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[N1ESE]

Just built my first SoftRock rig, a 80M Lite.  This is pretty damn sweet.  I need to rig up a crapstal socket though, I think I am wearing out the solder pads with all the crapstal swapping I've been doing.
 
I see a better soundcard in my future though.  Rocky and WinRad work great at 96 KHz sampling rates but PowerSDR is all distorted and picking up a crap load of noise at 96 KHz, it's even crappy at 48 KHz.

[N1ESE]

... and 5 minutes later we have one ghetto of a crapstal socket with an SMT crapstal stuffed in there:


 

[KF1Z]

A ghetto looking crystal for the ghetto! We do what we must to get the stuff to work. Never used one of the straight receiver type SoftRocks, only the IF types, 455khz & 500khz.

Don't know that I'd invest in another sound card, I2PHD WinRad should be enough. I think he's working on improving the synchronous AM feature. 

Same exact soft-rock... just a different /BFP, and crystal..


A better soundcard couldn't hurt.....


WinRad does need some tweaking....!!
The S-Am feature in the latest release, just wanders all over the place, then tries to lock on ssb signals...


The next SDR project for me is the WB6DHW  "DDS Controller"...
Mine will be set-up to be a "0" to 54mhz Rx..... and will supply the class-e rig with a vfo.

Based on the AD9954 dds, with a 125mhz clock.


Will at least be a fun soldering job!

Well, the 48 pin dds ic probably won't be "fun".... but beyond that..............................

[N1ESE]

Listening to my first AM signal on the SoftRock.  K2VH talking to someone, can't hear the other side of the QSO, on 3705.  I need to find a ~ 31 MHz crapstal to get my center frequency up near 3.875.

[N1ESE]

I resolved my problem with PowerSDR, I just had to adjust the latency settings and it's now working fine at 96 KHz sampling.
 

[KF1Z]

Phil Covington will be doing a board later this spring with the A/D running 50% faster. He is also the designer for HPSDR Mercury.

So Frank.......
Do you think for the extra $$ that Phil's QS1R VERB is the way to go over HPSDR?

I say extra... but who knows how much Mercury is going to cost.....? and when it'll be available.....

Phil's VERB is $799  just for the board.....

Atlas, Janus, and Ozy are $370 A&T.... plus Mercury... I assume around 250-300??

[WA1GFZ]

Phil told me the performance will be the same. If I was to start over I would go with Phil's. He designed both of them but he has more control on his product so I'm sure his priority will be to support his product. He still hangs out on HPSDR. Also he plans to make his software usable with HPSDR. Still HPSDR J/O/A is the best sound card performance known. Mercury will be cheaper because the communication will be to the Atlas bus so it won't need as much hardware. I just sent in my check for Penelope exciter.
 

[KF1Z]

Do you have any notion of when Mercury is due out?

Phil said on 2-12, "a few days.." for his to be ready.......

[WA1GFZ]

Don't know maybe we will get lucky and they will use the new 160 MHz A/D??

[KF1Z]

Do you have any notion of when Mercury is due out?
Phil said on 2-12, "a few days.." for his to be ready.......

The QS1R boards are already done but the software isn't.   


The QS1R has a very interesting list of future options planned for it also.

Yep, he said he some done, but he won't take orders until the software is done....
Gotta like some guy's "... a few days..."  ...  that was over 2 weeks ago....
(I know it was in response to your query..)


As for the options....
The oscope/spectrum analyzer would be handy...
I belive the unit for HPSDR and QS1R is indeed the same unit....
At least, The HPSDR unit is being designed to operate with Mercury, and VERB...



Well, I don't know.... I get an uncomfortable feeling from the HPSDR group...
I just do not like email lists... but see no other source of current info.....
The taking orders with money months in advance, well... mixed feelings.
No  warranty on the units.... ... eeek.


I don't know that I need to spend that much on a receiver anyway....
But when handy features like that get added, along with RX coverage to 60mhz...
Makes it a bit more attractive....

I had the SDR-IQ....  that was plenty fun... It seemed to have good front-end gain...
No real noticeable grunge or garbage...
And the 190khz of raw rf band recording was cool..
Of course with the QS1R... you'll be able to record up to 4mhz!...eventually.

[KF1Z]

Oh I understand the concept... just not completely comfortable with it... that's all.

The problem with the email reflector is... if you don't start gathering the emails at the beginning of the project.. the only way to access "old" information, is to ask a question again, and hope someone will answer....

With the online usergroups, you can go back and read all the already asked Q&As.

As far as I can tell from HPSDR, they say no warranty... but if they have spare boards, they MAY do an exchange at their discretion .


Not really complaining about they way they do it... it is supposed to be a group effort type of project.... not really just a commercial product.....

