It wan't that scandalous. Just a few obvservations that probably should be made over beers at the DCC after party.
But as long as we're talking regulations, one thing that I'd like to see is an adjustment to the Part 15 rules that require certification of amateur radios. This really holds back SDR development, as well as digital voice modes, because once a radio is certified, that's it. The rules are set up for an "analog age" where circuits defined the emmision mode, so we have tons of <1 watt SDR devices that fall under the category of test equipment and almost no high power, high volume SDRs, and none that are open to new programming by end users. Radios are considered complete boxes, and built with that in mind. And because getting devices through the FCC process takes lawyers and businesses that specialize in testing, small volume companies have a very difficult time getting off the ground.
Ready - If you were referring to FCC certifications for Amateur Radio units, those are relatively light - mostly basic stuff like keeping emissions within Amateur Radio spectrum and within the allocated bandwidths, and maximum power levels. And, of course, the "big one" - cannot transmit in 27 MHz (nor easily modified to do so) which was reallocated to the Citizens Band Radio Service. https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service says "The FCC equipment authorization program does not generally apply to amateur station transmitters."
If you are referring to certifications for Part 15 units (license-exempt bands such as most of 2.4 GHz), well, I lived through the popularization of that in the days prior to Wi-Fi, where the light regulations were flagrantly ignored. I knew of Wireless Internet Service Providers who prided themselves on bypassing the (required) integral antennas to attach directional antennas, and even amplifiers.
One interesting case of early Software Defined Radios I saw was one company that had a flexible SDR that they were marketing to customers in a variety of radio services in VHF and UHF; trains, taxis, and public safety all had different regulations, so when a customer wanted to use this SDR in their service, the company would simply install new software and send it to the FCC for certification. The FCC engineering staff was flummoxed when they would see the exact same box show up to be certified for different services - same hardware, even the same SERIAL NUMBER. When the FCC asked if the company was pulling a prank, the company replied soberly that no, it WAS the same unit, just different software, to illustrate to the FCC that SDR was a new world in radio technology and the old designators and certifications were obsolete. The FCC said "Hmph" and started certifying the hardware + a specific version of software.
I enjoy the approach of New Packet Radio that I mention in Zero Retries 0078. "Oh, you don't WANT this radio to operate in the US at full potential of 500 kbps in a 100 kHz channel? Here, hold my beer... <keyboard tap tap tap to do a slight software modification> OK, load this new software to be compliant with antiquated US regulations to run SLOWER in a 100 kHz channel."
I wonder how much use that "US" software will get?
From what I have read (mostly from your writing) NPR would be a big boost over 9600 bps and sounds less fiddly to get going. I'd jump in even at 11% of the speed of the rest of the world simply because it is still a giant leap over what I started with 35 years ago and what is still most common.
There are two great leaps forward with Dire Wolf. The first is that given that Dire Wolf is running on a powerful computer (even a mundane desktop), it has a lot of compute power available. So, when it receives a packet with a bad CRC, it does a quick test to see if "flipping every bit" results in a good CRC. If yes, it does another set of sanity testing, then declares the packet good. This increases the reliability of packet a LOT. The second was that Dire Wolf added support for two different Forward Error Correction schemes - FX.25 and IL2P which make packet even better, and especially at "fragile" 9600 bps. See the video - https://youtu.be/bRZhm5bLgxs. IL2P is in a development branch of Dire Wolf - more about that at http://tarpn.net/t/il2p/il2p.html
I suspect that the same will be true with the (hoped for) commercial version of the RPX-100 (https://rpx-100.net/#RPX-100). If, by the time this (again, hopefully) becomes a product, the US Amateur Radio VHF / UHF "symbol rate" regulations have not been rationalized, then someone will do a "dumbed down for the US market" software load to be compliant with US regulations.
But... the RPX-100 will be a SOFTWARE DEFINED radio, and like New Packet Radio, other countries are enlightened and will use software that will make the radio perform at full potential. Just... sayin...
I admit I'm not up to speed with radio certification, but it seemed to be a logical assumption as to why there's a lack of COTS SDR radios that are easily modified. While composing my response I literally looked at the FCC sticker on the back of my old TH-D72, knowing it (and all commerical radios) had passed some test. Your example of the same SDR hardware used for certification is what I'm talking about, because it takes money and time to submit a product for testing, money that a manufacturer who's seen much of their business be replaced by Apple and Google, and Baofeng products, who's kept the amateur business around even though it might not be profitable, might not want to spend.
Then again, maybe no one wants radios that can change by downloading an update.
(comment deleted before posting...)
Probably better I hold my tongue.
Ready - <snicker>. Thanks for saving me the grief of having to "moderate" 😊 Feel free to drop me a note via email and we can commiserate privately.
It wan't that scandalous. Just a few obvservations that probably should be made over beers at the DCC after party.
