On 10/3/2011 6:46 PM, ke5jpp wrote:
>
> As stated it's an exciter which has been announced, i.e. not available yet.
> Now you can speculate why not a transmitter. Obviously he ran into problems
> generating clean signals. It is much easier to produce and filter small signals.
>
I think this fellow has reached a totally bogus conclusion
about the QS1E.
[1] Phil held a Poll of the 1800+ Yahoo Group Members asking what power
level they wanted. The Poll results are there for analysis by anyone,
but even a casual observer sees that there was an almost even split
between the 100mw and below group and the 5W and above group <g>
[2] Phil had to decide what size board and thermal issues made the most
sense to add this QS1E to existing QS1R Receivers. He promised the
original buyers/customers that he would follow with a modular approach
that would allow you to expand your QS1R using it's present Hammond case.
[3] His QS1E meets requirement #2 *and* allows for the addition of the
RFFE1 bandpass/preselector inside the QS1R case with no new ventillation holes or fans needed! He will supply a new end panel to accommodate the necessary connectors. The QS1E and RFFE1 connect to the QS1R via the EXISTING sockets that Phil engineered into the design back in 2007.
[4] The output of the QS1E is as clean as Phil can make it. He is a real Ham and wants his signals to be Class-A or better with no birdies and no spurs and no Tx IMD issues. It will be fun to see the published
performance numbers for the new QS1E. The inductors used in the QS1E
and RFFE1 will probably surprise many designers. I sure look forward to
seeing what SMT units are used.
[5] Phil has stated that due to the thermal issues of creating a clean
10W unit, he will design an external companion Linear Amplifier PA to go with the QS1E. The end-user is left with an extremely clean and reliable Tx IMD signal to amplify as they wish.
[6] The fellow who was quoted, must not have investigated the four
DDC/DUC units that are being developed; (a) QuickSilver, (b) SDR-ONE by
RFSpace, (c) N2ADR/DB1CC "HiQSDR", and (d) the "Hermes" from the
OpenHPSDR group. *NONE* of these designers has ever mentioned a problem
generating a clean signal! As a matter of fact, the Tx images provided
by these Engineers show EXCEPTIONALLY clean Tx output. Links to all four projects are on my webpage:
http://www.n9vv.com[7] Dr. Doug Smith PhD KF6DX, who wrote the ARRL DSP book, said emphatically in three QEX articles that the Sherwood testing methods are for ANALOG RADIO's and do
not apply to the Third Generation DDC/DUC equipment that the QuickSilver Project is creating. Entirely new testing methods are needed. IP3 is quite a joke among SDR Engineers. I suggest you watch the VK6APH presentation at the 2009 ARRL DDC Conference where he discusses the DDC in detail and why none of the tired old Analog measurements apply.
[8] The QS1E should be released in October if the manufacturer of the boards can meet Phil's rigid requirements for quality. The RFFE1 has been designed and tested in prototype and should be released later this year. The Linear Amp PA to go with the QS1E will also be tested in prototype and finished by as soon as possible.
[9] It has taken Phil six years to reach this milestone. He is a SINGLE PERSON company and has to do all the design/engineering/testing/production/webpages/software/firmware/shipping and service all by himself. I would say his record is quite astonishing with a total rewrite of both the Server and Client software in the past 6 months. His QS1R DDC board has been stolen and cloned in England, Germany, Amsterdam, The Ukraine, and China. He no longer releases the design details of his equipment to try and protect his Intellectual Property and recover some of his personal savings that has gone into creating the QuickSilver phenomenon.
thanks for allowing me to express my opinion,
73 de Ken N9VV