[WA1GFZ]

TAPR delivered over 300 sets of J/O/A modules and I don't know of a single person with quality issues. All modules are tested and sealed in ESD bags. The Quality is near mil as far as the build, test and ship.
The risk in in handling so if you are not used to dealing with this stuff I suggest you learn first. FPGAs are very static (ESD) sensitive and you need to use a static strap.
Phil is a one man show so I'm sure he is up to his eyeballs trying to get things done.

[KF1Z]

Just paid for my QS1R VERB....
Should be shipping out to me on Monday.......

Now to sell off some things to cover the cost!

[KF1Z]

I noticed Phil has an option he calls the "Ultra Low Noise Encode Clock Option" for $80, probably worth the extra bucks.

It is no longer an "option".... it now comes standard... and the price has gone up $50...

[N1ESE]

Now to sell off some things to cover the cost!

I'll take your Class-E rig. 
 
Seriously though, whatcha got?  PM me.

[KF1Z]

I noticed Phil has an option he calls the "Ultra Low Noise Encode Clock Option" for $80, probably worth the extra bucks.

It is no longer an "option".... it now comes standard... and the price has gone up $50...

I just went to the website and the order link is still dead? He told me that the order link would only start to work when the software package was completed? Wonder what's up?

I emailed Phil yesterday and asked when I could order etc...
He emailed back this morning, and said I could order now, and he'd ship one out on Monday the 3rd....

I notice on his site, he changed the price etc, today....
So I'm sure he's working on it now...


He sent me his paypal address... so I used that...

[KF1Z]

Hmmmm, I dunno? He offered to sell me the board a while back but said I'd need to download the raw code myself and compile a program using the MS Visual C. He and the HPSDR guys all work in Unix/Linux and I wasn't interested in going through that compiling process myself, that's why I've been waiting for him to finish his program. Think I'll just cool it for a while and wait to see how this all plays out. Did Phil say you would be getting a CD with a ready to use SDR program? 

Nope, he didn't mention the CD....

Doesn't bother me... the files are/will be there on his server...
Compiling is just a few mouse-clicks

And if it comes on a CD, ready to use...  bonus!

[KF1Z]

Actually Mack,
In Phil's response to you he said "I will not ship boards until the software is ready..."

So I have to assume the software is ready, or will be by the week -end.

Time will tell....

[WA1GFZ]

Enjoy the high, I got off easy. Doc said tooth is still sound and fixed it with composite.

Anyway true SDR is the new buzz word and it will be interesting to match the performance of my other receivers. I figure worse case they become great IF spectrum monitors. Heck even hanging off the 3280 a cool display.

 

[KF1Z]

Cool toy... that's true!

With the VERB, the maximum display will be 4mhz..

So, You can see all of the spectrum between say 1.8mhz, through 75 meters and through 60 meters!

Or all of 75, 60 and 40 meters all on one display.....

Or, all of 6meters...

OR, you can have more than one instance of the software running, and treat it as multiple receivers!

Of course, the antenna becomes the issue, and would naturally have to preform on a good range of frequencies.......


It'll be loads of fun, just in the visual display!

We'll see in a few days.......

[WA1GFZ]

I wonder how much computer horsepower will be required for all this shuck and jive. I'm pretty sure my 1 GHz machine will be done.

[N1ESE]

I wonder how much computer horsepower will be required for all this shuck and jive. I'm pretty sure my 1 GHz machine will be done.

Computing horsepower is cheap these days, I just threw out a 2.2 GHz rig because I was tired of tripping over it and couldn't give the dinosaur away.  I upgraded to a 3.4 GHz CPU and 2GB of memory for $50 last year.

[KF1Z]

Yep, really need a dual-core machine to take full advantage....

Minimum systems for real performance are 2ghz +

Keep in mind that's if you only have one machine, and want to multitask...

For giggles This past summer... I watched a DVD, browsed the 'net, and recorded a 190khz chunk of 80 meters all at the same time with my SDR-IQ....

Well, I ran all the stuff... obviously didn't pay full attention to them all!  :-)

But there was no noticeable stutter, belches, or fa**s............

And this is "only" a  2.1ghz P4, with 500meg ram, and  480gb drives...

[KF1Z]

OK, that's the way I understood it worked for those buying early. I did download and install the MC Visual C but when I looked at the download website for the code, it was a bit confusing in operation and which version of the code was the proper one to use. As a certified "software dummy", it's probably better for me to wait.

Besides.... if you goto the SVN there's a fully compiled installer there....
You don't need to have Visual C....

There is a new version up now.... I have it all installed.
"SDRMAXII"

http://qs1r-sdrmax.googlecode.com/svn/sdrmax-win/trunk/SDRMAXII/installer/


Fair warning... you need to have  .NET framework 2.0 on your machine to run it....

[KF1Z]

Gee Mack.... I was just typing up that reply so you'd see it...

Guess you found it somewhere....

Or, maybe you found it the same way I did!
through the new yahoo group!
Is that so?