RFNM Now Available for Pre-Order
Back in April we posted about the RFNM, an upcoming software defined radio project which will have eight 12-bit ADCs, up to 612 MHz real time bandwidth, and two DACs for transmitting with up to 153 MHz bandwidth. The standard board will support tuning from 600 - 7200 MHz, with tuning expanded down to 10 MHz available via an RFFC2071A mixer daughterboard. The board also has an onboard VSPA DSP processor, as well as built in ARM CPU cores, and a 16 GFLOPS GPU all of which can help process the massive bandwidth, as that full live bandwidth will be very difficult to transfer and use on a PC.
The RFNM was been released for pre-order a few weeks ago to customers who had registered interest, and has now recently been released for general pre-orders. The pricing is:
- RFNM Motherboard - US$299: LA9310, Si5510, i.MX8MP, 4GB LPDDR4, 64GB eMMC 5.1, Machined enclosure
- Lime Daughterboard - US$179: 1x TX/RX, 1-3500 MHz, LMS7002M
- Granita Daughterboard - US$249: 2x RX or 1x RX + 1x TX, 10-7200 MHz, Arctic Semi Granita, Machined enclosure
- Breakout Board: US$19
You will need the motherboard and at least one daughterboard.
We have been in contact with Davide Cameron, the developer behind the project and he has mentioned that a pre-production unit should be on the way to us soon for testing and review. He has noted that the software and drivers are still in development, but he has already been able to get 122 MHz out through USB to SDR++ on a machine with a fast CPU. He has also had Cyberether running well on a Mac M1, and GNU Radio on all platforms.
i hope this turns out to be a good, out-of-the-box (i.e. no extra frontend or additional configuration needed) general purpose transceiver, unlike the limesdr series with their abysmal and hOwOt to the touch performance.
but before i dare place my hard earned monetary units for some preorders instead of molded silicone rods and booze, i want to see a video of how well it performs in a real world scenario, on VHF/UHF and non-ham (i.e. utility, etc) bands, and also see it expose its weaknesses >~< (filter blind spots, tetra overloading, fm overloading into airband etc.).
also some photos, or at least renders of the “machined enclosures” would ease my mind about this. (can i use the machined enclosuwures even if i want to break-out the clock MMCX connectors?)
the only shame in my owopinion is that theyve settled for 1 gbit ethernet.
Hey Dragon,
I designed RFNM.
RF performance is going to be dependent on which daughterboard you are using. For example, the HAM daughterboard we are discussing over in our Discord server is going to be on par with high end radios, while the Lime board we have today is probably not that exciting for low frequency HAM applications, even though we are using it to receive down to ~3 MHz!
One of the filters is specifically designed for notching out FM and we are happy with its performance (40dB+, I forgot the exact number).
We are redesigning the enclosure to add a (super quiet) fan, but you can find pictures of the current version here: https://imgur.com/a/8JTKzNF
Good point on the silicon rods, but it’s hard to launch a new product without support from the community!
If the motherboard can successfully run OpenWebRX+ or similar, and you can do a receive daugtherboard with decent low-frequency performance, you might entice the MW/HF websdr market like the popular KiwiSDR did.
KiwiSDR basically runs OpenWebRX on a BeagleBone Black. The modern OpenWebRX+ fork targets the RPi4, but supposedly will run on a RPi3, so your motherboard likely should suffice.
The issue is the KiwiSDR is out of production. Its project devs are working on a replacement, but that is expected to take (quite?) awhile.
You might inquire at HF Underground and similar MW/HF enthusiasts communities about possible interest.
Is the RFNM a receiver or a transmitter or both ????
depends on the daughterboards. currently listed, theres one board that can rx/tx, but has only one connector; and theres one that has two connectors, and configurable 2x rx or 1x RX + 1x TX. the latter one does not explicitly mention being able to do full duplex, so mind that.
read the specifications