Great analogy, Steve!
Sure, I had some frustrations yesterday when I was trying to get the proper
sampling rate set up for VAC under Windows 7, but, challenges such as this are
exactly why I decided to move into the SDR realm last January. Fortunately for
me, I am fairly computer-literate and was educated as an electrical engineer,
but I understand that many hams do not have a similar background and have no
interest in such "challenges". On top of that, the technology is always
changing in computer hardware and software and it takes some effort (and
desire) to keep up.
We are fortunate that we have "Elmers" such as Tim, Dudley, Gerald, Neal, and
the multitude of others who help all of us (computer-literate or not) solve
problems via the Flex lists. No, a Flex radio is not always "plug-and-play",
but the effort expended in making it "sing" is well worth the effort. I am now
the proud owner of two Flex SDRs, the 3000 and the 5000, and I could not be
more pleased with my decision to pursue this path in amateur radio (although my
bank account would probably say otherwise if it could talk).
I guess it all boils down to what you want from this hobby...
Ed, K0KC
________________________________
But then I watched a guy spent 10 hours during field day trying to get
PSK to work on a analog transceiver. He had audio cords that got RF in
them, keying cords, a couple hundred dollar interface box-- wires all
over the table. A special audio card in the computer because the
built-in audio wasn't good enough. 10 hours he fought getting real
serial lines to work, setting RTS and all to go. Then the audio
troubles-- he was either overdriving or under driving or Windows was
playing its chimes and beeps and songs into the PSK stream. In the end
he only made one PSK contact. And he said it all worked perfect at
home, but moving it caused havoc I guess.
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