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<p><font face="Comic Sans MS">Thanks. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Comic Sans MS">I got lots of irons in the fire these
days. I got 2 low pass filter kits so I can try the Raspberry
Pi radio. I just got in from eyeballing a neighbors tree for a
possible antenna. It is best to shoot your antenna supports up
before the leaves bud, but also when it is getting warm, Spring
is ideal. I'll dust off my sling shot.</font></p>
<p><font face="Comic Sans MS">Yeah I'm not sure if spring is the
best time to build a kit....</font><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/22/2021 5:03 PM, n4tlf wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:cdc7c056-5253-edab-93ea-9c5217266d4d@wb4jfi.com">
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<p>I've built many of the Softrock kits, including this one
(starting around 2006 or so). Most of the ones I did were the
80/40 variety. These days, they are rather old SDR technology,
but still work. There may have been articles on them in back
issues of the AMRAD Newsletter. A Google search on Softrocks,
QSD SDR, etc should help.<br>
</p>
<p>This info is not precise, but it gives you an idea. While
Softrocks are an early SDR entry, most of the "better" SDRs
these days use direct sampling instead. The hardware is only
half the radio in this case, the software is just as (or maybe
more) important.<br>
</p>
<p>The Softrocks are a QSD/QSE design, the software on the
connected computer must be able to handle audio I/Q signals. An
early software was/is "Rocky" by Alex VE3NEA (I think). It was
simple but worked pretty well. There are a LOT of other SDR
programs that drive these QSD/QSE radios. PoweSDR (originally
from Flex Radio) is another popular SDR software package - among
many.<br>
</p>
<p>The QSD (Quadrature Sampling Detector or Decoder) for receive
basically creates two audio frequency signals (I and Q) from the
RF carrier, which are 90 degrees out of phase, and requires the
software to combine them properly. The QSE (Quadrature Sampling
Encoder or Exciter) hardware does the reverse, it takes in audio
I/Q samples, and puts out a hopefully clean RF signal.</p>
<p>The main issue with QSDs and especially QSEs is that they must
be fine tuned so the I/Q signals are of exactly phased and
amplitude level combined to reduce images and carrier leakage.
The Softrock hardware is rather marginal on these problems. I
would NOT plan to run a Softrock rig into a high powered
transmit amplifier, it will be very marginal on both carrier
leakage and multiple images, possibly failing FCC rules.<br>
</p>
<p>For a more in-depth discussion of QSD/QSE hardware, look for a
series of four articles in QST in 2002/2003 or so, by Gerald
Youngblood of Flex Radio Systems (A Software Defined Radio For
the Masses). That's a good start.<br>
</p>
<p>73, Terry, N4TLF</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/22/2021 4:15 PM, Alex Fraser
wrote:<br>
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<font face="Comic Sans MS">Has anyone had experience with one of
these? Building or hearsay reports appreciated...</font><br>
<h1 id="productName" class="productGeneral">SoftRock RXTX
Ensemble Transceiver Kit</h1>
<h2 id="productPrices" class="productGeneral"> <span
class="productBasePrice">$89.00</span></h2>
The SoftRock RXTX Ensemble Transceiver Kit provides a 1 watt SDR
transceiver that can be built for one of the following five band
groups: <br>
<br>
<ul>
<li>160m</li>
<li>80m/40m</li>
<li>40m/30m/20m</li>
<li>30m/20m/17m</li>
<li>15m/12m/10m</li>
</ul>
<p>This is the web site where you buy 'em <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://fivedash.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7">http://fivedash.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=7</a></p>
<p>There are links to the schematics on the above page.<br>
</p>
<br>
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