Softrocks come in two flavors: crystal controlled and with a variable frequency oscillator. The crystal controlled guys have a tuning range dependent on the highest rate your sound card supports: 48 kHz, 96 kHz (normal these days) or 192 kHz (high end cards) centered on the crystal frequency. Cost is about $20 when available. The VFO version has 2 flavors: 1 covers .9 to 30 MHZ and the other .2 to 10 MHz more or less. Cost is about $55 when available. "When available" means when the not-for-profit vendor (Tony Parks, KB9YIG) has kits in stock. He gets a batch of parts, sells a batch of kits and starts over. I believe he's sold over 10,000 of these things and I can see why - they teach people the basics of SDR, you can use some of the big SDR programs with them, they are cheap, and fun to build. I have both crystal and VFO versions and the crystal based "Softrock Ultralight" has heard a handful of TPs from Japan, China, Australia, etc. Not bad for what was $15 at the time. Chuck
> Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:31:12 -0800 > From: wb2...@yahoo.com > To: irca@hard-core-dx.com > Subject: Re: [IRCA] Testing New SDR software > > Looks like the Softrock 160m version tunes only 1.8 to 2.0 mHz. > > Russ Edmunds > 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia > Grid FN20id > <wb2...@yahoo.com> > FM: Yamaha T-80 & Onkyo T-450RDS w/ APS9B @15'; Grundig G8 > AM: Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot > > > --- On Mon, 1/10/11, Nick Hall-Patch <n...@ieee.org> wrote: > > > From: Nick Hall-Patch <n...@ieee.org> > > Subject: Re: [IRCA] Testing New SDR software > > To: "Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America" > > <irca@hard-core-dx.com> > > Date: Monday, January 10, 2011, 3:00 PM > > If you're willing to do a fair bit of > > work (and learning and experimenting) > > yourself, then I suspect you can SDR for peanuts: > > > > http://www.wb5rvz.com/sdr/ > > > > http://homepages.wightcable.net/~g4zfq/Si570.htm > > > > This is the Softrock kit, versions of which can cover MW > > apparently. I have no > > experience of these, but the very capable Sdr-radio > > software can run them (no > > cost)....prices under $100 for the hardware kits...when > > available. > > > > > > > > best wishes, > > > > Nick > > > > > > -- > > Nick Hall-Patch > > Victoria, BC > > > > > > > > > > Quoting "HASCALL, DAVID CIV DFAS" <david.hasc...@dfas.mil>: > > > > > Agree - For me $850 may as well be $1000 or > > $2000. I have never owned > > > an expensive rig for any bands that I DX on. > > Look at the Sony HD Tuner > > > for FM DX'ing. It competes against tuners > > costing five times as much. > > > I can justify a $70 purchase but not a $400 one, just > > to DX the FM band. > > > Plus, I now have a decent tuner for general > > listening. > > > > > > I am hoping that some less expensive SDR units > > eventually come to the > > > marketplace. And when I mean "less expensive," > > I'm talking below $250. > > > Obviously since these are not consumerist offerings, > > there is no mass > > > market discounts. Unless somebody can try to > > mass market these as > > > something like "Tivo for radio" or some other way of > > generating mass > > > interest beyond DX'ers, the prices will probably stay > > above $500. > > > > > > 73, > > > Dave in Indy > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > > > Message: 4 > > > Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 11:44:54 -0800 (PST) > > > From: Russ Edmunds <wb2...@yahoo.com> > > > To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of > > America > > > <irca@hard-core-dx.com> > > > Subject: Re: [IRCA] Testing New SDR software > > > Message-ID: <950067.37414...@web39308.mail.mud.yahoo.com> > > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > > > > > Thanks Chuck and Nick, although in the one case, we're > > quibbling over $2 > > > <g>. > > > > > > Even so, I have trouble justifying $850 though. I > > don't think I've spent > > > that much cumulatively over my years in the hobby, > > considering two > > > HQ-150's and two ICF 2010's. For the record, I bought > > my first HQ-150 > > > used in 1969. > > > > > > > > > Russ Edmunds > > > 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia > > > Grid FN20id > > > <wb2...@yahoo.com> > > > FM: Yamaha T-80 & Onkyo T-450RDS w/ APS9B @15'; > > Grundig G8 > > > AM:? Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot > > > > > > > > > --- On Sat, 1/8/11, Nick Hall-Patch <n...@ieee.org> > > wrote: > > > > > > > From: Nick Hall-Patch <n...@ieee.org> > > > > Subject: Re: [IRCA] Testing New SDR software > > > > To: "Mailing list for the International Radio > > Club of America" > > > <irca@hard-core-dx.com> > > > > Date: Saturday, January 8, 2011, 1:50 PM > > > > Excalibur is $850 at Grove, > > > > Russ....http://www.grove-ent.com/excalibur.html???Detailed > > > > review > > > > appeared in DX Monitor just recently...and of > > course, none > > > > of the > > > > analog receivers covered the full BCB either!? > > Mine > > > > cover one channel > > > > at a time, and they need a separate audio > > recorder for that > > > > channel... > > > > > > > > A bit more later.???This is an interesting > > > > topic, and I'm surprised > > > > how few comments there have been on Mike's post > > so far. > > > > > > > > best wishes, > > > > > > > > Nick > > > > > > > > > > > > At 15:00 08-01-11, you wrote: > > > > >I was ( although I didn't say so ) excluding > > the SDR-IQ > > > > completely > > > > >on account of that very big limitation. If > > you want to > > > > cover the > > > > >full BCB, it isn't happening today for under > > a grand so > > > > far as I know. > > > > > > > > > >Russ Edmunds > > > > >15 mi NNW of Philadelphia > > > > >Grid FN20id > > > > ><wb2...@yahoo.com> > > > > >FM: Yamaha T-80 & Onkyo T-450RDS w/ APS9B > > @15'; > > > > Grundig G8 > > > > >AM:? Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > IRCA mailing list > > > IRCA@hard-core-dx.com > > > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca > > > > > > Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list > > are those of the original > > > contributors and do not necessarily reflect the > > opinion of the IRCA, its > > > editors, publishing staff, or officers > > > > > > For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org > > > > > > To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > IRCA mailing list > > IRCA@hard-core-dx.com > > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca > > > > Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are > > those of the original contributors and do not necessarily > > reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing > > staff, or officers > > > > For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org > > > > To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > IRCA mailing list > IRCA@hard-core-dx.com > http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca > > Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original > contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its > editors, publishing staff, or officers > > For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org > > To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com > _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list IRCA@hard-core-dx.com http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: irca@hard-core-dx.com
