Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Re: A Humble Request.... - "Open-Hardware"

[Marcus D. Leech]

On 01/09/2011 06:44 PM, J.D. Bakker wrote:
> The SSRP doesn't look too bad. Another option is the OpenHPSDR 
> (http://openhpsdr.org/); I believe people are working on GNUradio 
> drivers.
Actually, I'd forgotten about OpenHPSDR.  Would make a passable option 
indeed.

> When I designed the LART (a decade-old software radio experimentation 
> platform), it took me two revisions of the six-layer PCB prototype (at 
> >$500 per revision) to get the board working. A few months later it 
> turned out that the voltage regulator chips I'd used were suddenly 
> impossible to get, so I had to do two more board re-spins. The proto 
> boards were assembled at a professional facility for >$1000, until I 
> got a reasonable yield soldering 0.5mm pitch LQFP packages myself 
> (destroying several PCBs and $150 processor chips in the process). To 
> test the boards I needed access to several tens of thousands of $ 
> worth in logic analyzers, signal generators and spectrum analyzers. 
> And then there was the global tantalum capacitor shortage...
This sounds incredibly familiar.  Trying to bring a *simple* low-noise 
amplifier to market specifically for 21cm observations in small-scale
  radio astronomy.  Most expensive part is $14.00.  But at the scale 
that I'm selling them, I can't justify the cost of an in-house
  2-port vector network analyser and noise figure meter, so I have to 
rely on willing friends in the industry to get 'em tested.
  If I were to do this in the conventional way, with all my own capital 
outlay, those $150.00 LNA boards would have to sell for
  about 5 times that in order for me to defray the costs of suitable 
lab equipment, rented, or owned!

> I'm looking forward to reviewing your schematics and/or layout. If you 
> want to do the work, I'll gladly assist. If you're trying to get other 
> people to do the heavy lifting, I would respectfully ask you to grow up.
Hey, I look forward to it, as well!

--
Marcus Leech
Principal Investigator
Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium
http://www.sbrac.org