[TenTec] SDR - and its relationship to Product Reviews

[Duane Grotophorst]

--- RON ZOND <K3MIY at csonline.net> wrote:
> hi Al and others
> 
> What is needed, and, given the state of SDR, what we
> will probably get, is a
> set of test software that will let you see the
> performance of your
> equipment, be it TenTec, Yaecomwood, or your old
> Collins, Hallicrafters,
> etc. Most distributors of gear have test gear that
> does this now. This means
> that today's ham can use the software to tweak his
> rig to his heart's
> content, at which point product reviews will be
> totally meaningless. Who
> knows, he might even learn something in the process.
> 
> ron
> K3MIY
> 

I may be one the biggest proponents and cheerleaders
there is for SDR out here in hamdom, however I don't
ever see it being able to replace the need for
equipment reviews. Additionally I don't see that the
"state of the art" for SDR being anywhere close to the
point of us being able to truly tailor our radios to
our exact liking or operating needs, in fact SDR is
still very much in its infancy. 

Another key point that cannot be over-stressed is the
effect of the remaining analog parts of the radio. A
DSP IF radio can never be any better than its analog
front end will allow it to be. That is why Ten Tec put
so much design effort into the analog side of the
Orion rather than just slapping some A to D's / D to
A's and DSP processors to a mediocre analog IF chain.

Bottom line is that no amount of DSP software tweaking
or optimizing can undo the damage done to the signal
in the preceding analog stages (and/or the A to D
process) of a radio. It is just like the reality that
no radio can make a bad antenna magically work better
either.

About the only thing that we may get in the not too
distant future is a means to periodically test the
health of our radios analog RF components against its
"factory new" baseline, - but that will tell us
nothing about its performance compared to other
equipment. And that is why a 3rd party review process
of some kind will always be needed.

Duane
N9DG


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