Well said Lee.
You would be surprised to find out how many private emails I have received
supporting my position. 23 and counting. Including from some of the "super
stars" you refer to. The Flex is a great radio. This is a hobby. Lets have
fun and lighten up. No one is being negative or condescending. I apologize
if you took my email the wrong way. It was not intended as such. However I
do not apoligize for its content.
I will respond to you email in greater detail off of the reflector when I
have the time.
But please do me a favor and have fun!
And most of all, be well.
Sincerely,
Edwin Marzan
AB2VW
From: Lee A Crocker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Edwin Marzan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz
Subject: RE: [Flexradio] How hard is it to set up the SDR-1000
Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2007 08:52:06 -0800 (PST)
Edwin
You claim to be an average ham, maybe not very
technical and certainly I expect you wouldn't claim to
be one of the super stars that populates this
reflector, yet as an average ham it only took you 1
1/2 hours to set up the SDR-1000. No it is not as
easy as a FT-847, but then as an average ham, I spent
at least 1 1/2 hours programming my Yaesu VX-5 handi
talkie, so neither would I consider 1 1/2 hours as a
sign of difficulty. I spent at least an hour going
through the menu's on my Orion, and given what I have
read on the FT-2000 reflector you could spend a month
going through the menu on that radio, so I would guess
1 1/2 hours is about "average".
You clearly make contacts with your SDR-1000 since the
first question your contacts ask you is how hard it is
to set up, so apparently it wasn't too hard for you to
set up the SDR.
As to the signal generator and the dummy load. The
dummy load is not necessary nor is the signal gen kit,
but they do have their advantages to get the most out
of your radio. Each radio is sent with calibration
data that you can use to plug into the table for
setting up the PA. You can use any strong stable
signal source to do the image rejection. You can use
WWV to calibrate frequency. The advantage of the
Elecraft sig gen is it turns your radio into a
superior radio. Unlike your FT-870 the S meter on the
SDR-1000 is actually accurate across its range from
about -140dBm to greater than 0dBm. The S meter in
your FT-870 would have long ago pegged out at 0dBm as
the AGC loop would be far far into saturation. Also
unlike your FT-870 the SDR gives you options. For
example if your FT-870 was off frequency you basically
would have to buy a service manual and go inside the
radio and try to figure out how to calibrate it, or
being an average ham you would have to box it up and
send it off to yaesu for a couple months at some large
expense, or you would have to live with it. With the
SDR-1000 I tune to WWV and push a button and voila'
I'm on frequency. With the FT870 if the image
rejection went out of whack You would need to get a
service manual and some test equipment and re-align
the radio, or box it up and send it back to Yaesu for
maybe 6 months, with the SDR I put on a $39 dollar
signal source press a button and voila' I have a lab
grade receiver once again. With the FT-870 if my
power output was out of spec I would have to get a
dummy load and an accurate power meter and a shop
manual and go inside and try to adjust various stage
gains and biases to get things back in alignment, or I
could box it up and send it back to Yaesu, or just run
the thing out of whack until it finally blew up. With
the SDR if I notice things aren't quite right I can
whip out my trusty dummy load and push a button and
voila' my radio is back in spec. Seems to me the
average ham might like the "flexibility" to not have
to schlep the thing back in the box and ship it off to
neverland for 6 months, or just have to "live" with
the poor design or the radio.
I had a FT-1000. I got it on the air in about 5
minutes with my FT-1000. The FT-1000 had some design
flaws. It had terrible key clicks. It's noise
blanker control circuit was also mis-designed. It had
those problems when I bought it and it had those
problems when I sold it ten years later. I bought the
SDR-1000 a couple years ago. It had some problems
with T-R turnaround in those days on CW. In about 6
months those problems were totally cured through
re-coding of the software. TOTALLY SOLVED! I had a
Pegasus. It was billed as the last radio I would ever
need to own. Beside having a crummy receiver which
never got better regardless of firmware updates, the
last firmware update for the Pegasus was in 2003. It
is clearly not the last radio I ever owned. It lacked
performance. And it was not really a software defined
radio. It was more of a firmware defined radio, and
it was totally dependent on TT to keep upgrading the
firmware. Once TT lost interest the radio became an
orphan. The SDR-1000 OTOH is updated several times a
week, and the features just keep on rolling in, and
the one thing it doesn't lack is performance. So the
5 minute plug in solution may have its advantages in
terms of instant gratification. but there is a clear
downside to the long term gratification.