But as long as we're talking regulations, one thing that I'd like to see is an adjustment to the Part 15 rules that require certification of amateur radios. This really holds back SDR development, as well as digital voice modes, because once a radio is certified, that's it. The rules are set up for an "analog age" where circuits defined the emmision mode, so we have tons of <1 watt SDR devices that fall under the category of test equipment and almost no high power, high volume SDRs, and none that are open to new programming by end users. Radios are considered complete boxes, and built with that in mind. And because getting devices through the FCC process takes lawyers and businesses that specialize in testing, small volume companies have a very difficult time getting off the ground.
The North West Digital Radio comes to mind...
(Part 1 of 3)
Ready - If you were referring to FCC certifications for Amateur Radio units, those are relatively light - mostly basic stuff like keeping emissions within Amateur Radio spectrum and within the allocated bandwidths, and maximum power levels. And, of course, the "big one" - cannot transmit in 27 MHz (nor easily modified to do so) which was reallocated to the Citizens Band Radio Service. https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service says "The FCC equipment authorization program does not generally apply to amateur station transmitters."
If you are referring to certifications for Part 15 units (license-exempt bands such as most of 2.4 GHz), well, I lived through the popularization of that in the days prior to Wi-Fi, where the light regulations were flagrantly ignored. I knew of Wireless Internet Service Providers who prided themselves on bypassing the (required) integral antennas to attach directional antennas, and even amplifiers.
Part 2 of 3
One interesting case of early Software Defined Radios I saw was one company that had a flexible SDR that they were marketing to customers in a variety of radio services in VHF and UHF; trains, taxis, and public safety all had different regulations, so when a customer wanted to use this SDR in their service, the company would simply install new software and send it to the FCC for certification. The FCC engineering staff was flummoxed when they would see the exact same box show up to be certified for different services - same hardware, even the same SERIAL NUMBER. When the FCC asked if the company was pulling a prank, the company replied soberly that no, it WAS the same unit, just different software, to illustrate to the FCC that SDR was a new world in radio technology and the old designators and certifications were obsolete. The FCC said "Hmph" and started certifying the hardware + a specific version of software.
I enjoy the approach of New Packet Radio that I mention in Zero Retries 0078. "Oh, you don't WANT this radio to operate in the US at full potential of 500 kbps in a 100 kHz channel? Here, hold my beer... <keyboard tap tap tap to do a slight software modification> OK, load this new software to be compliant with antiquated US regulations to run SLOWER in a 100 kHz channel."
I wonder how much use that "US" software will get?
From what I have read (mostly from your writing) NPR would be a big boost over 9600 bps and sounds less fiddly to get going. I'd jump in even at 11% of the speed of the rest of the world simply because it is still a giant leap over what I started with 35 years ago and what is still most common.
There are two great leaps forward with Dire Wolf. The first is that given that Dire Wolf is running on a powerful computer (even a mundane desktop), it has a lot of compute power available. So, when it receives a packet with a bad CRC, it does a quick test to see if "flipping every bit" results in a good CRC. If yes, it does another set of sanity testing, then declares the packet good. This increases the reliability of packet a LOT. The second was that Dire Wolf added support for two different Forward Error Correction schemes - FX.25 and IL2P which make packet even better, and especially at "fragile" 9600 bps. See the video - https://youtu.be/bRZhm5bLgxs. IL2P is in a development branch of Dire Wolf - more about that at http://tarpn.net/t/il2p/il2p.html
Part 3 of 3 (silly comment system)
I suspect that the same will be true with the (hoped for) commercial version of the RPX-100 (https://rpx-100.net/#RPX-100). If, by the time this (again, hopefully) becomes a product, the US Amateur Radio VHF / UHF "symbol rate" regulations have not been rationalized, then someone will do a "dumbed down for the US market" software load to be compliant with US regulations.
But... the RPX-100 will be a SOFTWARE DEFINED radio, and like New Packet Radio, other countries are enlightened and will use software that will make the radio perform at full potential. Just... sayin...
Re: Northwest Digital Radio UDRX-440... (http://nwdigitalradio.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/UDRXDS.pdf), I can say with confidence that certification issues were not a cause of that unit not making it to market.
I admit I'm not up to speed with radio certification, but it seemed to be a logical assumption as to why there's a lack of COTS SDR radios that are easily modified. While composing my response I literally looked at the FCC sticker on the back of my old TH-D72, knowing it (and all commerical radios) had passed some test. Your example of the same SDR hardware used for certification is what I'm talking about, because it takes money and time to submit a product for testing, money that a manufacturer who's seen much of their business be replaced by Apple and Google, and Baofeng products, who's kept the amateur business around even though it might not be profitable, might not want to spend.
Then again, maybe no one wants radios that can change by downloading an update.