I hope I"m not double-posting now, this forum software is quite wonky (it just gave me 2 edit windows after hitting 'submit').
Tech_Support wrote:Dear 13dka,
I think there may be a little misunderstanding here. The original post related to an update to the plugin to unlock the full feature-set of current SDRplay API, namely I/Q compensation and DC offset correction.
Dear Tech_Support, I think I did understand that part but this...
Tech_Support wrote:Unfortunately, there is NOTHING that we can do to restore the lost functionality associated with various features of SDR# (such as support for some popular plugins) that was lost after release 1400.
... is shocking news to me. I obviously misinterpreted what I saw in the various discussions about that elsewhere and thought SDR# just broke compatibility with the old ExtIO plug-in and you providing an interim version that kind of works with SDR# made me think that you are working on restoring full compatibility with SDR#. I'm afraid I'm not the only or the last guy who got that wrong.
Tech_Support wrote:The reason for this is that SDR# was re-coded to exclude various pieces of hardware, the SDRplay RSP1 being one of them.
That's what I heard and the very reason why I never considered buying an Airspy. But later it looked to me (maybe I just dreamed that) like Youssef changed his mind, your work on a (somewhat) compatible plug-in reinforced that impression.
Tech_Support wrote:This was a commercial decision taken by the authors of the software and it is entirely their right to do so and we fully respect that.
Well, I even respect the right of anyone to make a complete <expletive> out of himself. You certainly don't need my assessment on how smart or dumb that move may have been, just so much: Like I mentioned above, it made me not even consider an Airspy for a while, for example because it created distrust, not only because "is their radio so bad that they need to do that?" and so on went through my brain but also because that's a question of conduct and mindset. Then it looked to me as if they just restructured their software to give themselves some head start, with an option for others to catch up later. The latest review on rtl-sdr.com and my experience with the RSP even indicate that the Airspy might be the better choice for my usage profile after all. But...
Tech_Support wrote:Please understand that no changes that we can make, either to our API or plugins (ExtIO or otherwise) can restore this functionality as the filters used to lock these features out are embedded within the main body of the code for SDR# and therefore unavailable to us as the program is closed source.
... if that's the truth I will not return my RSP1, make due with what I got and hope for the SDR#-plug-in authors to have mercy with us RSP users and start offering old versions of their plug-ins. But then IMHO any attempt on creating some merely basic functionality with SDR# is - more or less - a waste of resources if you can't get the things going that set SDR# apart from the other programs anyway.
Tech_Support wrote:We have tried to make it very clear
You failed...
Tech_Support wrote:that there is limited functionality with the RSP and SDR# for release 1400 onwards...
...
forever might the missing bit of information. I understand that this is hard to put in words elegantly and there's always a chance that this could become a "for the time being", but people may read the wrong things between the lines, like I obviously did.
Tech_Support wrote:if you search this or our Facebook forum
I'm so fond of FB that my boss has to do the social networking for me.
Tech_Support wrote:What I would say is that there are a number of alternative SDR packages that are evolving very rapidly and that as time progresses the software choices for the SDR community will get wider and better.
I'm aware of only 2 (as I can't see HDSDR evolving):
CubicSDR - A fetus. Not sure if I'm young enough to witness its maturity. Way too soon to see where it's going, or if it's a boy or a girl.
SDR Console - promising and feature-rich but also big and clunky, just try to get from 80m to 1.5GHz, integration with the RSP is not good yet (I can even make it crash easily), spectrum limited to 2MHz, not customizable for the user, no scripting/API/whatnot to extend its functionality and an overall quite different concept, mostly catering for BC-SWLs and hams. Very different from SDR#, which is customizable and most important, fast and not very cluttered. Sigh.
Anyway, thank you for the clarification.
Ollie