To get accuracy you need a standard signal to
calibrate. This is true regardless whether your radio
is a SDR-1000 or a FT-870. Just because you trust the
"factory set-up" does not mean your radio is correctly
set up. It so happens that that same signal generator
that is useful to accurately set up the S-meter is
also useful to set up the image rejection, and after
you build it you have for yourself a nice little piece
of lab grade test equipment. I have a HP lab grade
signal generator which I could use to set up the SDR,
as well as multiple transmitters, but the elecraft sig
gen is such a simple, elegant and reliable solution it
is the thing I use most. Personally I don't see why
an "average" ham like yourself would not want such
accuracy in his operation. Wouldn't it be nice when
in a QSO with someone who is testing an antenna to be
able to give him accurate A-B comparisons instead of
half a..ed FT-870 comparisons? As to a dummy load,
its a handy reference as well. If things are acting
goofy in your system, it's nice to have a reliable
load to do trouble shooting, as well as set up the PA
in the SDR for best operation. Facility with test
equipment is one of things are what turns an average
ham into a slighly above average ham.
With respect to test equipment it's true no one NEEDS
a SWR bridge. When I got into ham radio SWR bridges
were uncommon. But find me a shack now a days that
doesn't have a SWR bridge. With respect to easy, it's
true you can flip a wire out the window and stick it
in the back of the radio and load it up. Flipping a
wire out the window is easy. It takes maybe 5
minutes. You can make contacts flipping a wire out
the window. It has its instant gratification. But
most hams do a little more than that. They actually
take a little time and install something a little more
technically superior. For example they might actually
measure the wire they flip out the window so it was a
1/4 wave long on the band of interest so the impedance
of the rig might better match the impedance of the
wire, or they may actually measure 2 wires 1/4 wave
long solder it to a feedline and make a dipole. Of
course to do this you need a piece of test equipment.
You need a ruler. So yes you can have easy. Yes you
can make contacts with easy, or you can spend a little
more time like an hour and a half and have something
superior.
You knock me on using some terms like logikey and
winkey. I find this outright bizarre as an argument.
Everyone enters ham radio as a newcomer devoid of a
clear understanding of the jargon, and its part of the
"job" of a newcomer to learn the meaning of some
terms. Terms are the coin of the realm. It is how
people communicate their ideas and it is how you steep
yourself in the culture. It is how you move from
being a newcomer into becoming that "average" ham you
describe yourself as. I bet none of those terms I
used were foreign to you. Terms are not hard to
learn. You just think about them in the context. For
example I used the terms logikey and winkey in the
context of external keyers. Most would be lead to
believe those must be particular instances of external
keyers. I used the term Port as in we were talking
about using a serial port. It's really not that hard
Edwin, unless your goal it to pick the nits.
This brings me to my point Edwin. I think this post
of yours is not about how hard or easy it is to set up
the flex. I think this post is about your
condescension. It's tone is one that presumes the
"average" ham is a dope and too stupid to set up
something as "complicated" as a SDR-1000. Well I
consider myself an average ham, and my bet is most
people on this list consider themselves as average
hams, and there are thousands of us, and many if not
most own and run SDR-1000's daily. We all bring to
the mix what we bring, and none of us are dopes. I
had radios like the FT870. I basically lost interest
in ham radio using a radio like that. After 45 years
of the same fare they were too boring. Turn it on,
tune the knob, bla bla bla, I might as well have shot
myself in the head it was so boring. I started
playing with SDR radios starting with the TT Pegasus,
and my interest in ham radio, which was at best on
life support renewed back into a healthy enthusiasm.
So Edwin is appears what you bring to the mix is a
kind of abject negativity, but then negativity is a
RELATIVE term isn't it?
vy 73
W9OY
--- Edwin Marzan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> See my comments inline between the
>
> =======
> =======
>
>
>
> >From: Lee A Crocker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: Flexradio <FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz>
> >Subject: [Flexradio] How hard is it to set up the
> SDR-1000
> >Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 08:34:08 -0800 (PST)
> >
> >In response to my comments in another post, I have
> >gotten a couple of emails that seem to indicate the
> >perception out there is that it is somehow
> difficult
> >to set up a SDR-1000.
>
> ===========
>
> Difficult is a relative term. Perhaps we should use
> the term "more
> involved".
