A technique for decreasing the amount of time needed to turn on a software-defined radio provides an operator of the radio the ability to turn the radio off and subsequently turn the radio on, wherein the radio is turned on much more quickly than a radio not using the herein described technique. The technique places the radio in a suspended state when off and retains selected parameters associated with selected applications and software portions. Preferably, the radio is placed in a low power consumption state concurrently with the suspended state. Thus the radio conserves power, thus increasing battery life. When the operator turns the radio on, the radio is restored to a fully function state utilizing the retained parameters.