It was a day of circuitous wizardry with around 400 Ham operators from across the country converging at the Lamakaan Annual Radio Convention (LARC 4) on Saturday, and sharing information about frequencies, antennae, and wireless technologies. It also witnessed the sBITX, a software-defined indigenously designed radio.
Explaining what this means, Ashhar Farhan, who developed the sBITX transceiver, and wrote the code, says, “Software defined radios are more compact. Hardware defined radios are much larger. Otherwise this radio would have been the size of a trunk. Software defined radios allow for correction of data, and storage of data. They also amplify weak signals.”
The sBITX transceiver, Mr. Farhan said, was developed on LINUX. The idea was to add more features, and this was possible on open source platforms. “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow,” Mr. Farhan quotes Eric Raymond, a famous open-source software advocate. This implies that the more access to the code a larger number of people have, the easier it is to identify bugs, fix them, and the better the radio can be.
The sBITX requires lesser complex circuits and runs on a low-cost computer board so as to process complex signals. “It is the first software defied radio to be developed from scratch in India,” he said.
LARC 4, a two-day event, was organised at Muffakham Jah College of Engineering and Technology. Head of the Department of Electronics and Communications Prof. Mohammed Arifuddin Sohel described the convention as important for students as they could see for themselves how latest technologies work.
The event also included technical sessions by those who have made a name for themselves in the field of radio communication, home brewing, and building antennas and radios. They shared insights with participants, many of whom had several questions.
There were technical sessions as well. Presentations on the sBITX, building up-converter and power amplifier for the QO-100, a first geostationary satellite built by radio amateurs, and allows hams in Asia, Africa and Europe to communicate, tracking satellites, CubeSats, and PCB designs for radio applications.
