[TenTec] Question for Contesters:

[al_lorona at agilent.com]

Hey, Rick!

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I agree; it's a fuzzy definition
right now. I work for a company that defines the cutting edge in
digitization of signals and SDR and things like that, and so I have a
purist's view of things. I have to come back to Earth to avoid becoming
too arrogant.

The Orion is almost there. There are signals that it can't demodulate
whether due to bandwidth limitations, or not having the DSP horsepower
to handle generic things like spread spectrum techniques or PSK and MFSK
*in-the-radio*. True SDR doesn't care what the signal's amplitude,
frequency or phase are doing; it just requires another algorithm to
decode the signal. But the Orion is definitely the closest things us
hams have ever had to true SDR.

Thanks again, and talk to you soon. I really appreciate your message.

Regards,

Al W6LX




> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com 
> [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of NJ0IP
> Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 12:26 AM
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: RE: [TenTec] Question for Contesters:
> 
> 
> Al,
> 
> Yours was an interesting reply to my question.
> I have tried to reply to everyone personally off-line (to 
> limit the SPAM
> here) but I want to reply to yours on the reflector.
> 
> I hear you and can not argue against anything you say, other than the
> definition of an SDR.  It's hard to get a handle on what SDR 
> really is.
> There are several definitions out there and I like Doug's 
> description of it.
> 
> Bottom line, the definition seems to be a bit gooie right now 
> and the ORION
> certainly fits within the bandwidth of the description(s) of 
> SDR that I've
> seen to-date.
> 
> I think we would all welcome radios that could accomodate new modes of
> operation by simple firmware updates.  I believe the ORION 
> and the Jupiter
> can.
> 
> Thanks for the response.
> 
> 73
> Rick
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tentec-bounces at contesting.com
> [mailto:tentec-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of 
> al_lorona at agilent.com
> Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 12:55 PM
> To: tentec at contesting.com
> Subject: RE: [TenTec] Question for Contesters:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lest anyone get the wrong idea, strictly speaking the Orion is not a
> software-defined radio. I remember Scott at Ten Tec reiterating this
> point here on the reflector during an early thread on the merits of
> software-defined radios where too many folks were equating software
> defined radios with the Orion. At the time I also searched 
> everywhere on
> the Ten Tec web site, and nowhere found the term "software-defined
> radio". We should be very clear on whether we are lumping the Orion
> (erroneously) into that broad category called 
> "software-defined radio",
> and if so, what exactly we mean by the term "software-defined 
> radio". I
> fear that it is quickly being diluted into a meaningless term.
> 
> Not every transceiver with DSP and softkeys and downloadable firmware
> can be called "software defined". "Software defined" implies a lot of
> flexibility that allows the radio to adapt to just about every
> foreseeable signal that could possibly be conceived of. That almost
> dictates that the architecture be one where the incoming RF 
> is digitized
> immediately after the antenna connector, and demodulation is
> accomplished by software.
> 
> "Software-defined" means, among other things, that if a new 
> mode called,
> say,  "Polar Modulation with a little PSK58 frequency hopping 
> thrown in
> for good measure"-- whatever this is-- is invented this afternoon at
> 4:00, that we will be able to download new firmware to demodulate this
> new mode in our radio. Does this define the Orion? Maybe I'm 
> wrong, but
> I don't think necessarily so.
> 
> Al W6LX
> 
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