[Discuss-gnuradio] Linux Porting Opportunity -- get free hardware!

[John Ackermann N8UR]

Hi all --

I'm writing on behalf of TAPR (http://www.tapr.org), a group of amateur radio 
operators dedicated to advancing the state of the radio art.  Please forgive 
this slightly off-topic post; I think it will be of interest to the folks on 
this list.

We are looking for someone willing to port the application code for a new 
product we've developed from Windows to Linux.

The product is a Vector Network Analyzer ("VNA") that allows you to do 
gain/loss, return loss, and phase measurements of two-port devices from 200kHz to 100MHz. 
 The hardware is actually pretty simple (a DDS chip, phase and gain detectors, and a 
directional coupler, plus USB interface and glue logic), and it communicates via USB with 
the host computer, where all the real work of analyzing the data and plotting it is done.

The application code is written in Microsoft .NET C++ and is licensed under the 
GPL.  We would like to get a Linux port of this software, and will give a VNA 
unit* to the first person who delivers a working port.

You can learn more about the TAPR VNA at http://www.tapr.org/kits/vna, and the 
software and other documentation is available at ftp://ftp.tapr.org/pub/n5eg.  
A detailed article describing both the hardware and the software was published 
in the August issue of QEX, the American Radio Relay League's 
(http://www.arrl.org/qex) technical journal.  We can't provide copies of that 
article willy-nilly, but if you're seriously interested, we'll get one for you.

If you're interested in this opportunity, please let me know and I can provide 
further information.

John Ackermann   N8UR
President, TAPR
address@hidden -- address@hidden

* The VNA isn't in production yet.  The winner's prize is either an assembled 
and tested beta unit right away, or a production model when available -- which 
may be several months down the road.  We don't have yet have a price set for 
the VNA, but expect it will be in the $250-400 range.  A beta unit will be 
available for test purposes when needed.