To meet beyond line of sight (BLOS) communications requirements, a novel software defined radio relay method for power conservation is proposed. This method is able to achieve approximately 7.5 watt per relay node power savings for SNR challenged links (probability = 1/3), adjacent interference links (probability = 1/3), and 33% clear links (probability = 1/3). This is accomplished by dynamically adjusting the relay methodology between a low power amplify-and-forward (AF) relay method, a compress-and-forward (CF) relay method, and a power intensive decode-and-forward (DF) relay method. To demonstrate the novel architecture the following models were developed in MATLAB/Simulink and tested on an Avnet Zynq-7000 software defined radio (SDR) with Military RT 1439A radios: an audio FM transmitter model, an audio FM receiver model, an AF relay model, a CF relay model, a DF relay model, and the novel SDR relay model.