| G3VGR | Software Defined Radio |
During a visit to Hamradio 2006 in Friedrichshafen, I noticed a few stands featuring Software Defined Radios (SDR). This seems an interesting new technology. On returning home, I did further reading on the subject and "discovered" the Softrock 40 on the AMQRP website. This project kit is now unobtainable, but was replaced by the SoftRock v6.
I've obtained 2 Softrock kits from Tony, KB9YIG, but have yet to find time to do anything with them. One kit is for 40/80m and the other for 30m.
The plan was to use one as a Q5er for my Elecraft K2 and the 30m Softrock as an IF system following a H-Mode Mixer frontend with 10.7Mhz IF (I have some good 8 pole filters at this frequency).
For tuning, I plan to use the AMQRP Club's DDS-60, probably controlled by KD1JV's MS-DDS-60.
This is all a little way off yet, especially considering I've never built anything using Surface Mount components.
In January 2008, I ordered a SoftRock Lite RX from Tony, with a centre frequency of 4.898Mhz (only 17Khz below the K2 IF Frequency). I will need to tap the K2's IF strip at the output of the post-mixer amplifier, add a source follower, and possibly another stage of amplification, to use as an input to the Softrock.