New Twist for This Hobby -- GnuRadio

[Cold Winter]

Actually, it looks like an interesting project with an extremely very good profit margin!

Unlikely that a USRP unit could be a $100 item as originally suggested. Cost could be minimized if the board was simply cloned, sold with exchangeable or multi-tuner expansion and without technical support.

A major issue for distribution would be that it would be highly improbable to obtain Part 15 FCC approval for transmission for a wide spectrum device. Would the technology still be of interest if it were developed as a receive only project?

If your going to repeat what they have done, the price alone will be too high.

If you can find someone to do a mass produced ASIC, then I suspect a $100 device might be possible.

The Transceivers are not a problem, as you can S/W disable them, and also S/W control just what bands they operate in. In effect, the S/W you release with the parts would have to comply with the FCC regs .

Also, there is the WhiteFi standards coming out that are wide band friendly.

The key to this is ASICs... or at least mass produced ones. Once you get this under $100, these things replace AM/FM radios, TVs, WiFi routers, CBs, FRS, police radios, cell phones... you get the idea.

The key will be to release S/W control code. Thats where you obtain FCC licensing.

Or at least as I see it...

 

[Cold Winter]

Ok Gents:

Just a follow up. While it isn't exactly a "broadband device" it seems Qualcomm has come out with a tradename "GOBI" chip that acts something like what we were discussing here.

Qualcomm Products and Services - Gobi

It appears intended as a mass market device.

And priced accordingly (?) .

Add "WhiteFI" ( if not already there ) and you are very close to the target there.

FCC? Apparently silent so far...

 

[merkin]

Dont know where this fits in either, but was watching "Street Signs" the other day and Erin mentioned "Entropic Communications....... multistandard tuner....." and found this http://www.entropic.com/briefs/EN4020_072209.pdf
couple years old already, prolly been mentioned here already.

 

[pjcl]

I read the "Getting Started", and the "FAQ", and nowhere did I find a definitive discussion on what it was for.
It sounds like a solution looking for a problem.

If it's somehow relevant to FTA Satellite, please share. -
Not that it has to be, of course, but I'm a little lost.

Funny, that was my first impression, too.

 

[tuberadio]

Now here is something that peaks my interest... I use SDR's (Software Defined Radio's) here in the ham shack but I never thought of building one to play with the IF coming out of my LNB... I only play with them down on the HF ham bands... SDR's such simple technology that so few understand the potential of.

 

[SatelliteAV]

Are any Amateurs using SDR's for DVB standards based audio and/or video communications? Do you have any recommendations for forums or websites where hams are sharing ideas about this technology?

 

[Cold Winter]

Now here is something that peaks my interest... I use SDR's (Software Defined Radio's) here in the ham shack but I never thought of building one to play with the IF coming out of my LNB... I only play with them down on the HF ham bands... SDR's such simple technology that so few understand the potential of.

SDRs are truly very simple and yet very arcane. The H/W should be much cheaper, given the simplicity. Seems that those who "get it" fall into 2 categories. Most are in the hey neato group. Then theres that group that get it and say NO F(n) way... guess who's Ox is getting gored there?

On Edit:

The interesting thing about the QualComm Gobi chip is that it seems to be an SDR for the cell phone industry ( Android type and likely to be cheap ) and so must operate transceivers in the 800Mhz to 2.4Ghz range... whether thats continuous or not I don't know... BUT... that could make for a very cheap S/W controlled STB circuit for us if it is continuous range...

 

[tuberadio]

So here are a few ham related SDR sites.... personally I run a Softrock 80/40m transceiver and Ive built a couple junk box parts SDR's... And the best part is the radios Ive built from the parts in my junk box work real nice, even with low quality components.

A simple peice of hardware and a soundcard make a nice SDR for even just listening to shortwave broadcasts...

| SoftRockRadio.org
SoftRock-40 Kit Resource Page
Software-defined radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HPSDR - High Performance Software Defined Radio

A simple google search of software defined radio or SDR will bring up quite a few interesting results.

 

[Bongu]

The base unit cost is quite prohibitive for some of us low budget hobby folks. $700 for the lowest lvl, $1300 and $1400 for mid lvl units, and $1700 for the top tier base units PLUS a $150 Daughter card or two? Definitely now low budged hobby person material. SDRs are a great idea, but they are currently fairly expensive for people like me still.

 

[Bongu]

Tuberadio,

The SoftRock pricing is well within my budget. I will have to look into their products and application.

 

[Cold Winter]

So here are a few ham related SDR sites.... personally I run a Softrock 80/40m transceiver and Ive built a couple junk box parts SDR's... And the best part is the radios Ive built from the parts in my junk box work real nice, even with low quality components.

A simple peice of hardware and a soundcard make a nice SDR for even just listening to shortwave broadcasts...

| SoftRockRadio.org
SoftRock-40 Kit Resource Page
Software-defined radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HPSDR - High Performance Software Defined Radio

A simple google search of software defined radio or SDR will bring up quite a few interesting results.

:up Truly awesome.

Those prices are QUITE reasonable!