Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Dana Although I don't want to say anything about the UCB project at this point, there are discussions to jump start this project again. As N4HY mentioned the possibility of some one to manufacture it. I have been discussing it with a number of folks, and also Reflector folks responded to me regarding the project, volunteering help. I will post when something is decided. Initially designed by Tony - KB9YIG with Terry - W0VB and Mike - KM0T, this is a great project, which needs some modifications and polishing. I would also like to see the Poor Man's UCB make progress, and Wally - M0ZAZ would be happy to have someone 'pick up' the project. More on all later. Thanks Eric2 - AA4SW -- Original message -- From: N1OFZ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who responded to my questions. > > I think at this point I am going to wait until a run of the UCB > happens before I purchase a SDR-1000. Unfortunately, unless I can > get a UCB or similar product the SDR-1000 is not going to work for my > application. If any of the original list of pre-orderers backs out > I'd be happy to take their place in line. > > In anticipation of my future purchase I'm going to sell my D800 > laptop and buy a FireBox, PowerMate and an external reference. I'll > still be on the list hopefully absorbing everything I can about this > great radio. > > Again thanks, > Dana > N1OFZ > > ___ > FlexRadio mailing list > FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz > Archive Link: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex-radio.biz/ > FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex-radio.biz/attachments/20060501/8e9e5e90/attachment.htm
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who responded to my questions. I think at this point I am going to wait until a run of the UCB happens before I purchase a SDR-1000. Unfortunately, unless I can get a UCB or similar product the SDR-1000 is not going to work for my application. If any of the original list of pre-orderers backs out I'd be happy to take their place in line. In anticipation of my future purchase I'm going to sell my D800 laptop and buy a FireBox, PowerMate and an external reference. I'll still be on the list hopefully absorbing everything I can about this great radio. Again thanks, Dana N1OFZ
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
That be the one! [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This truely a great "gadget". For $15 bucks you can't beat it. I have built many controlers of this sort for myself and other ham friends, but it costs me about $25 bucks when I build it myself from "parts" and it is dead bug style. For 15 bucks you get a nice PC board and all the parts from 0XAS?? -->How does he do dat ??? Just to be entirely clear. Is this the particular gadget we're talking about? http://www.hamgadgets.com/product_info.php?products_id=75 WO0Z
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Folks Will take the opportunity to jump in here. Regarding the UCB we are talking about it again. Is there anyone who is experienced in ExpressPCB and can make modifications to the existing ExpressPCB files to include changes to the alpha boards of which there are only 6 in existence and I think only one operational by Mike King - KM0T. This is an Excellent fully PowerSDR supported piece of hardware. We could even consider paying someone to make the mods to the board design file and adding it into the borard cost. The modifications add a number of needed features without increasing much on the parts count or board complexity. Comments? Eric1 - AA4SW -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Larry Loen Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 8:55 AM To: Dan Hammill Cc: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions Dan Hammill wrote: [snip] > > >I am also patiently waiting for the UCB project to spring back to life, for >I also have a strong desire to build a 50 thru 1296 (or higher) contest >setup based on a SDR-1000 IF. No use in buying more transverters if the >control hardware isn't available - nor do I want to reinvent my own unique >flavor of UCB. > > I would like to make a public appeal for Flex Radio to produce, manufacture, and sell either the UCB, the Poor Man's UCB, or some similar product. I believe there is substantial demand for it, meeting _at least_ the following needs: 1. UHF/VHF transverter switching. 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the slightest pileup. 