Re: [IRCA] FlexRadio SDRs

["Stewart, Joseph R" <RandyStewart@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks, Guy!  As I said earlier, the guys who own the FlexRadio units are both hams first and foremost.  Both of theirs are more current units, the Flex-1500 and Flex-5000.  Don't know what their situations are with sound cards.

Randy Stewart
Arts Producer
KSMU
901 S. National
Springfield MO 65897



(ORIGINAL  MESSAGE)
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 08:27:35 -0800
From: Guy Atkins <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
As Nick mentioned I did indeed run a blog for a couple of years that focused on the FlexRadio SDR as a MW and tropical bands DXing receiver.
The FlexRadio product at the time was the SDR-1000.
     As a first generation SDR it was a groundbreaking transceiver, but fell short in many areas for "our" kind of usage. The software itself (PowerSDR) was very amateur radio oriented and the transceiver had strange quirks such as large carriers and images that would appear outside of the ham bands (in mediumwave and long wave frequencies for instance. I ended up repackaging the unit with custom high and low pass filters to eliminate the problem and added other goodies like a Griffin Powermate tuning knob, and the Atlas & Janus I/Q boards from the HPSDR project, headed up at the time by Quicksilver SDR designer Phil Covington. Photos of the highly modified FlexRadio SDR-1000 can be seen here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/114798392023680237679/SDR1000HPSDRBoardsCustomEnclosure
     FlexRadio transceivers have moved far beyond the early SDR-1000, but I'm unfamiliar with their current products since I moved on to the Perseus SDR in 2007 (and transitioned my FlexRadio blog to one for Perseus for three years after that). The SDR-1000's architecture required a separate PC sound card to operate, unlike the Perseus approach. The sound card was the key to its performance; high quality external sound cards from firms like Edirol or M-Audio were needed to get the lowest noise floor and the best dynamic range with the FlexRadio. Perhaps current FlexRadio transceivers no longer require a separate sound card.
     Keep in mind that if you go with FlexRadio that the vast majority of users are hams, and you won't get a lot of support and feedback if you have issues with the rig when using it as a MW or broadcast bands receiver. That was another reason I moved to the more MW/SWL friendly Perseus SDR... the user community is more broad based than just ham radio operators.
73,
Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA



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