Future plans for SparkSDR

[William Wright]

Hi Alan,

SparkSDR sounds like the best candidate for Hermes Lite 2 software, especially for the Mac.  Integrated FT8 without all the virtual cabling and instead one program is very appealing.  I saw below that SparkSDR is not open source and that you have proprietary code imbedded.

Could you talk about your future plans for SparkSDR?  Are you planning on a commercial release if not open source?  I'd like to commit to a program that has the specs of SparkSDR but am concerned that you might pull it or drop support at any moment.

Bill

[ahop...@googlemail.com]

Hi Bill,

I have no plans for a commercial release but may restrict the license for commercial use, for hobby use nothing will change.  Development and support does take up a lot of my time so my current focus is on widening hardware support in the hope of getting a few more donations so I can justify spending time ( that I really should be using for earning a living) on it.

I enjoy working on it and the feedback I get from users.  I have no plans to drop it, if I ever did I would ensure it could live on either by passing on to someone or making it open source.  My hope is that if I ever get to retire (some way off) it will keep me sane i.e. I'm in for the long haul.

There are a number of things in the pipeline:-

More cpu efficient use of high bandwidth receivers with multiple virtual receivers.

Client server mode.

Decoder plugins so others can create modes.

Logging plugins.

Mobile versions.

There is an rtty mode I started years ago to finish and a custom chirp based mode.

And an almost endless list of other things :)

73 Alan M0NNB

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

I enjoy using SparkSDR with my HL2. Yes, after having tested various SDR softwares my choice was made: 1. SparkSDR then 2. Quisk.

I like CW and FT8 integration of SparkSDR as well as PSK reporter on the screen.

One thing I like in Quisk and do not find in SparkSDR is the ability to set HamBands edges, outside of which the transmitter is disabled. This is achieved by a "hermes/quisk_hardware_hl2_oob.py" file replacing the standard "hermes/quisk_hardware.py" file and  typing the frequency edges in the HL2 - Bands Menu of Quisk.

It would be nice to add this thing in SparkSDR as even if OM are responsible men, some countries in the world do not authorize the operation of transceivers able to transmit outside of Ham Bands and they do control this fact when you try to enter in the country with a non already homologized transceiver.

73 - Pierre - FK8IH

[ahop...@googlemail.com]

Hi Pierre,

 thanks for the kind words, I have been meaning to do this for a long time and also add some display of band plans. I did approach the rsgb to see if they could publish band plans in a machine readable way but did not get far with that.  Starting with just the band edges would be a good start.

73 Alan M0NNB

[Jean-Baptiste GALLAUZIAUX]

I agree, starting with just the band edges would be enough. This the way chosen by Quisk for the HL2. It's also the way chosen by ICOM with their IC-705 and IC-7300, the OM just enters the edges values in a menu and the thing is done.

[n1ig anthony]

well, the radio itself is still able to transmit outside of Ham Bands.  It just that the software may not be set up to allow it at the time.  

in reality it's no different than expecting operators to be responsible and not change the settings.