SunSDR MB-1 listed and available in January

Ever since first news of it surfaced in June 2014, the SunSDR MB-1 made by Expert Electronics seemed to be exactly what the amateur radio market lacked: modern technology. At first it was expected by the end of 2014 at a price around US$ 4300 for the basic version and another US$ 200 for the optional internal tuner, then it got delayed for some unexplained reasons.

At Friedrichshafen 2015 they had a fully working sample of the SunSDR MB-1 that I got to test a bit (most impressive thing on the show!) and I was told it was supposed to arrive by the end of 2015. Expected price around EUR 5000 for the basic version, with options for internal tuner and contest-class preselector.

Finally, today the SunSDR MB-1 was listed for the first time at WIMO, with availability expected in January 2016. Even though the price is EUR 6000 for the basic version, the extra internal tuner costs another EUR 500 and the microphone is optional at EUR 35, it still is a great deal as high-end amateur radio equipment goes.

There are some differences from the original specs: it doesn’t cover the 70MHz band anymore, output power is 100W/50W (HF/VHF) not 125W/60W, the CPU is not and Intel Core i7 but Core i5. They have changed the VHF connectors to N instead of SO-239, the OS is now Windows 10 instead of Windows 7 and they have improved the HF dynamic range from 120dB to 129dB. No words on the promised predistorsion yet.