On 12/11/2011 10:54 AM, Robert Costa, KB6QXM wrote:
All,
There are many hams that swear up and down that their K3's are software
defined. I try to explain to them that their k3 rigs are software enhanced, but
not truly software defined.
Many hams including some very bright engineers that are in the club still think
that their k3's are SRD.
I try to explain it that it is not srd as it can be run standalone, where a
Flex cannot.
I still get that glazed deer in the headlights look when I try to explain SDR.
Any suggestions?
I don't think it is a black and white thing.
Years ago, we used to use purely analog radios.
Then, there were the outboard DSP units working on the audio chain.
Some radios moved that functionality into the main box.
Eventually, ADCs were powerful enough to get to the then low IF, and
much marketing fodder was made over 'IF DSP'.
Was that SDR? I don't class it as such.
The K3 is a really nice radio. I have never owned one, but have used a
couple. I will still stick with my F3K. (I'd go for a F5K if someone
wants to throw a few $ over my wall). However, the K3 has the ability to
change it's low level functionality by software (firmware?) upgrades,
whereas the Flex series can change almost everything.
If you want to go the whole hog, look into the HPSDR project. Not cheap,
but all software and hardware is open-source so you can do anything with
it you like. I have what was a full set of boards, and enjoy playing
with them.
The Flex series, after the 1000, is basically a high performance front
end that converts RF into a digital I/Q stream. Everything else is done
in the PC.
So, at what point does it become a Software Defined Radio? Flex
obviously is. HPSDR with the ability to reprogram the FPGAs is maybe a
notch ahead. Then we have the SoftRock series, and the FunCube Dongle.
This definitely seems to be the way forward.
The K3 is probably leading the pack for 'conventional' radios in both
performance and versatility. As far as I can tell, it run rings around
the high-end Y/K/I rigs. It will be interesting to see how the newly
announced KX3 stacks up.
I expect that the marketing wings of the major companies will be touting
SDR as a selling point.
I would recommend reading Gerald's articles (sorry, don't have a link
handy) in QEX several years ago which has some very good links to
earlier SDR development.
73 Alf NU8I
Scottsdale AZ DM43an
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