Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] SDR advice for newcomer?

[Tom Rondeau]

On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 11:54 PM, Alexey Bazhin <address@hidden> wrote:

If you are a ham and doesn't want to spend too much, I would recommend
Peaberry SDR V2 (and it's not just receiver it's 4-band tranceiver and
it doesn't require sound card opposed to softrock). It will cost you
$150 as a kit (quite easy to build) or $250 built.

On Mon, 25 Aug 2014 20:50:42 -0400
Mike Markowski <address@hidden> wrote:

> I have experience in DSP but am completely new to Gnuradio and
> excited to get started.  Because I'm also a ham I am thinking of
> buying one of
>
> 1. lp-pan (US $250)
> 2. softrock Ensemble II (US $87)
>
> and have a linux-only computer.  With that tiny background, I wonder
> if any list members would recommend one of these SDRs over the other?
>
> Lp-pan works at my transceiver's IF and would integrate nicely with
> my ham radio set up.
>
> Softrock rcvr is just over 1/3 the lp-pan price, though, and not
> dependent on my amateur gear.
>
> Seems like 6 of one, half dozen of the other - or are there other
> factors I'm overlooking?
>
> Thanks very much!
> Mike ab3ap

--
Alexey Bazhin <address@hidden>

You can also start with an rtl-sdr (nooelec is now selling them, so supply is easy to come by). As a ham, you're going to hate a lot of the RF, but it's cheap, works easily with GNU Radio, and you can find many pre-built examples that use this receiver. It's also receive only. Still, it's a great and really cheap way to start, and it'll give you some time to play and develop better concepts about what else you might need from the hardware.

Tom