>
> ===========
>
>
> >
> >I have 2 SDR-1000's and I have all 3 sound cards,
> so I
> >have done a lot of "settin up". I also use one of
> my
> >SDR-1000's as an IF for my VHF transverter, and I
> use
> >each radio to control multiple linear amps. I
> >designed a little breakout box to automate antenna
> >switching as well. The point being is that I have
> >some experience with what might be considered
> >"advanced setup".
>
>
> ===========
> I have 1 SDR-1000 and it took me about an hour and a
> half before I was on
> the air. On the other hand I have a Yaesu FT-847 and
> it took me about 5
> minutes to get it on the air.
> ==========
>
>
>
> >
> >The basic set up of the SDR is not more difficult
> than
> >the setup of any radio. You basically hook up a
> key,
> >a mic, a power supply, and a ground. The only
> extra
> >setup is adding the cables between the sound card
> and
> >the radio.
>
> ==========
> 9 out of 10 times when I tell a fellow ham that I'm
> using an SDR-1000 the
> first question is "how hard was it to set that thing
> up?" I always respond
> that it was not plug and play but it takes more time
> to set up. One must
> follow the instructions to the letter. When I opened
> the box that I received
> from Flex there was a warning to read the
> instructions or the radio can self
> destruct or somesuch. I'm not sure if that was a
> joke or not but I took it
> seriously.
> ==========
>
> >
> >For my SDR's I plug my mic straight into the sound
> >card. I have the SDR's up on a top shelf, and I
> have
> >the sound cards (FA-66 and a firebox) down on the
> desk
> >next to my monitor. The sound cards next to the
> >monitor allows me access to a phone jack for
> >headphones as well as a audio gain control on each
> >sound card. It makes it convenient to change mics
> if
> >I want as well, as well as adjust mic gain. I use
> a
> >condenser mic (for that hifi experience) and need
> the
> >phantom 48V each of these sound cards provide.
>
>
> =============
> I never knew what phantom power was until I read the
> primer on the types of
> mikes. Plug my mike into the sound card? What does
> that mean? The radio has
> a mike jack on the front. Shouldn't I plug it in
> there? Doing that can cause
> ground loops? Then why is there a mike jack on the
> front panel?
> ============
>
>
> >
> >For CW I plug my CW key straight into the 1/8" jack
> on
> >the back of the radio. I played with the "serial
> >connection" method and I didn't find it any faster
> in
> >terms of turn around than with the 1/8" jack. I
> use
> >an external keyer, either a logikey or a usb
> version
> >winkey. Presently I use the winkey since it allows
> 2
> >radios to be hooked up with software switching
> between
> >radios. I don't use any relays or other means to
> key
> >the radio, just the open collector in the keyer.
> When
> >I had the serial keying method hooked up I had to
> use
> >an FET buffer between the keyer and the port in
> order
> >to get the port to work. The serial port method
> was
> >really a fix for using the internal (software)
> keyer
> >with a paddle and I don't think it was really
> intended
> >for using an external keyer. Maybe some others
> could
> >comment on their experience but I can't see any
> >difference from 10 to 60 wpm between the 1/8 jack
> and
> >the serial port when using an external keyer with
> the
> >present iteration of the software.
>
> ==============
>
> The paragraph above needs to be read a few times
> before a non flex owner
> could understand what is being discussed. Terms to
> review:
>
> Serial connection method
> logikey
> winkey
> FET Buffer
> Port (what port?)
>
> =============
>
> >
> >The more advanced set-ups such as transverters are
> >easy to implement as well. It's a matter of adding
> >the transverter to the line, and adding some data
> to a
> >form in PowerSDR which tells the radio how to
> behave
> >when hooked to a transverter. Very easy. To get
> >control out of the SDR you need to hook things up
> to
> >X2. For this I used an old 15 pin monitor cable
> cut
> >in half and some RCA jacks. I have my linears
> >connected to pin 7 and I use a foot switch and have
> a
> >push button connected for PTT duties.
>
> ==========
>
> You mean I have to start building my own cables?
> Can't I just by one from
> Flex?
>
> I've never used a separate PTT in my life. The few
> radios that I have always
> had a mike with a PTT. Now I have to start thinking
> about a PTT?
>
> More terms to review:
>
> Transverter
> X2
> Pin 7
>
> ============
> >
> >This radio is not a hard radio to set up. What you
> do
> >need is an Elecraft signal gen, and a good quality
> >dummy load. You can get a good quality dummy load
> for
>
=== message truncated ===
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