Apache Labs Community Forum

Not sure where the best place to ask this question is, so it seemed as if under Apache Hardware was probably the most fitting, I have spent a lot of time recently looking for decent UHF\VHF radio's and even on here researching transverters for interaction with my 8000DLE, I have searched these forums and with the exception of the transverter's section of this board have come up dry. Maybe I am missing something big, or there just is not much demand, but why has there been no UHF\VHF all mode or ,all band, all mode HF\UHF\VHF Apache Labs hardware created? I would think I am not the only person in the world anxious to give my money to a company like Apache Labs for such a device.. complete shack in one box, or even if it was divided into two boxes, would love to have coverage from DC to daylight in the SDR world, or anywhere even close, maybe even just up through the 70cm band would be a stellar start for that matter. Am I asking a dumb question? it would seem there is some major hiccup that has prevented this from already existing... There is one Chinese "SDR" radio that seems to cover HF, 2 meters and 440 all mode (including DMR) and I have seen Youtube videos of it operating on 2m SSB and it sounded pretty good on SSB so it seems possible but that radio is Chinese, has it's own interface and control panel all built in the box with it, is very tiny, seems to be intended as portable since it even has a built in battery for operation and does not seem to interface with computer based SDR software too well. So what am I missing? is there just no demand?


Nick

High sampling rate ADC's are export controlled due to potential application in weapon systems, military and other applications.

Given you would want coverage of higher bands, and would probably want some over sampling, you'd need a relatively high speed ADC.

How is such a radio to be developed of the parts are export controlled? And, if US developed, that shrinks the available market.

Further reading:
https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/docum ... ction/file

Our current ADCs and DACs could be used for 2 metres in an aliased mode. The ADC RF bandwidth is sufficient to cover 70 centimetres but you'd probably want a higher sample rate DAC (on TX, the DAC is a sample-and-hold and sinc function rolloff is an issue). Building a suitable transverter into the unit would also be possible, to cover higher bands. I suspect you'd get to at least 70 centimetres before export controls kicked in.

The challenges are: are any developers interested in this; do the economics stack up; and how complex does the RF system become. Higher frequencies would likely need a new transmit amplifier, or possibly more than one.

ICOM announced a VHF & UHF SDR based radio; I have no idea how well it sells.