“Gentlemen do not talk about money.” For those who know a little of the history of European countries with an Atlantic Coast, the British reasoning and way of life were quite well praised in the biggest city of the north of Portugal.
Neverthless, when talking about Software Defined Radios (SDRs)
it is almost impossible to avoid talking about money. In fact, the reasoning is
quite often a blend of technical and value for money arguments. As in: “ by the
price of a FM/AM small radio receptor you can buy a SDR covering a larger
spectrum and as good if not better than a high end, insanely expensive, Rx or Transceiver
amateur radio”.
The rationale of this blog note could be applied to each and
all of the receiver SDRs middle range manufacturers and brands, several of them
with fancy names, as AirSpy, Great Scott Gadgets, SDRplay.
Which have dominated this segment.
However, solid companies with a traceable history in the radio
professional market have shown in recent times an interest is this middle range
SDRs for radio amateurs and other users. For example: Xiegu.
Giving names to two SDR models to embody the targets: RSPdx
(DX) from SDRplay versus G1M G-Core (G1M)
from Xiegu. The 1st is a black box which really needs a computer with
suitable software to work. The 2nd has an enclosure, connectors and
user interface of a classic radio, and can be used both as a standalone radio
or interfaced with a computer.
The Dx is a 14 Bit only Receiver; while the G1M is a 16 Bit Transceiver, receiving in all the range, transmitting in low power mode in some amateur bands. Of course, for someone interested in scanning
the middle/high spectrum (M/HF) of radio signals it could be used perfectly as
if it was a receiver only radio. And, by the way, the M/HF spectrum has been
the most popular for long range communications among radio professionals, amateurs and leisure
seafarers.
True, in other several aspects DX is better: it covers the
radio frequency spectrum from 1kHz to 2 GHz (G1M only from 500
kHz to 30 MHz), flexibility of use, power management and consumption
(when both are in Rx mode), form factor, documentation and support, etc.
Should I order today one DX and one G1M and it will cost, delivered
at my home, respectively, 237.69 € and 283.28 €. However, the G1M is sold with
cables and a micro; while the DX is, as the other models of the same manufacturer,
sold naked. So, if we undress also the G1M, its price would be of only 228,28
€.
Of course, technical and money reasoning might not be the
only ones to consider. But nowadays defending a brand/product because is was
proudly manufactured in a a certain kingdom or a certain federation of states
might not be the wiser attitude. In particular if the listener is a Continental
Western European citizen. Anyway, we should not forget that China has a
millenar and very honorable culture. A few out there might want to read
carefully the recommendations on logistics in “The Art of War”(Sun Tzu, around 500
BC).
Moreover, I have to admit, after years of working mainly on
virtual user interfaces, it is still nearly impossible to replace the
funcionality, the timely multisensorial feedback and the feeling of familiarity
of a physical user interface. And the 1A is just a black box while the G1M has
buttons and knobs. And yes, G1M is even funny and cute.
So, it seems that the Western managers of the mid range
Reception SDRs should be quite busy in the near future re-thinking their sales
strategy and price tags of their radio models.
