[Discuss-gnuradio] usrp and gnuradio ham usage

[Oliver Meier]

Hello List,

I'm interested in using gnuradio and the USRP as a ham transceiver. 

Does anyone use this setup daily? What kind of PA do you use for the transmitter side? 
I couldn't find a powerful PA (>= 50-100W ) with a PIN for that 100mW output power of the daughterboards.

I have read in the list archives that you also will need additional hardware on the receiver side for shortwave. Even with LFRX and WBX.
What hardware do you use there (model, manufacturer)? Does it perform well?

As i already said, I'm new to ham radio but as I know behind gnuradio there are enough hams I thought you could help me to get on air.Well, in fact...I have to do my license homework first.. :-)

There are several other SDRs available, since I bought the USRP. Especially for ham usage, in a fair mean, do you think it would be 
better to use them first, as these are "plug-and-play" concepts (receiver+ sensitive hf frontend + pa)? Which of them do use gnuradio
on software side? 

I have to buy WBX and LFTX/RX then, and well, it's some amount of money if you don't know if it will fit your needs. Or if it would 
be better to use other commercial SDRs for that purpose. 

I'm very interested in using gnuradio and the usrp, because it is so awesome what you can do with this package. But at least for the moment,
I'm a bit out of knowledge on the hardware side.

Are there any special gnuradio / USRP ham groups / forums out there?

Greetings an thank you,