Depends entirely on your perception of what operation
in the "field" is. As soon as you mention "laptop" the
idea of "field operation" contracts to a few hours on
a picnic bench within reach of your car.
Laptops are battery hogs and most won't last more than
2 hours on battery power. The idea of lugging a laptop
that weights 5 or 10 times as much as the all the rest
of the QRP station and consumes 10-50 times as much
power isn't all that appealing for field use. And in
the end, it won't significantly outperform the analog
rigs costing 50-100 times less.
My Toshiba Satellite 1105, a low-end laptop that works
fine with the SR-40, weighs more and draws more than
my K1, K2 and KX1 COMBINED. That's why you don't see a
lot of digital mode use in the field.
The SR-40 is not a minimalist rig. It is a minimalist
rf plug-in for a relatively (by QRP standards) heavy,
complex, expensive computer. That's not criticizing
the SR-40; it's putting this new creature in
perspective. An SR-40 based SDR is primarily a
computer app. The hardware is a computer, and those
are still comparatively large and inefficient.
Current laptops are designed for desktop use or short
periods of "portable" use within sight of an AC
outlet. When computer hardware comes down in size and
power consumption, SDR in the field becomes practical.
It's already highly evolved and practical with analog
techniques.
Eric
KE6US
www.ke6us.com
--- "windy10605@..." <windy10605@...> wrote:
With all the excitement about the SR40 on 40m and
30m .....maybe 80m and 60m and keeping it simple
....pluggable bandswitching, etc ....I'm thinking
laptop, QRP CW operation in the field.
How much can you reduce the computer
load/requirement and still have acceptable
performance. What have you guys tried and had
success using ?
73 Kees K5BCQ
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