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Lacking this, could Flex point us to a suitable product in the marketplace we could buy and reasonably expect to adapt? Since products of this kind are pretty hard to come by, a few enhancements might be in order. These will improve the compactness (and, therefore, the contestability and DXpeditionabilty) of the base product: 1. A simple amplifier (read-- compact and inexpensive) so that a wider variety of microphones can be used with the Delta 44 and who knows what else we'll eventually have. 2. A modest 12 volt power distribution strip. Many devices are 12 volts and one hassle in a portable operation is hooking them up and, more importantly, powering them. In Belize, I had a separate, if modest 12 volt power supply for the Extigy card. I suppose I could have rigged up a solution without this, but the truth is, if I could have had an adapter cord of a known length, plugged at a predictable location vis a vis the SDR, it would have been simpler, doubly so if it represents a device I'm likely to need anyway. The "attractive" alternative is the SDR's own power terminals, but that solution doesn't "scale." Two or three simple "power posts" of the same type that's on the rear of the SDR would do the trick. That would leave one with two "spade" type connectors on the SDR proper and the ability to put this product atop the SDR, a table, or even the sound card itself. I would gladly pay between 50 and 100 dollars for such a product and I'm presuming its cost to manufacture isn't nearly so great. All that's really needed is a suitable amplifier for the HF amp T/R and, secondarily, opto-isolated relays of the X2 interface, I presume. Obviously, including the second set of needs would justify a price nearer 100 dollars. If the costs are unreasonably higher than I suspect, then I'd pay more. I'm going to DXpedition to Aruba and Belize in the fall and whether I take the SDR this time is actually in the balance. My wife doesn't want the extra hassle (both DX stations are fully equipped and if I leave the SDR at home, we can probably go "carry on only", a big plus). It would help if I could have a solution that is a lot more plug-and-play. Larry WO0Z PS, anyone able to add to the "needs list" above? Would anyone else be up for an off-the-shelf solution at these prices, presuming they're realistic? ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archive Link: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex-radio.biz/ FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
> This truely a great "gadget". For $15 bucks you can't beat it. I have > built > many controlers of this sort for myself and other ham friends, but it > costs > me about $25 bucks when I build it myself from "parts" and it is dead bug > style. For 15 bucks you get a nice PC board and all the parts from > 0XAS?? -->How does he do dat ??? > Just to be entirely clear. Is this the particular gadget we're talking about? http://www.hamgadgets.com/product_info.php?products_id=75 WO0Z
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Larry, This truely a great "gadget". For $15 bucks you can't beat it. I have built many controlers of this sort for myself and other ham friends, but it costs me about $25 bucks when I build it myself from "parts" and it is dead bug style. For 15 bucks you get a nice PC board and all the parts from 0XAS?? -->How does he do dat ??? Here is the link to his web store if anyone is interested... http://www.hamgadgets.com/ -Dan K6KDK - Original Message - From: "Larry Taft" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:54 AM Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions >. I would use an interface module such as > the N0XAS universal amp controller for the older rigs that had the relay > coils directly operated by the VOX/key /changeover connection of the > amp.
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
At 05:54 AM 4/26/2006, Larry Loen wrote: Dan Hammill wrote: [snip] > > >I am also patiently waiting for the UCB project to spring back to life, for >I also have a strong desire to build a 50 thru 1296 (or higher) contest >setup based on a SDR-1000 IF. No use in buying more transverters if the >control hardware isn't available - nor do I want to reinvent my own unique >flavor of UCB. > > I would like to make a public appeal for Flex Radio to produce, manufacture, and sell either the UCB, the Poor Man's UCB, or some similar product. I believe there is substantial demand for it, meeting _at least_ the following needs: 1. UHF/VHF transverter switching. 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the slightest pileup. 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Lacking this, could Flex point us to a suitable product in the marketplace we could buy and reasonably expect to adapt? There are quite a few inexpensive USB or serial port controlled relay boxes out there. Check with companies like www.labjack.com or www.dataq.com . A bit more upscale might be www.measurementcomputing.com. There's also a number of companies catering to the control and robotics market with fairly inexpensive relay controllers: www.sixbit.com www.ontrak.com www.electrokits.com Just google USB Relay controller and you'll get dozens of hits. I suspect, though, that the serial port versions might not have the response time you'd want for rapid semi-break-in switching. At 9600 bps, it takes a millisecond to shove a byte out to the interface, and most require multibyte commands. Something else to look at might be the "smart relay" boxes out there (essentially small Programmable Logic Controllers" PLCs) that have inputs and outputs and can do sequencing and timing. You could feed some of the signals from the SDR1000 extension connector to it, and it could do the sequencing and logic. Since products of this kind are pretty hard to come by, a few enhancements might be in order. These will improve the compactness (and, therefore, the contestability and DXpeditionabilty) of the base product: 1. A simple amplifier (read-- compact and inexpensive) so that a wider variety of microphones can be used with the Delta 44 and who knows what else we'll eventually have. 2. A modest 12 volt power distribution strip. Many devices are 12 volts and one hassle in a portable operation is hooking them up and, more importantly, powering them. In Belize, I had a separate, if modest 12 volt power supply for the Extigy card. I suppose I could have rigged up a solution without this, but the truth is, if I could have had an adapter cord of a known length, plugged at a predictable location vis a vis the SDR, it would have been simpler, doubly so if it represents a device I'm likely to need anyway. The "attractive" alternative is the SDR's own power terminals, but that solution doesn't "scale." Two or three simple "power posts" of the same type that's on the rear of the SDR would do the trick. That would leave one with two "spade" type connectors on the SDR proper and the ability to put this product atop the SDR, a table, or even the sound card itself. I have *everything* hooked up with powerpole connectors.. Yes.. there's a bunch of adapters from coaxial power plug to powerpole, but then, I tape/glue/attach the coaxial connector to the jack, so the gear now has a powerpole pigtail. I also carry a bunch of connectors and a crimper. I would gladly pay between 50 and 100 dollars for such a product and I'm presuming its cost to manufacture isn't nearly so great. All that's really needed is a suitable amplifier for the HF amp T/R and, secondarily, opto-isolated relays of the X2 interface, I presume. Obviously, including the second set of needs would justify a price nearer 100 dollars. If the costs are unreasonably higher than I suspect, then I'd pay more. For off the shelf solutions, today, you're probably looking at more like $100-150 for the relay box. The parts are relatively cheap, but by the time you put it on a board, put it in an enclosure, add a user manual, ship it, etc. you're up to the $100 point. ($100 selling price => $10 parts cost) I'm going to DXpedition to Aruba and Belize in the fall and whether I take the SDR this time is actually in the balance. My wife doesn't want the extra hassle (both DX stations are fully equipped and if I leave the SDR at home, we can probably go "carry on only", a big plus). It would help if I could have a solution that is a lot more plug-and-play.
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Thanks to both Larry's. That answers my questions. I see where the current requirement of certain relays could be a problem, however a secondary relay system could be used to key the one requiring the higher current I suppose. Come to think of it, I am sure my old Dow key relay is a 110vac coil, so I will HAVE to use a second 12v relay to send 110 to the Dow key. I've had problems with back EMF before, but there are ways to prevent that too, diodes, etc. Okay, Great! I was a bit worried for a moment that there was no keying voltage. Thanks Again, Brian / w5ami
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Brian, All the signals needed for changeover of the external amps and relays are there on the X2 External Control Connector. You can set the several outputs to do required band switching according to the control table in the setup menu. The outputs are suitable for low level input devices like most modern amplifiers. I would use an interface module such as the N0XAS universal amp controller for the older rigs that had the relay coils directly operated by the VOX/key /changeover connection of the amp. Back EMF is the problem with relay coils. If you have questions about a particular configuration give me a call at 800-687-9161. We can figure out what is needed with a bit of study. My offer is open to all SDR folks. I'm a "Hard Head", I do hardware. 73, Larry K2LT drakerepair.com T and T Measurements Brian Sherrod wrote: On Wednesday 26 April 2006 7:54 am, Larry Loen wrote: 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the slightest pileup. 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Forgive my ignorance, as I don't even have my SDR-1000 yet, but am I to gather that the rig does not have any "keying" voltage for a 12v Dow relay or similar? I had planned to use a beverage on 160 and 75 for receive, and just assumed I could use my Dow key relay for switching antenna's between xmit and recv. Maybe I missread the manual, but I thought I saw a provision for this. Thanks, Brian ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archive Link: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex-radio.biz/ FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
> On Wednesday 26 April 2006 7:54 am, Larry Loen wrote: >> 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 >> meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual >> switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the >> slightest pileup. >> >> 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) >> will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. > > Forgive my ignorance, as I don't even have my SDR-1000 yet, but am I to > gather > that the rig does not have any "keying" voltage for a 12v Dow relay or > similar? I had planned to use a beverage on 160 and 75 for receive, and > just > assumed I could use my Dow key relay for switching antenna's between xmit > and > recv. Maybe I missread the manual, but I thought I saw a provision for > this. > > Thanks, > Brian > It indeed does have a keying voltage, and the manual tells all about it, but like several other modern rigs, it apparently does not have enough current capacity to deal with the requirements of all amplifiers. Buffering is sometimes needed. I'm not familiar with your "dow key" but it might do the job for t/r antenna switching. Check the current requirements, though. Main point is, there's no separate input for receive antennas as is now commonplace, though hardly universal, on many a rig. Nor is there an "off the shelf" solution from Flex. Everyone who has these needs is on their own. In terms of the amp, in Belize, we were dealing with a solid state amp (still on sale, so it isn't always about older amps) and that amp overloaded the circuit. Not fatal, the SDR was repairable, but it took that particular rig out of action for the contest and we had to run sans amplifier. I have since discovered that some other modern rigs share this problem. The SDR is a fabulous rig (if you've read my various adventures, you can see what I've done with it, at least), but there are a few deficiencies. This is one of them, IMHO. Larry WO0Z
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
On Wednesday 26 April 2006 7:54 am, Larry Loen wrote: > 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 > meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual > switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the > slightest pileup. > > 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) > will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Forgive my ignorance, as I don't even have my SDR-1000 yet, but am I to gather that the rig does not have any "keying" voltage for a 12v Dow relay or similar? I had planned to use a beverage on 160 and 75 for receive, and just assumed I could use my Dow key relay for switching antenna's between xmit and recv. Maybe I missread the manual, but I thought I saw a provision for this. Thanks, Brian
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Good suggestions. I recommend that "Feature" requests be posted to the feature request page at http://support.flex-radio.com/MainMenu.aspx where they won't get loss in the shuffle. 73, John P. Basilotto W5GI Marketing and Product Manager FlexRadio Systems Office 512-250-8595 Mobile 512-663-6727 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Larry Loen Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:55 AM To: Dan Hammill Cc: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions Dan Hammill wrote: [snip] > > >I am also patiently waiting for the UCB project to spring back to life, for >I also have a strong desire to build a 50 thru 1296 (or higher) contest >setup based on a SDR-1000 IF. No use in buying more transverters if the >control hardware isn't available - nor do I want to reinvent my own unique >flavor of UCB. > > I would like to make a public appeal for Flex Radio to produce, manufacture, and sell either the UCB, the Poor Man's UCB, or some similar product. I believe there is substantial demand for it, meeting _at least_ the following needs: 1. UHF/VHF transverter switching. 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the slightest pileup. 