Re: VHF/UHF frequency monitoring

[M Taylor <mctylr@privacy.nb.ca>]

On Mon, May 02, 2005 at 07:44:17PM -0400, Braddock wrote:
> 
> However, what I needed to do first is just to buy a scanner and get a
> no-code HAM license (not at all hard for the technically minded...I
...
> my little Kenwood TH-F6A, probably perfect for you as well.  Then you
> can help the GnuRadio/USRP folks, which need all the experienced help
> they can get to achieve prime-time usability.

I want to agree with your ideas, I think it is important that Kevin
take the time to get his (in the US) Technician license as a first step,
because if he wants to "market" (commercially or even just a successful
and popular open source project) his ideas he needs to understand the
ham community (their demographics are funny). I figure most people who
are good at learning can easily past a no-code Tech in a weekend.

The second thing is I thing the GNU/Radio and USRP (or SSRP) are an
excellent choice for a ham interested in experiencing with a truly 
affordable, flexible, and powerful Software Defined Radio. However 
GNU/Radio and USRP (or other Hardware) are not plug-and-play. They 
require some skills and patience of a software tinker (comfortable 
compiling and install software with many dependencies under Linux or BSD) 
and at least some homebrew skills (can use a soldering iron and build a 
simple SMT project for maximium experimentation).

I have USRP with the Basic RX & TX boards and plan on doing some more
experimenting this summer.

Good luck,