The Good News
TAPR have opened up the shop for Hermes SDR customers.
The Bad News
The transceiver is set to cost around $1000 with no real warranty. If you want one you've got until the 25th to place an order. After that its not going to happen.
Hermes is the next generation SDR developed by hams from round the world and when I originally saw one I immediately felt my jaw hit the floor. The receiver was excellent and the whole thing was very versatile. TAPR have long supported the project from what I can see but the terms and conditions leave a lot to be desired. Initial estimates have increased a touch and that's ok with me. There are always additional costs which may not have made it into the original estimate but as unit without any form of safeguard that it would turn up working at your doorstep I find it underwhelming. In fact I'm not even sure it is legal to supply goods to the UK where the buyer takes responsibility prior to it being received. Caveat Emptor indeed.
The rig has a list of features that rival the outstanding Elecraft K3 and whilst the power output currently isn't the same and no doubt the operating form factor does not appeal to everyone it does offer something different. The unassuming silver Hammond case I saw at the recent club meeting gave little in the way of clues as to what was going on inside and its definitely not a rig for those who like to wield a soldering iron. But, it is a rig for those who are into SDR or who want to get into the bleeding edge of technology without shelling out multiple thousands of pounds for huge desktop devices that are equally at the bleeding edge but in a different form factor.
So the choice was to gamble a grand on something I really wanted in what would need a PA of sorts to compliment it further and turn an excellent rig into a world class station. Or to save selling my existing rig ready for the upgrade and putting the money to one side and hope that TAPR can offer it with a slightly less roulette wheel approach. I'm not a gambling man, especially with so much money.
To say that I'm gutted is an understatement. I have waited quite a while since seeing prototypes in one of the key project members shacks. Seeing one just a couple of weeks ago watching one in action at the club just added fuel to that desire. Unfortunately, that desire has been stamped on by some unacceptable terms and conditions. Imagine parting with the cash only to find your rig doesn't work and you can only partially claim compensation from a shipper if you can prove they were at fault. I suppose the IC-7000 will be on the desk for a little while longer.
Alex,
ReplyDeleteHermes is also being commercially produced by Apache-Labs - http://www.apache-labs.com/index.php. They will offer Hermes, inder a different name, with a 1 year warranty and I assume will make it available for sale for a much longer time period than TAPR. They will not put it on sale however until the TAPR order window has closed (now on the 28th July). Personally I'm happy to buy through TAPR to support that organization; I'm also happy to take a soldering iron to my Hermes if necessary (I've just fixed a Peneolpe board in my current HPSDR setup for instance). I can appeciate others wanting a more structured support model however.
Reading the OpenHPSDR and Apache-Labs forums I get a sense there are a few noses that have been put out of joint by Apache-Labs approach, but I guess they do offer a more consumer oriented approach to jumping into the OpenHPSDR product set. They also have a PA, filter and antenna switch board and case ready to pair with Hermes :-)
Thanks for the comment Robin. I was told about Apache labs by someone else and assume that there is a bit of horse trading going on behind the scenes. Especially as its done by one of the developers.
ReplyDeleteI admire your solder skills, far better than mine. When Kevin showed me his efforts I knew that I was a rank amateur in comparison. Still its a phenomenal achievement to make the transceiver in the first place, if anyone can improve it then they really deserve all the support we can offer.
I fully agree the transceiver is a superb achievement. I have an Atlas based HPSDR setup right now, and it’s very good; a physically shrunken (but yet more powerful) version made up of Hermes and Apollo has real appeal. Buddy a Hermes up with a small wireless router & Heterodyne running on an iPad and it would make for a lovely small station for holidays. I like SDR rigs as well; once I started seeing the bands visually as well as audibly, I’m find its hard to go back to a normal rig…I kind of feel blinkered to what’s happening on the band.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure my soldering skills are that much better than anyone elses to be honest. I found lots of ‘advice’ on internet forums suggesting ovens or hot air stations are the way to go, and I got a general sense from many posts that working with surface mount devices is hard. Frankly after tackling some simple SMD projects (a few Softrocks), then the TAPR Atlas, Excalibur & Pennywhistle boards, and finally test of confidence with KD1JV’s ATS4a rig, I am now of the firm opinion that SMD boards are not to be feared, and in fact (IMHO) they are much easier than thru-the-hole boards. A simple soldering iron and a pair of tweezers are good enough to cover all the jobs I’ve be faced with – even down to pretty small component sizes (once you start dealing with 0603 sized components the larger 1210 SMD resistors/caps start looking huge!!). The real secrets are a good methodical approach to soldering (lowest height components first, moving up in height), good lighting, a good liquid flux pen, thin solder, a magnifying headset, and some ChipQuik for addressing the odd misplaced component. I’ve been able to tackle pretty much everything I’ve tried so far with, although I haven’t yet tackled a 100+ pin 0.5mm pin pitched package yet – and BGA type packages are definitely impossible to do with a simple soldering iron. I tackle one part at a time, and move the part into place with the curved tweezers; the surface tension of the flux provides some help with part placement; I then apply solder to the tip of the iron and touch the iron tip to each joint. I still find I place a little too much solder on a joint, but that’s getting better every project.
This is the project I’m contemplating for this Winter – another SDR transceiver board called the HiQSDR which is on par with Hermes level of difficulty in terms of assembly - http://www.technologie2000.de/page5.html ; the trouble is the cost difference of the parts vs. the cost of a fully assembled board isn’t that great (and quite a bit cheaper that Hermes!) The HiQSDR project looks very interesting and I particularly like their plans to eventually enable the transceiver to act as a standalone unit including the processing/display as well…I just better make sure the XYL doesn’t notice another rig in the shack.
73
Robin
That rig looks really nice Robin. I think I need a new iron, mine suffers with the tip not being a uniform heat for whatever reason. Its quite an old Weller one so maybe an investment is needed.
ReplyDeleteI had a lesson of Kevin, M0KHZ on SMD soldering and he gave me a spare board and a few components to practice on and I'm quite happy with the larger SMD's. I probably need a better light source and magnifying glass. I did borrow a low magnification microscope when I made my first softrock but it was a bit too bulky and the magnification was too much. Fortunately I don't need glasses and can see the larger components without any magnification as long as the light is good enough.
I'm still holding out for a Hermes but it looks like Apache is the way for me.
Alex
I use a 65W Goot soldering iron station that I bought in Singapore for 50 quid – with a 0.5mm rounded tip. I find that tip transfers heat effectively to larger ground planes, yet is still fine and controllable enough for most SMD packages/sizes. I think a station from Metcal and Hakko would also be great choices; maybe more expensive that a Weller or Antex though.
ReplyDeleteI find too much magnification is not that handy for actual soldering – I use a headest I picked up in Maplin with about 2.5x magnification and a working range of about 10 inches. If I had the money I’d go for a Med-Lite headset or something similar (a more comfortable working range and a better depth of field range) – but that’s a luxury right now. Occasionally it would be nice to get a close in view of some of the joints to check for shorts. One tip that works for me is to take a picture of the offending joint with a pocket digital camera (preferably one with a basic macro facility) – then I can zoom in on the computer to take a good look – although it always shocks me how untidy my work looks when viewed close up!