Recent Updates

Hi KD8TUT, I have ordered the Asus Tinker board and the 7" touchscreen. I figure I can make sure that it works before I pay the big bucks for the kit from ANAN. Total outlay so far is $66 for the Tinker board incl. freight to NZ, (free freight is only to USA addresses). The screen is about $83, but I bought that from a local New Zealand dealer as it was the same price.

Don't quote me but I "think" it is a Linux variant.

FlexRadio Systems SmartSDR has three levels of API. The high level one is called FLEXLIB. It is a Windows .NET access into the SmartSDR client running on your PC. A sort of "super CAT."

The next layer down is called the Ethernet or Network API. It effectively allows you to write your own client to write Ethernet UDP and TCP-IP packets to the radio and read the data back from the radio.

The Waveform API lets you add to (but not edit) the code running on the ARM processor in the radio. You can create new modes and SmartSDR will integrate them into the radio. I believe that this is an API access, not open source access to their code. In other words you can hook into the FlexRadio Systems code like using a DLL but you cant change their code.

Thanks Mark. When I finished the first SDR book, I felt that it was a little too technical for radio hams who were completely new to SDR. It also only dealt with HF radios. There was a lot more I could say! The new book is called "Software Defined Radio: for Amateur Radio Operators and Short Wave Listeners" By Andrew Barron ZL3DW.

The new book, is much bigger 308 pages vs 76 for the old book. It is more general and wide ranging. One buyer review said that he read the first two chapters and found it too dry... he missed the dragons and fairy castles in chapter 3. Seriously I tried to make it easily readable rather than being a reference book, but ya cant please everyone. Overall it is getting good reviews.

I was aware that there is no written user guide for PowerSDR in spite of it being used pretty widely. There are a lot of settings and features which I felt a lot of people may be unaware of. In fact there are one or two features that I still have no idea how to use So I wrote a section on PowerSDR with tips and tricks. There are also sections about SDR#, cuSDR and SmartSDR. Near the end there is a glossary of 65 SDRs currently on the market. It is just a very minimal comparison of the features of each radio. Frequencies covered, transmit power, number of panadapters, ADC bits etc. I thought that it would be useful for anyone making a buying decision. Yes you can get the same information from the Internet if you want to go to 65 manufacturers websites. I have just done that for you and put in a handy table.

The new book is available on Kindle as well as a printed edition and this has proved very popular, with slightly more than 50% of sales being Kindle editions. The Kindle edition is cheaper because it doesn't have to be printed and posted. I didn't publish the first book on Kindle because it was full color and had big drawings that I felt wouldn't translate well. It is still available (printed format only) if you want a more technical book.

Here is the Amazon link for the new book www.amazon.com/Software-Defined-Radio-Op...eners/dp/1534992421/

Here is the Amazon blurb...
This book is intended for Amateur Radio Operators, Short Wave Listeners, and anyone interested in radio as a hobby. It includes sections on how different types of software defined radios work, the advantages of using them, and how they are tested. It also covers future trends including the development of Direct Fourier Conversion. There is a big section with tips for PowerSDR users and sections about other commonly used SDR software, plus a comparison of the basic specifications of 65 different SDR receivers and transceivers. The book is not a textbook or a reference book. It is written in an easy to read conversational style. I explain the basics without getting too technical. There are no pages of software code or complex mathematics. I find that simple diagrams can often make things easier to understand so I have included some helpful drawings and photographs. The book contains sections on: • What to look for when buying an SDR • What is different about SDR? • What computer skills do you need? • What is digital? – a brief recap on digital theory • Definitions of software defined radio • Generations and types of SDR • Are SDRs better? • Future trends • Common questions about SDR • SDR software on the PC • Audio connections for digital modes • SDR for shortwave listening, CW, digital modes, contesting, interference monitoring, EME, microwave, and satellite operation • SoftRock, Genesis radios, RTL dongle, FUNcube dongle, USB connected receivers, USRP, Noctar, HackRF and Blade RF • SDRs with knobs • On-board or external DSP? • FlexRadio Systems transceivers and SmartSDR • Apache Labs ANAN transceivers and PowerSDR • cuSDR, KISS Konsole, SDR#, and GNU radio software • I and Q signals, Quadrature sampling, Direct Digital Synthesis, Direct Fourier Conversion • The ADC, The FPGA or microcomputer, Server / Client architecture, FFT magic, DSP, Panadapter and waterfall displays • Radio performance testing • Catalog of Software Defined radios – a comparison of 65 SDR receivers and transceivers • Glossary of abbreviations and acronyms • List of drawings and images

Can't swear by this, but I think I once heard it was an industrial unix variant, like POSIX or similar. mike might mention it in his review here of the 6700 in the archives.

73
NI0Z

Hi all,

I've been watching the Flex happenings with great interest.....

I've been wondering- since the Flex actually runs an operating system on the ARM Cortex processor... what's the operating system?

No experience with this... but I'm interested in your outcome.

I've got various tablets working with a VPN for remote operation. So I may be interested in the piHPSDR as another sharp edge in an already interesting switchblade.

Welcome back! Thanks for sharing, looking forward to watching these tomorrow!

73
Ni0Z