On 2/17/2011 6:27 PM, Michael Tondee wrote:
I usually associate AM operation with the classic radio buffs or "boat anchor" collectors. Obviously, judging by this thread, not everyone who operates AM fits this category but I have to wonder what some of these guys think when they hear one of the "newfangled Flex SDR's" on AM! Michael
Actually Michael, I think AM'ers may run the most diverse group of rigs on the air. I've worked (or run) everything from modern imported solid state equipment, classic american boat anchors, restored military equipment, re-purposed broadcast gear, modified marine equipment, Class D, E, or H homebrew equipment running at incredible efficiencies with amazing fidelity, qrp rigs built on cake pans or wooden boards, heavy iron plate modulated rigs and exotic exciters driving big amps, and increasingly SDR gear. Many of us run a variety of equipment as the mood strikes. Some days I like tubes and a butter smooth VFO dial, some days I need a panadapter fix. Some days I hike with a solid state rig in a backpack with a whip. It's nice to have choices. :-)
I think the Flex SDR's are earning a good reputation within the AM community. The transmitted audio is excellent, and everyone appreciates the filtering capabilities and the synchronous detector. Like with the other modes, there are things that could be optimized further but I expect that will come with time as other priorities are worked through. A few folks are experimenting with other SDR systems as well. A lot of the folks I've worked lately have been hanging softrock boards off the IF of their classic gear (Drake R4, R390, etc) and running PowerSDR for the filtering and detector. It's getting to be a very popular mod. Despite the affinity for a classic form of modulation, I think you'll find many AMers embrace new technology readily and bend it to serve their needs. Speaking of pilot carriers and other interesting forms of modulation, I got to wondering about the possibility of generating independent sidebands (ISB) with the Flex. At Harris our gear used filtering to generate 2 ISB, or 4 ISB with pilot carrier. On our HF circuits we would typically run RTTY on LLSB, and LSB, and voice circuits carrying telephone traffic on USB and UUSB. Not sure I see a big use for such a capability in amateur service. Maybe send SSTV on one sideband while talking on the other. Mostly just curious if the 'magic' in the software would permit such a capability. Thinking direct generation of two independent sidebands wouldn't be simple, but that a variation of the multi-receive capability in reverse as it were, might. de Kevin, WB2EMS _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using beta versions of the software.
