With the season of gift buying upon us – now is definitely the time to suggest to the spouse, partner or close friend of a lapsed radio amateur that an RSP would make the perfect present!  Many of us, like me,  got into radio 40+ years ago as a teenager and then drifted away. Many of these folks never did return.  I keep hearing from people who are having so much fun re-exploring the hobby all these years later – in some ways things are just the same (contests, pile-ups, wonderful insights into every day life in far flung countries, DXing, antenna theory are just a few examples) – in other ways, they are so different (availability of new digital modes, station guides, auto logging, auto-satellite tracking, satellites even!)  – but the thing that is most exciting, is actually visualising chunks of spectrum – that is probably the most magical additional dimension offered by a wideband SDR.

Anyway, enough of the plug to get everyone buying RSPs as  Christmas gifts!  In fact I will end with a word of caution – if that lapsed radio amateur has lost that inquisitive spark then SDR is not for him or her.  There is a learning curve – but that means there’s a great sense of achievement if you can climb it!    Check out the  Facebook group or our forum to ask what others think – I see these comments posted on our forum as very representative – http://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1492

Seasons Greetings from the SDRplay team