Technical Topics > SDR - Software Defined Radio

Joined the SDR revolution. Let me show you it.

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BDM:
Ahhh nice

cmradio:
Sha-weeeet, dude! ;D

^5

Peace!

BOR:
Congratulations!! You're going to love that.

Labviewguru:
Please note: I am NOT belittling anyone's equipment. I am asking to be educated.

I have a serious question for you gents - given that most of the software is free, why is a SDR "box" so horrendously expensive? I've looked at the bills of materials and most of the hardware, including boards, could be "had" for $250 USD. SMT soldering isn't a problem for me, I do it frequently. What am I missing?

I've thought about sending commands to my xcvr via CAT (Yaesu) and use a DAQ card to monitor the IF output. I'll display it all with LabVIEW, and the DAQ card can give me 16 or 24 bits. I have (what is now considered a low-end card) that will give me 300K samples/second at 24 bits. Of course, this would be receive only.

SO, it's quite possible I'm completely missing something. Would one or more of you folks be kind enough to fill me in?

Thanks

LabVIEWguru

Beerus Maximus:
Someone not brain damaged like me could answer your question more intelligently. But my point of view is that it goes something like this.... there's no major commercial enterprise yet to develop and market true high performance SDR to hobbyists so we are nowhere near economies of scale in the SDR world.

Instead the development is happening by talented experimenters and engineers running small companies, possibly as a hobbies themselves. The cost represents not just the parts but their significant investment in time to research and develop the hardware.

The NetSDR is expensive at $1449, but in the few days I have been playing with it, I have absolutely no regrets. It is an amazing radio. Does it really have $250 in parts inside? I have no idea. But does it perform like I'd expect for $1449? It sure does. The engineer behind it is the guy you deal with when you buy one and he is available on IRC. Could you talk to the designer of your Yaesu on a moment's notice?

I guess what I am saying is that sure, the parts individually may be nothing particularly exotic but the finished product is far from a commodity. I'm not being sarcastic here: if you think you could design and build a unit that performs just as well, and sell it for a LOT less, you should do it! It would only help move the SDR revolution further.

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