  We describe the technological concept and the first-light results of a
1024-channel spectrometer based on field programmable gate array (FPGA)
hardware. This spectrometer is the prototype for the seven beam L-band receiver
to be installed at the Effelsberg 100-m telescope in autumn 2005. Using
"of-the-shelf" hardware and software products, we designed and constructed an
extremely flexible Fast-Fourier-Transform (FFT) spectrometer with unprecedented
sensitivity and dynamic range, which can be considered prototypical for
spectrometer development in future radio astronomy.
