- Software Defined Radio (SDR)
- A "Radio" that uses hardware for RF stages but relies on software rather than hardware for AF and IF mixers, amplifiers, generators, detectors, etc. thus allowing modification or upgrade of these functions by simply updating the software. An SDR may use an internal CPU permanently wired to the RF hardware, or the software may be executed on a PC with a soundcard providing the interface to the RF hardware.
- SoftRock
- One of several popular Software Defined Radio kit suppliers. SoftRock history and documentation may be found at http://www.softrockradio.org. According to the site, the SoftRock series of radio kits were created by Tony Parks with assistance from Bill Tracey and initially sold by AMQRP - the American QRP Club.
- CW Skimmer
- A software application that can simultaneously decode of ALL cw signals in the receiver passband allowing up to 700 signals to be decoded in parallel. (Source: http://www.dxatlas.com/CwSkimmer/ )
At the January 6th RARS meeting Glen Whitehouse, K1GW and John Wettroth, KF4EUZ presented a program demonstrating how you can inexpensively build your very own Software Defined Radio. This topic was introduced in an article Glen wrote for the December EXciter kicking off a RARS project to help you get started with SDR.
Glen and John have provided the following additional information:
- General SoftRock Information:
- A PDF slide show based on their presentation
- SoftRock Yahoo Discussion Group
- Construction information:
- SoftRock Lite Builders Notes
- Surface Mount Soldering Workshop
At the December 6th. QCWA meeting, Carolina DX Association (CDXA) members Dick Williams, W3OA and John Scott, K8YC discussed some recent DX and Contesting software called "CW Skimmer". When connected to a Software Defined Radio (SDR) or the IF output of your receiver this software monitors and quickly displays callsigns heard across a large chunk of the band. Dick's slide show presentation is a good lead-in to the January RARS program.
Dick and John have also made this beamheading calculator available for all the DX guys.
