Google "SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO"

Here is one manufacture.

http://www.flex-radio.com/

The future is NOW.
It is as you described, functions previously preformed by hardware are now
done with software.

Consider Audio Filters versus Digital Signal Processing as an example.
DSP is now available as freeware for the PC and works wonderfully.
Radios will be cheaper, have more features and be more flexible.

"tom" wrote in message
news:AZLKd.202511$8l.31044@pd7tw1no...
Since personal computers are so powerful and cheap these days, I wonder if
there is a wideband reciever whose tuning function can be controlled by
PC, then it would simply be a matter of writing the software (or finding
pre-existing shareware) to change the frequency that the radio is tuned
to, and monitor the output of the reciever for signals, and you would have
essentialy the same thing as a thousand dollar winradio but perhaps for a
fraction of the cost.
I know that VHF transcievers can be interfaced with a PC to create digital
transcievers and all (almost all) of the functionality stems from software
subroutines instead of hardware on the transciever --- a 'software'
implementation instead of a hardware one, if you will. Rather than
purchasing a hardware "Terminal Node Controller", you basically emulate
the Node controllers functions in software.
Could the same thing be accomplished with a reciever? Is there a reciever
out there that has solid state tuning that can easily be adapted to being
controlled by a PC? Or is there a really simple, clear-cut reason why
this is a bad idea, that I'm just not understanding (but should be)?