Dear all,
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After quite some prototypes and testing,its time to move on with a new breed of interfaces that will take advantage of the major leaps in embedded technology and add benefits to our SDR community.
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These are the Pi-SDR range.
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On this new breed, first we will have I/Q interfaces for Ensemble homebrew kits.
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The new interfaces are designed to suit the specific SDR ADC/DAC needs of Softrock/Ensemble homemade rigs.
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Also they are designed to work with a network connection giving versatile topology. That means the Pi-SDR IQ interface will just sit happily with your rig and only an Ethernet cable connection is required to your local network.
And of course have hassle-free operation, ready-made configuration with ease of setup.
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There are two initial interfaces, the Pi-SDR IQ and the Pi-SDR IQ Plus, the first, a cost effective solution with CS4270 codec and the second with the top performing AK5394A/CS4344 combo.
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Each, Pi-SDR IQ & Pi-SDR IQ Plus, will have an ADC/DAC board attached on a included SBC with a quad-core ARM A7 CPU running embedded Linux. They will be given as ready-made working combo packages.
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Both, Pi-SDR IQ & Pi-SDR IQ Plus, will have all the necessary IQ Rx, IQ Tx, Headphones, Mic, CW, USB host, all jack/connections for the Softrock/Ensemble and ethernet port for connection to PowerSDR.
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Their specifications
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Pi SDR IQ??(CS4270) priced at 90 €
IQ ADC jack, 105 dB Dynamic Range/24bits/192KHz(128KHz linear)
IQ DAC jack, 105 dB Dynamic Range/24bits/192KHz
Stereo Headphones/Microphone jack
CW/Paddles jack
SBC ARM A7 QuadCore/1.53GHz/1GBRAM/100MBEth/USB2/HDMI
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Pi SDR IQ Plus??(AK5394A/CS4344) priced at 160 €
IQ ADC jack, 123 dB Dynamic Range/24bits/192KHz
IQ DAC jack, 105 dB Dynamic Range/24bits/192KHz
Stereo Headphones/Microphone jack
CW/Paddles jack
SBC ARM A7 QuadCore/1.53GHz/1GBRAM/100MBEth/USB2/HDMI
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Photos and info can be seen here
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For Windows users, these will be accompanied by a new PowerSDR application (based on v2.53) specific to utilize the new I/Q interfaces. Its operation will be transparent, just make the cable connections, start the application and you're up and running.
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For Linux users, since there is an included quad-core SBC running Linux, they can have an experimentation environment and even the possibility to create a stand-alone rig with software of their choice.
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The exact same IQ ADC/DAC boards can be connected if required to the Raspberry Pi 3, with a rewire configuration via SMD jumpers, as they share the same pinheader (RPi B+).
Raspberry Pi though will need additional audio mic dongle if it is used for TRx.
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At works are also other rig types to be supported, eg. SDR1K, KX3, potentially any rig that has I/Q connections.
These new interfaces do bring a new way on how we use our homebrew rigs, and quite some work is needed in ironing-out the additional software.
Regarding delivery dates, pending on demand, dispatch is estimated a month after any order is received.
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Whoever is interested can contact me in sv1eia at yahoo dot com.
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Best regards & 73,
Christos SV1EIA
