDR
transceiver semi-kit for $299.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>This is one of the
best values in an SDR transceiver I have ever come across. It has
excellent performance, all LPF and BPFs built in, 10 watt amplifier built
in. Never had so much fun and learning with SDR
equipment.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=419311911-24022012></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>If you want very
high performance on a single module (plus presumably amp module) then go for
it. But I liken this to the photography world. Some photographers go
out there with a "prosumer" camera and take thousands of pictures. Other
photographers buy the most expensive camera they can buy, then spend their time
on the few pictures they take blowing them up to 100 percent
resolution and marvel at the quality of the individual pixels and bragging about
how great their camera is.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=419311911-24022012></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>I don't mean to
sound negative. The Hermes is a great technological achievement and my hat
is off to the design team for getting this difficult design to successful
fruition. I can appreciate this difficult achievement as I am an
EE by trade and can appreciate the difficulties getting high dynamic range, low
spurious performance. But ultimately the marketplace will determine
its success.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN
class=419311911-24022012></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>Regards to
all.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial><SPAN class=419311911-24022012>"Digital Steve",
K1RF </SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>