[TenTec] SDR-1000 and SDR-X

[Bill Tippett]

W1CG:

 >My 2 cents.  Actually, the SDR-1000 competes with the K2,  OMNI-VI,
and similar radios in its price class.  It is about equal in
performance, some things a little better, some not as good.  I have a
K2/100 and an OMNI-VI as well as a SDR-1000 and I have compared them
A to B.

         I don't have an SDR-1000 but feel Charles
may be closer to the mark than some others.  I
don't believe any serious contester would touch an
SDR-1000 with its present human interface.  Note
that I said *serious* contester, meaning the guys
who normally win contests (i.e. folks like Scott
W4PA) and not those of us who simply doodle around.
Furthermore, claims like -160 dBm MDS (well below
the atmospheric noise floor) and 120 dB dynamic range
(in the presence of 50 dB TX IMD products and 80 dB
close-in TX clicks and phase noise) may not be of
much practical use in the real world...but stay
tuned (below).

 >The SDR-X is being designed  to compete with the top of the
line models like the Orion, IC7800 etc, and will be priced
accordingly.  The SDR-1000 hardware imposes some limitations like
full QSK that all the software in the world will not fix.  No so for
the SDR-X.  The SDR-X probably will be have startup software not too
far removed from the SDR-1000, but will go up from there.

         I agree with your summary of the SDR-X
for hams, but I suspect it may address a much
larger market for military and commercial use.
SDR-X will have the possibility of multiple RX
and/or TX modules (up to 64?...I forget).  Some
applications presented by Flex thus far don't
make sense to me but some of them may absolutely
change the rules for receivers as we presently
understand them.  Not only can you have two phase-
locked identical receivers for true diversity, but
you may be able to tune one RX to an offending signal
and completely *eliminate* correlated splatter,
clicks, etc from the passband of your second RX
tuned to a different frequency.  With this, the
excellent dynamic range of the SDR-1000 actually
becomes usable without depending on improvements in
existing TXs for clickless, splatterless signals.

         QRM from someone too close?  Tune your second
RX to him, subtract the correlated QRM within your
passband, and it's as though you made his QRM
disappear!  Amazing stuff if it turns out to work.

         Being a low band DXer/contester, I can
imagine myself buying an SDR-X with only two RX
modules (no TX) and simply using it as an outboard
receiver in addition to Orion.  I doubt that
a 2 RX-only configuration would cost $10k, but
I might pay that much if the SDR-X performance
claims are proven out.

                                 73,  Bill  W4ZV