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June 29, 2024. The year is half over and nothing to show for it!

No new exciting rigs on the air that I created and my New Year's resolution regarding weight loss has gone south. Circumstances have just sort of happened. So how to recoup what is left in the 2nd half of 2024?

The physical building of a rig, in my view, is the lesser part of the process as that is something that can be and is taught to individuals who are not rig designers, but simply skilled craftsman. The hard part of the process is actually designing a rig for excellent performance. The key is research and information gathering. That is something that can be done without a soldering iron or Nano VNA being turned on. 

The other aspect is the integration of new technology and new hardware into the designs. Older technology is just that. We can now operate radios thousands of miles away using an internet connection. It is a much more difficult task to remotely tune that LC VFO from afar. 

While some may pooh and double pooh an SDR radio, the fact remains that the new technology is SDR. You need only listen to an SDR radio as compared to a conventional design using say TIA amplifiers and you will get the message -- loud and clear. There is a whole new world out there and the orb is not a Bitx40. 

Of note I find that I am using my Hermes Lite 2.0 more and more as a test instrument than a station rig. It is indeed a real time spectrum display and in effect a frequency counter. This can all be done using a Raspberry Pi3B as the computer resource. 

I spotted a less than $25 single board computer that to me looks like it could be a foundational piece in an SDR Radio. It is made by Orange Pi. (A quad core 64Bit, 1.5GHz machine.) It is from Lauren Sanchez's boyfriend (Bezos).



You will need a powered hub for more I/O and a power supply but that is peanuts. For field use, Mean Well makes a 12VDC to 5VDC, DC to DC convertor. Park this near a Wi Fi hotspot and FT-8 is at your command. 

I have had great success with some small RF amplifier boards from the same source -- 2 for $9.



These are good for 30dB gain from 1 MHz to 2GHz -- for $4.50 a board. Another building block for an SDR radio.

You need only look at the SBitx from VU2ESE and it is apparent that he has moved to SDR. 

It looks like the Chinese are firmly entrenched in the low end SDR radios and if not now will soon be leading the world for this market segment. Where are the US manufacturers? They are at the high end of the market and way beyond what I would spend. FLEX is out of stock for their $21oo SDR but you can get quick delivery on the $6K job. 

Tour Amazon and it will blow your mind at what is available. Start your design process today.

73's
Pete N6QW

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