With visions of Hara Arena dancing in my head, I am planning my area of concentration at the 2009 ARRL National Convention and Dayton Hamvention® next week. Near the top of my list is software defined radio (SDR).

SDR has always been high on my list ever since I wrote about in my old QST column, "Digital Dimension," back in 1996. And I have been following SDR's emergence as a real force in Amateur Radio during the intervening dozen years (look up "SDR" in the Surfin' index if you are interested in my past coverage of SDR here).

When you think "SDR," FlexRadio, GNU Radio and SoftRock probably come to mind, but as an long-time card-carrying member of TAPR, the open source High Performance Software Defined Radio project is at the top of the list in my mind.

SDR experimenters from around the world are designing and developing the project's SDR hardware and software in bits and pieces. According to the openhpdsr Web site, "The rationale behind the project is to break the overall design up into a number of modules. Each module is designed by an individual or group and connects to other modules using a pre-defined and common bus -- rather like plugging boards into a PC motherboard. This modular approach enables prospective users to incorporate just the modules that interest them as well as designing their own variants if desired."

TAPR has been a big supporter of this project from the start, and the organization's support continues today -- and tomorrow. So be sure to stop at the TAPR's Hamvention booths (455 to 458) to see the project in the flesh. You also might see me there in the flesh, too. You will be impressed with the project. But with me, not so much.

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: To communicate with Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, save a tree and send him e-mail instead or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor