One thing I've never done is build my own complete rig. There are a lot of choices to be made when considering this, including budget and complexity. I've always liked SDR as a way to go but building my own Hermes HPSDR is probably a little bit beyond me soldering skills. So next on the list is the Genesis G11 from down under. I think I'll do a bit more investigation and then plump for a suitable design. The club has some good test gear if its required so that shouldn't be limiting.
I'd love to hear your advice or comments
The G11 looks a great little rig and a nice little kit to build. Bare Hermes boards aren't available anymore anyway - so to go the Hermes route you'd need to buy the commercial offering from Apache Labs (either their ANAN-10, which includes LP filters and PA, or just the bare Hermes board and you provide the filters/amp).
ReplyDeleteIf you're dead set on building a kit, but fancied the direct sampling / ethernet SDR approach then another option that is worth considering are the HiQSDR kits (http://www.technologie2000.de/bestellenorder.html). They are surface mount, but I don't think they used lead-less packages so should all be manageable with a soldering iron and within your capabilities to build. They also have the advantage of having filter, pa boards and a nice enclosure for sale...but the price does mount up quickly!!