USRP FAQ

Below is a FAQ for the USRP and the ordering process. If you have questions not in the FAQ, please send them to matt@ettus.com

What Daughterboards are currently available

What other daughterboards are planned?

Do you have antennas to match your daughterboards
Do you accept PayPal?

What is the best/prefered way to transfer the money from country X to pay you?

What OS does it work with?

Why is it suggested that you purchase 2 of each of the Basic daughterboards if you will be doing FPGA development?

Are PCB design files available with the boards that may aid in further prototyping?

Are there any license requirement for the transmit or transecive daughterboards

Can I do interesting things with just a USRP and BasicTX/BasicRX, but no RF frontend? Do I need a separate RF front end to capture, say, CW or phone transmissions in the amateur bands? Or can the BasicRX fill that role?

With the BasicTX can I transmit basic FM and AM, without additional hardware?

Will the power supply work in country X? Is it approved in country X? What are the power requirements?

What Daughterboards are currently available

The following boards are in production and can be ordered at any time:

BasicRX, 0.1-300 MHz receive

BasicTX, 0.1-200 MHz transmit

LFRX, DC-30 MHz receive

LFTX, DC-30 MHz transmit

TVRX, 50-860 MHz receive

DBSRX, 800-2400 MHz receive

RFX900, 800-1000 MHz Transceiver

RFX1200, 1150-1400 MHz Transceiver

RFX1800, 1500-2100 MHz Transceiver

RFX2400, 2250-2900 MHz Transceiver

50 MHz to 1 GHz Transceiver, expected Q2-2008
5 GHz UNII/ISM Band Transceiver, expected Q2-2008

If you are interested in others, please let us know. Custom design services are also available.

Back to Top

Do you have antennas to match your daughterboards

Yes, we have antennas for every daughterboard which we sell. Please see the ordering page for pictures and specifications.

Back to Top

Do you accept PayPal?

We can accept PayPal, but prefer that you use a regular credit card with the main ordering page. Please contact us if this will not work for you.

Back to Top

What is the best/prefered way to transfer the money from country X to pay you?

At this time we can accept

AMEX, Visa and Mastercard (preferred)
PayPal
Personal, Business, Certified, or Cashier's Checks in US Dollars
Bank Wire Transfers (please contact us)

If you have another method you wish to use, please contact us.

Back to Top

What OS does it work with?

The USRP and GNU Radio work with:

Linux (2.6 kernel, any distribution)
Mac OSX (PPC and Intel)
Windows XP/2000
NetBSD and FreeBSD

Primary development is done on Linux.

Back to Top

Why is it suggested that you purchase 2 of each of the Basic daughterboards if you will be doing FPGA development?

Each of the BasicTX and BasicRX boards has logic analyzer connectors (HP and Tektronix) for the 16 general purpose IOs. These pins can be used to help debug your FPGA design by providing access to internal signals. If you have a complete set of 4 boards, you will have access to 64 of these pins. We have found this to be invaluable in the debugging efforts.

Back to Top

Are PCB design files available with the boards that may aid in further prototyping?

Yes. All USRP schematics (gEDA and PDF), all daughterboard schematics (gEDA and PDF), all daughterboard PCB design files, and daughterboard electrical and mechanical specs are available. You can find them on the download page.

Back to Top

Are there any license requirement for the transmit or transecive daughterboards

The USRP is sold as test equipment, which has no licensing requirements. If you choose to use your USRP and daughterboards to transmit using an antenna, it is your responsibility to make sure that you are in compliance with all laws for the country, frequency, and power levels in which the device is used.

Back to Top

Can I do interesting things with just a USRP and BasicTX/BasicRX, but no RF frontend? Do I need a separate RF front end to capture, say, CW or phone transmissions in the amateur bands? Or can the BasicRX fill that role?

For reception you would need to add gain and filtering in front of the BasicRX daughterboard. This can be done pretty easily with MiniCircuits parts, or you can use the 10.7 MHz IF output of common scanners and receivers. The BasicRX board will handle signals up to around 300MHz directly. For higher frequencies you'll need to downconvert.

Back to Top

With the BasicTX can I transmit basic FM and AM, without additional hardware?

Yes, the BasicTX will put out about 1mW up to about 50 MHz. A simple connectorized amplifier (ala MiniCircuits) will get you greater range. You may also want to add some low-pass filtering.

Back to Top

Will the power supply work in country X? Is it approved in country X? What are the power requirements?

The USRP power supply provides 6V at 2.5A. The USRP itself needs only 5V at 1.5A, but planned daughterboards may require 6V at 1A. The DC plug is a 2.1mm center conductor, 5.5mm shell standard plug.

The Power supply accepts 90-264Vac at 50 or 60Hz, and so should work for just about every country in the world. You will need a US-type plug adapter.

This is a high quality power supply which has the following approvals:

USA -- UL 60950
Canada -- CSA C22.2 NO.950
Europe -- TUV/VDE-EN60950
Europe -- CE Mark
China -- CCC GB4943-2001