So if the new Flex doesn't require a top of the line PC to operate and already has much of the processing power inside, then I would say it's no longer a software defined transceiver in the traditional sense as we've known it (as the 3000/5000), and perhaps should be called a software assisted radio. Did I just coin a new phrase?
I disagree about SDRs being a danger as a business plan in general. I hope Elecraft comes out with some sort of an SDR transceiver in the near future, and if they do, it should have an open software architecture that could run on any operating system. I believe Flex promised that at some time, but never delivered. This would allow older SDRs to live on, and could entice hardware builders to produce inexpensive transceivers without software or with minimal software. Software authors could then design a logbook for example that actually controls the radio, not just connects to it. The hardware should have a built in web server and wifi with at least ad-hoc networking for connection to the outside world. The smart future Elecraft could design a contraption that would allow plug ins of additional hardware such as transmitters for VHF/UHF, or a big HF contest station could plug in additional transmitters as needed, but with just one main contraption. The receiver(s) in said contraption would receive all bands of course; you just pick where you want to transmit; and where you want to transmit from in the world. An issue that has already become a problem with older electronic equipment, is when you design hardware to use a certain CPU and/or proprietary chips. The manufacturers of these components typically 'end of life' them in just a few years, which becomes a problem in near future manufacturing and parts stocking for repairs. An example is the Kenwood TS-2000 which has been sold for well over a decade. The finals are no longer available, so Kenwood had to design a new finals board sometime ago with new transistors. While the board can be used in older TS-2000s, the price is about half (with installation), of what the radio is worth. Barring a massive failure of the chips inside, I hope my K3s are still functional in 50 years, and myself as well! 73 de Sebastian, W4AS > On Mon, May 21, 2012 at 12:30 PM, <wb4...@knology.net> wrote: > > Naw, the client that displays the pan and controls the radio appears to be > not too different from, say, Ham Radio Deluxe. Of course you can run lots > of pans at once and increase the computing needed, but the radio part is > all on the ARM chip inside. > > This is an interesting gambit on Flex's part. They absolutely have to get > out from under PSDR, which has been a huge resource drain with no > offsetting revenues. And they were facing obsolescence problems: a new > version of Firewire, USB 3.0, new Windows OS, etc were making them run hard > to stay in the same place with the old designs. OTOH, leaving the old > designs and their installed user base in the dust kinda makes the claim > that the radio can never go out of style sound a bit hollow -- their old > designs are now orphans and that situation will only get worse. An HQ-110 > still performs as it did 50 years ago, but a radio that depended on an > Atari 400 or an Apple 1 would just be junk. That could be the eventual fate > of the existing Flex radios, and this new design makes that point in a > trenchant way. It's a very promising design, a huge upgrade, and a huge > amount of addition by subtraction; but it illustrates the difficulties and > dangers of SDR as a business plan. > > Tony KT0NY ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
