{"id":207,"date":"2025-11-19T19:49:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=207"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:24:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T10:24:34","slug":"software-defined-or-hardware-defined-which-is-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/2025\/11\/19\/software-defined-or-hardware-defined-which-is-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Software defined or hardware defined &#8211; which is better?!?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This weekend I upgraded my 1970s-era PRC-320 HF radio to include new functionality for amateur radio use &#8211; adding an S-meter, correcting the military 2 kHz frequency offset, enabling LSB, and replacing a few tired components. Every time I open one of these sets I\u2019m reminded how remarkable older engineering can be.<br><br>Built by Plessey in the UK during an era when maintenance and longevity were design priorities, the PRC-320 is a masterclass in thoughtful manufacturing: every cable numbered, every module accessible, every function implemented in hardware you can understand, repair, and even improve.<br><br>Today, many devices achieve new features through software updates &#8211; but that comes at the cost of user-serviceability, transparency, and long-term repairability. The PRC-320 shows the advantages of robust, modular, and documentation-rich engineering: decades later, it\u2019s still upgradeable, maintainable, and fully functional.<br><br>There\u2019s something to be said for technology built not just to work, but to last&#8230;..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140186-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140186-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140186-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140186-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140186-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140186-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140190-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140190-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140190-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140190-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140190-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/PB140190-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This weekend I upgraded my 1970s-era PRC-320 HF radio to include new functionality for amateur radio use &#8211; adding an S-meter, correcting the military 2 kHz frequency offset, enabling LSB, and replacing a few tired components. Every time I open one of these sets I\u2019m reminded how remarkable older engineering can be. Built by Plessey [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willwoodman.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}