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On 24/02/12 11:46, Steven B. Dick wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:7A445F10E24F4497A5D1CB53E5E86C69@Downstairs"
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<pre wrap="">***** High Performance Software Defined Radio Discussion List *****
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012"></span></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012"></span></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012"></span></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012"></span></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012"></span></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><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 face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012"></span></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012">Regards
to all.</span></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="419311911-24022012">"Digital
Steve", K1RF </span></font></div>
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I look at it this way. If Hermes was targeted at a mass market the
situation would be different and if those interested in Hermes
wanted a commercial rig they would look elsewhere.<br>
<br>
I went for the HiQSDR and will go for Hermes seeing the awesome
possibilities they offer in addition to performance, not to mention
the fun aspect. It's nice being able to use the HiQSDR and later
Hermes as a transceiver, a scope and a VNA though I have all those
items as stand alone units.<br>
<br>
I often describe my commercial gear and I am a late comer to
commercial gear - my commercial rigs are there to keep the dust off
the shelves. The last time the IC-7200 was switched on in ages was a
few weeks ago to check the output of a UHFSDR was clean. The IC-737
and the TS-450S haven't been switched on in almost 2 years. <br>
<br>
The cost is a secondary consideration and there are many reasons why
a small board that replaces a large enclosure is attractive.<br>
73 ... Sid.<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Licensed Private Pilot,
Emeritus IBM/Amdahl Mainframes and Sun/Fujitsu Servers Tech Support
Senior Staff Specialist, Cricket Coach
Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux used for all Computing Tasks
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