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Lacking this, could Flex point us to a suitable product in the marketplace we could buy and reasonably expect to adapt? Since products of this kind are pretty hard to come by, a few enhancements might be in order. These will improve the compactness (and, therefore, the contestability and DXpeditionabilty) of the base product: 1. A simple amplifier (read-- compact and inexpensive) so that a wider variety of microphones can be used with the Delta 44 and who knows what else we'll eventually have. 2. A modest 12 volt power distribution strip. Many devices are 12 volts and one hassle in a portable operation is hooking them up and, more importantly, powering them. In Belize, I had a separate, if modest 12 volt power supply for the Extigy card. I suppose I could have rigged up a solution without this, but the truth is, if I could have had an adapter cord of a known length, plugged at a predictable location vis a vis the SDR, it would have been simpler, doubly so if it represents a device I'm likely to need anyway. The "attractive" alternative is the SDR's own power terminals, but that solution doesn't "scale." Two or three simple "power posts" of the same type that's on the rear of the SDR would do the trick. That would leave one with two "spade" type connectors on the SDR proper and the ability to put this product atop the SDR, a table, or even the sound card itself. I would gladly pay between 50 and 100 dollars for such a product and I'm presuming its cost to manufacture isn't nearly so great. All that's really needed is a suitable amplifier for the HF amp T/R and, secondarily, opto-isolated relays of the X2 interface, I presume. Obviously, including the second set of needs would justify a price nearer 100 dollars. If the costs are unreasonably higher than I suspect, then I'd pay more. I'm going to DXpedition to Aruba and Belize in the fall and whether I take the SDR this time is actually in the balance. My wife doesn't want the extra hassle (both DX stations are fully equipped and if I leave the SDR at home, we can probably go "carry on only", a big plus). It would help if I could have a solution that is a lot more plug-and-play. Larry WO0Z PS, anyone able to add to the "needs list" above? Would anyone else be up for an off-the-shelf solution at these prices, presuming they're realistic? ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archive Link: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex-radio.biz/ FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Dan Hammill wrote: [snip] I am also patiently waiting for the UCB project to spring back to life, for I also have a strong desire to build a 50 thru 1296 (or higher) contest setup based on a SDR-1000 IF. No use in buying more transverters if the control hardware isn't available - nor do I want to reinvent my own unique flavor of UCB. I would like to make a public appeal for Flex Radio to produce, manufacture, and sell either the UCB, the Poor Man's UCB, or some similar product. I believe there is substantial demand for it, meeting _at least_ the following needs: 1. UHF/VHF transverter switching. 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the slightest pileup. 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Lacking this, could Flex point us to a suitable product in the marketplace we could buy and reasonably expect to adapt? Since products of this kind are pretty hard to come by, a few enhancements might be in order. These will improve the compactness (and, therefore, the contestability and DXpeditionabilty) of the base product: 1. A simple amplifier (read-- compact and inexpensive) so that a wider variety of microphones can be used with the Delta 44 and who knows what else we'll eventually have. 2. A modest 12 volt power distribution strip. Many devices are 12 volts and one hassle in a portable operation is hooking them up and, more importantly, powering them. In Belize, I had a separate, if modest 12 volt power supply for the Extigy card. I suppose I could have rigged up a solution without this, but the truth is, if I could have had an adapter cord of a known length, plugged at a predictable location vis a vis the SDR, it would have been simpler, doubly so if it represents a device I'm likely to need anyway. The "attractive" alternative is the SDR's own power terminals, but that solution doesn't "scale." Two or three simple "power posts" of the same type that's on the rear of the SDR would do the trick. That would leave one with two "spade" type connectors on the SDR proper and the ability to put this product atop the SDR, a table, or even the sound card itself. I would gladly pay between 50 and 100 dollars for such a product and I'm presuming its cost to manufacture isn't nearly so great. All that's really needed is a suitable amplifier for the HF amp T/R and, secondarily, opto-isolated relays of the X2 interface, I presume. Obviously, including the second set of needs would justify a price nearer 100 dollars. If the costs are unreasonably higher than I suspect, then I'd pay more. I'm going to DXpedition to Aruba and Belize in the fall and whether I take the SDR this time is actually in the balance. My wife doesn't want the extra hassle (both DX stations are fully equipped and if I leave the SDR at home, we can probably go "carry on only", a big plus). It would help if I could have a solution that is a lot more plug-and-play. Larry WO0Z PS, anyone able to add to the "needs list" above? Would anyone else be up for an off-the-shelf solution at these prices, presuming they're realistic?
