[Discuss-gnuradio] Re: A Humble Request....for allowing to copy Circuit into PCB

[Patrick Strasser]

schrieb James Hall am 2011-01-11 13:16:
>     > It's not much for the tax-payer or commercial clients.
> 
>     Why should that be?
> 
> I'm not the guy you're replying to but you know you kinda cut this
> thought in half and replied to it out of context. "It's not too
> expensive for the tax-payer or commercial clients, But it's a lot for a
> hobbyist" 

Sorry, I read "It's _more_ for the tax-payer or commercial clients." I
got it wrong.

> Why is it that the USRP was $450, then discontinued to bring out the
> USRP2 for $700 now it's being discontinued for a new design that will be
> marketed at $1700?

I see all three available. The USRP2 is not a replacement, but rather an
additional choice for different requirements. Same for the USRP N200.

> It's what they dig out of the couch cushions. That or hams that can
> afford luxury radios in the $2-4k+ range.

USRPs are not the cheapo DIY kit hardware for small experiments. It's
rather very capable hardware for a fair price with flexibility that
other systems can not offer.
If you want that range of capabilities you have to pay the price. If you
do not need that much, you will probably better served by an SoftRock
and Soundcard.

If you want it especially for hams, compare these:
QuickSilver QS1R Receiver
  http://www.philcovington.com/QuickSilver/
Perseus
  http://www.microtelecom.it/perseus/distributors.html
Flexradio Flex 1500 or Flex 3000
  http://www.flex-radio.com/
ICOM 9100
  http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/hf/9100/default.aspx
RF-Space SDR-14
 http://www.rfspace.com/RFSPACE/SDR-14.html

These are all great devices and sold as amateur radio equipment. Not all
hams and DIYs are young and have no money for expensive hardware. Some
people like to spend all their extra money in cars, some in new TV sets
(I saw people buy TV systems for >5000€ in less than half an our...),
some enjoy their holidays in exotic locations, some by ham equipment.
On the other side there are hams that build all there equipment
themselves with low budget and low power, and still do great things.

If your requirements exceed your budget you can at least modify your
requirements easily to get them matching. Or you can spend some extra
cycles of your free brain power on it and maybe get a clever solution ;-).

Fortunately out there exists a big range of different devices for all
kind of funds. A good compilation of SDR systems from cheap to expensive
can be found at
  http://f4dan.free.fr/sdr_eng.html

Regards

Patrick

PS: More links can be found on
http://www.delicious.com/trapicki/sdr
-- 
Engineers motto: cheap, good, fast: choose any two
Patrick Strasser <patrick dot strasser at student dot tugraz dot at>
Student of Telemati_cs_, Techn. University Graz, Austria