[TenTec] Ten Tec rig I'd like to have.

Sat Jan 1 12:07:29 EST 2005

Martin,

Excellent points, some thoughts and comments in-line below.

Duane
N9DG

--- Martin AA6E <msembx-aa6e at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I've been plugging for this kind of extensible
> architecture myself, but let me play devil's advocate.
> 
> From the manufacturer's point of view, you would be
> jumping into a wilderness.  In the extreme, your
> hardware might become just another PCI plug-in card,
> like the various TV tuners you can buy. You would have
> to offer a standard software package for basic rig
> interaction, but the user could write his own, or he
> could buy from 3rd parties. (We've seen this will
> older computer-based radios.)

There will have to be a strategic decision made on the radio
manufacturers part. They can decide to either focus on
hardware and RF signal critical firmware and then leave most
of the user interface software development to 3rd parties
*or* build up an internal staff to do most of the UI
programming themselves. They both are valid approaches, they
just need to be sure which they are doing and then make it
clear to potential 3rd party developers. And if 3rd parties
are encouraged to participate then be sure to *fully* support
them, something that has not yet really happened with
software heavy ham radios. To date Ten Tec has been taken a
mostly in house only software business approach, the only
exception to some degree is their willingness to release
control protocols for recent models. It could be argued
though that they have not supported 3rd party developers
nearly aggressive enough to fully capitalize on what they do
provide.

However from the RF spectral purity perspective (and likely
FCC rules as well) the parts of the software used for the
generation of the RF signals themselves will probably need to
be tightly controlled by the manufacturer. These items can be
mostly thought of as firmware and will likely live on the
"radio" specific plug-in PCI card(s) that make up the PC
based radio. The UI and network I/O code will more likely
live on the host OS side of the radio (FWIW I work with video
related gear designed using these basic concepts every day so
I know that it does work well).

> For one thing, the vendor has a support problem.  What
> is being supported?  Right now, TT supports a big
> black box with a front panel and antenna jacks.  There
> is a limited "API" (application programming interface)
> provided through the serial port.  In the "PCI" world,
> the API to the cards is just as important to support
> as the end-user interface (standard software package).
>  TT must expose many more of its secrets and/or dirty
> laundry.  (We see hints of this in the ongoing
> evolution of the firmware!)

Again this needs to be a strategic decision to a large
extent. Regardless with it being a radio there will always be
plenty of radio specific hardware that needs to be serviced,
the main "radio" PCI card(s) for example, and all of the PA
stages and filtering etc. As I have posted both here and on
eham.net in the past a manufacturer should build the radio
around the PCI bus PC and make that PC *exclusively* a radio.
In that case they could then reasonably take on the support
responsibility/opportunity for the *entire* PC radio. This
will *only* be viable if the radio is not allowed to have any
other applications on it other than the radio programs
themselves. And depending on the strategic decision about
most 3rd party software or mostly in house software will also
define what the support responsibilities/opportunities really
are.  

> Another problem is economics: Making rigs into
> computer peripherals is attractive to some of us
> geeks, but for the vendor, it may look like they're
> going from a high-value (closed/proprietary) product
> to a commodity - just another DSP card with a 100 watt
> power amp.  (The difference between Apple and Acer.)

In the end if Ten Tec doesn't adopt this coming paradigm
shift in radio design somebody else will. If I were part of
the management team at a radio manufacturer I wouldn't be
turning a blind eye to all of this new technology. I surely
wouldn't want to be one of the companies left holding bag by
only building radios just like they used to be built. Ham
radio-manufacturing history is full of examples of failed
companies where they didn't keep up with major technology
shifts, never mind advancing them. For an existing
manufacturer they will need to redefine their way of doing
business to accommodate this different business model or face
the very real possibility of becoming extinct. 

As for revenue and economics of software? Consider how many
times have we seen people say that they are willing to pay
for new and better software on a subscription like basis.
Seems to me like there is a potential for new revenue streams
for a radio manufacturer there. To do so though the radio
manufacturer *must* be aggressive with their development of
software with several releases a year and a range of value
added price premium user software. Provide essential bug
fixes for free and then the performance and usability
enhancements on a subscription basis.  

> So I expect the "extreme" SDR radio business is going
> to be driven by the hobby projects & garage businesses
> more than by the established vendors.  Seems to be
> going that way.

Yes indeed, however of the established ham radio gear
manufacturers today I believe that Ten Tec is the most likely
to make this transition. I have yet to see any real evidence
of it out of any of the JA companies. Either way I believe we
are on the cusp of some major changes in the landscape of the
ham radio gear radio manufacturing business. I've first
posted that prediction over a year ago and am now more
convinced than ever that it is coming. 

> 
> 73, Martin AA6E
> 
> 
> --- Duane - N9DG <n9dg at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > --- Barry N1EU <n1eu at netscape.net> wrote:
> > 
> > <snip>
> > 
> >  My second pipe dream would be
> > > for it to feature an intentionally
> > pluggable/upgradeable
> > > architecture that will accept future faster CPU's
> > and DSP
> > > processors.
> > > 
> > > 73 & H2K5,
> > > Barry N1EU
> > 
> > That "plug in" architecture would be called the PC
> > PCI bus
> > that's already here. In fact there are hundreds of
> > millions
> > of devices already using it, just not many radios
> > (yet) ;).
> > 
> > This weekend I have been playing around some more
> > with the
> > Flex radio SDR-1000, all in all a very impressive
> > performing
> > RX. It handily outperforms the Pegasus in most
> > respects.
> > 
> > Have also been playing around with the Time Machine
> > and LO1
> > boards from Expanded Spectrum Systems. Just feed the
> > board a
> > LO signal from my signal generator and a antenna
> > lead then
> > feed its I/Q output to a sound card, then run
> > SDRadio from
> > I2PHD and viola,... instant SDR RX :). The RX is
> > complete
> > with 48 kHz panadapter nearly infinitely adjustable
> > IF filter
> > bandwidths and PBT. I'm sure it is a bit limited in
> > dynamic
> > range performance but sure is tons of fun to
> > experiment with.
> > Haven't had this much fun with new piece of radio
> > gear since
> > I bought the first Pegasus.
> > 
> > I really wish Ten Tec would start designing radios
> > built
> > around the ubiquitous PC PCI bus. It is a relatively
> > easy and
> > very economical way to have lots of CPU power for
> > control and
> > graphical displays plus it is a natural for building
> > SDR
> > radio without all of the limitations of the typical
> > embedded
> > processor like the Dragon Ball. 
> > 
> > Duane
> > N9DG
> > 
> > 
> > 
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