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Hi Dana, My CPU is a homebrew, and a tad faster - MSI motherboard, P4 at 2.66 GHz (a little seasoned, but good), 512MB RAM, D44 for the SDR-1000, on-board AC-97 for digital stuff (someday), ATI Radeon 9600SE, some built-in and add-on USB & Firewire ports, and Windoze XP. Works great! Can't speak for the Firebox, but the D44 is a fantastic audio card for radio use. Tim Ellison made some comments about the D44 having more noise on the low-freq end. I believe that SM5BSZ has some simple hardware mods (mostly cap and grounding changes) on his Linrad website showing how to significantly improve the D44's noise levels. When I get brave, I'll make the mods on my D44. Currently, I have the SDR-1000 connected to a DEMI 144-28HP high-power 2m transverter, running abt 38W out, driving a Lunar-Link LA-22 as needed for full legal limit. Nice! Point&Zap 2m QRO :-) I am also patiently waiting for the UCB project to spring back to life, for I also have a strong desire to build a 50 thru 1296 (or higher) contest setup based on a SDR-1000 IF. No use in buying more transverters if the control hardware isn't available - nor do I want to reinvent my own unique flavor of UCB. While not a Power SDR developer myself, I can speak with modest authority when it comes to GPIB control because I've been doing that sort of thing continuously for work since 1986. Adding GPIB (HP-IB) control capability to any piece of software requires: (1) Choosing one (or two) decent GPIB card(s) that are readily available at a reasonable price (about $500 new for a decent PCI card from National Instruments, Agilent, and a few others, much less if you can find a working one used), (2) Converting everyone to the same "GPIB faith" (yes, there ARE holy wars in the GPIB universe). (3) The card manufacturer's specific control library with support for your chosen development environment (NI-488.2, Agilent SICL, etc. - none of which are the least bit compatible with each other at the function call level), (4) A development environment that supports using those libraries - don't know if MS C# does, but I suspect that it might, (5) Some time writing GPIB code to convert the instrument manufacturer's examples to your language & purposes. The same goes if you decide to use a PC-based digital I/O or relay card and software to mimic the UCB. I know that I could gin up such a beast given sufficient spare time, and that I could probably make it look just like a UCB from a functional perspective, but then it would be unique to my needs, wouldn't use the existing UCB code, and it could upset folks from other DIO "faiths". But...barring the development of fixed standards for pseudo-UCB's...the SDR-1000 code is open-source, and that means that you can pretty much do whatever you need to do for your own setup, and that you should offer it up to the community so some other like-minded ham can use it as a baseline for his/her own setup. 73, Dan KB5MY/6 DM13nc -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of N1OFZ Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 5:45 PM To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions Hi all, I'm interested in purchasing a SDR-1000 and I've been reading the list archives. I am left with a few questions: Will my hardware be good enough? I have a Dell Latitude D800 (1.4GHZ, 512MB RAM). It has built in Firewire, Serial and Parallel ports. My other machine is a MacBook Pro (1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, 512MB RAM) that triple boots OSX, XP Pro and soon Ubuntu( currently SuSE). It has Firewire but I would need to add a usb parallel port. I can upgrade the RAM in either of these if necessary. Is the FireBox a good solution? It appears there have been issues with it in the past and seems to be a subject of discussion often. I don't want to dump $300 into a sub-standard solution. I can get a Dell 2.53 GHz white box for about the same amount. I could then sell my D800 and purchase a Delta 44 and other accessories. Is the ucb going to actually be available at some point? This is the real deal breaker as the rig will be solely used for VHF+ contesting. I currently have DEMI transverters for 50 through 1296 and I'm looking at adding more bands. I'm hesitant to buy the SDR-1000 before actually having the ucb (or other similar solution) in my hands. I currently use a HP 59307A coax switch. It has two single-pole 4-throw switches controlled from front-panel pushbuttons or remotely from an HP-IB interface. Does anyone have any idea how hard it would be to add HP-IB support to the software? This may be a good alternative solution and has lots of possibilities. Thanks for you time and I look forward to your comments, Dana N1OFZ ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/
Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Dana, Your questions are valid for a perspective new user. I asked the same ones myself before I bought one. Let me see if I can provide some answers and opinions to your questions. First, I have run my SDR1K on a Pentium 1.4 with 512MB AM using the Firebox. It is one of those little "cube" computers, a Shuttle XPC. I am planning on surprising my digital cohorts with it on Field Day for our PSK station. It has XPpro and running version 1.6 of PowerSDR (and MixW) it was operating at about 60% utilization. No drops outs on the RX or TX audio. My regular machine is a bit more stout than that. My recommendation to anyone buying a computer, no matter the application is this; "always buy the most box you can afford and then a little more". Applications are always going to require more resources and PC performance keeps going