Good suggestions. I recommend that "Feature" requests be posted to the feature request page at http://support.flex-radio.com/MainMenu.aspx where they won't get loss in the shuffle. 73, John P. Basilotto W5GI Marketing and Product Manager FlexRadio Systems Office 512-250-8595 Mobile 512-663-6727
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Larry Loen Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:55 AM To: Dan Hammill Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Flexradio] Potential purchaser questions Dan Hammill wrote: [snip] > > >I am also patiently waiting for the UCB project to spring back to life, for >I also have a strong desire to build a 50 thru 1296 (or higher) contest >setup based on a SDR-1000 IF. No use in buying more transverters if the >control hardware isn't available - nor do I want to reinvent my own unique >flavor of UCB. > > I would like to make a public appeal for Flex Radio to produce, manufacture, and sell either the UCB, the Poor Man's UCB, or some similar product. I believe there is substantial demand for it, meeting _at least_ the following needs: 1. UHF/VHF transverter switching. 2. Receive antennas on HF (currently inhibiting my progress on 30 meters and preventing me from deploying beverages on 80). Manual switching between transmit and receive antennas won't work in even the slightest pileup. 3. Hooking up a variety of HF amplifiers that (as we learned in Belize) will overload and burn out the amplifier relay circuit of the SDR. Lacking this, could Flex point us to a suitable product in the marketplace we could buy and reasonably expect to adapt? Since products of this kind are pretty hard to come by, a few enhancements might be in order. These will improve the compactness (and, therefore, the contestability and DXpeditionabilty) of the base product: 1. A simple amplifier (read-- compact and inexpensive) so that a wider variety of microphones can be used with the Delta 44 and who knows what else we'll eventually have. 2. A modest 12 volt power distribution strip. Many devices are 12 volts and one hassle in a portable operation is hooking them up and, more importantly, powering them. In Belize, I had a separate, if modest 12 volt power supply for the Extigy card. I suppose I could have rigged up a solution without this, but the truth is, if I could have had an adapter cord of a known length, plugged at a predictable location vis a vis the SDR, it would have been simpler, doubly so if it represents a device I'm likely to need anyway. The "attractive" alternative is the SDR's own power terminals, but that solution doesn't "scale." Two or three simple "power posts" of the same type that's on the rear of the SDR would do the trick. That would leave one with two "spade" type connectors on the SDR proper and the ability to put this product atop the SDR, a table, or even the sound card itself. I would gladly pay between 50 and 100 dollars for such a product and I'm presuming its cost to manufacture isn't nearly so great. All that's really needed is a suitable amplifier for the HF amp T/R and, secondarily, opto-isolated relays of the X2 interface, I presume. Obviously, including the second set of needs would justify a price nearer 100 dollars. If the costs are unreasonably higher than I suspect, then I'd pay more. I'm going to DXpedition to Aruba and Belize in the fall and whether I take the SDR this time is actually in the balance. My wife doesn't want the extra hassle (both DX stations are fully equipped and if I leave the SDR at home, we can probably go "carry on only", a big plus). It would help if I could have a solution that is a lot more plug-and-play. Larry WO0Z PS, anyone able to add to the "needs list" above? Would anyone else be up for an off-the-shelf solution at these prices, presuming they're realistic? _______________________________________________ FlexRadio mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexradio_flex-radio.biz Archive Link: http://mail.flex-radio.biz/pipermail/flexradio_flex-radio.biz/ FlexRadio Homepage: http://www.flex-radio.com