up for about the same amount of $$$ every 6-12 months. If you can hold off and do with what you have for that amount of time, then I'd hold off purchasing anything new until you try out the SDR1K on what you have already. I have both the Firebox and the D44. Both are excellent cards. But they have their plusses and minuses. These differences are detailed on the SDR-1000 Yahoo discussion group on a post under the heading of the "Great Sound Card Show Down". In a nut shell, the D44 does not take as much system resource to run and does not have a mic preamp. It does automatically switch between 48 and 96K automatically and I like the D44 mixer and VU meters. The FireBox takes more system resources and requires you the set the sample rates before coming out of standby (on PowerSDR). It has a mic preamp and I believe it has just a bit of an edge on audio quality. The Firebox also shows less noise at the bottom of the 11KHz IF (DC noise) than the D44. Since it is Firewire connected, you can easily use it in a portable setting (laptop) On the RX side of things, I think both hear equally. Is the Firebox a better deal at 2X the price of the D44? If you are really into SSB/AM TX audio, want just a tad bit more high end dynamic range and want to be able to use a laptop with the SDR1K, then (at least for me) it was a bargain. Yes there is a small firmware problem with the Firebox that is actively being resolved. The first cut of the firmware has a few minor issues, but I have faith that between Flex and the users on this reflector that are not shy about voicing their dissatisfaction about the bug, Presonus will get it resolved. I have not used the SDR1K for VHF+, but other here have with great success. As far as the UCB is concerned, it looks like the project has lost some "traction", taking a backseat to other projects, but that sometimes happens to projects that are volunteer oriented. Eric2 and other can tell you the current state of affairs on it. 73 de W4TME -Tim --- Tim Ellison ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) Integrated Technical Services ( http://www.itsco.com ) -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of N1OFZ Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 8:45 PM To: FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz Subject: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions Hi all, I'm interested in purchasing a SDR-1000 and I've been reading the list archives. I am left with a few questions: Will my hardware be good enough? I have a Dell Latitude D800 (1.4GHZ, 512MB RAM). It has built in Firewire, Serial and Parallel ports. My other machine is a MacBook Pro (1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, 512MB RAM) that triple boots OSX, XP Pro and soon Ubuntu( currently SuSE). It has Firewire but I would need to add a usb parallel port. I can upgrade the RAM in either of these if necessary. Is the FireBox a good solution? It appears there have been issues with it in the past and seems to be a subject of discussion often. I don't want to dump $300 into a sub-standard solution. I can get a Dell 2.53 GHz white box for about the same amount. I could then sell my D800 and purchase a Delta 44 and other accessories. Is the ucb going to actually be available at some point? This is the real deal breaker as the rig will be solely used for VHF+ contesting. I currently have DEMI transverters for 50 through 1296 and I'm looking at adding more bands. I'm hesitant to buy the SDR-1000 before actually having the ucb (or other similar solution) in my hands. I currently use a HP 59307A coax switch. It has two single-pole 4-throw switches controlled from front-panel pushbuttons or remotely from an HP-IB interface. Does anyone have any idea how hard it would be to add HP-IB support to the software? This may be a good alternative solution and has lots of possibilities. Thanks for you time and I look forward to your comments, Dana N1OFZ ___ FlexRadio mailing list FlexRadio@flex-radio.biz http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexr
[Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions
Hi all, I'm interested in purchasing a SDR-1000 and I've been reading the list archives. I am left with a few questions: Will my hardware be good enough? I have a Dell Latitude D800 (1.4GHZ, 512MB RAM). It has built in Firewire, Serial and Parallel ports. My other machine is a MacBook Pro (1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, 512MB RAM) that triple boots OSX, XP Pro and soon Ubuntu( currently SuSE). It has Firewire but I would need to add a usb parallel port. I can upgrade the RAM in either of these if necessary. Is the FireBox a good solution? It appears there have been issues with it in the past and seems to be a subject of discussion often. I don't want to dump $300 into a sub-standard solution. I can get a Dell 2.53 GHz white box for about the same amount. I could then sell my D800 and purchase a Delta 44 and other accessories. Is the ucb going to actually be available at some point? This is the real deal breaker as the rig will be solely used for VHF+ contesting. I currently have DEMI transverters for 50 through 1296 and I'm looking at adding more bands. I'm hesitant to buy the SDR-1000 before actually having the ucb (or other similar solution) in my hands. I currently use a HP 59307A coax switch. It has two single-pole 4-throw switches controlled from front-panel pushbuttons or remotely from an HP-IB interface. Does anyone have any idea how hard it would be to add HP-IB support to the software? This may be a good alternative solution and has lots of possibilities. Thanks for you time and I look forward to your comments, Dana N1OFZ
