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If you are going to buy a SDR, buy either a Pereus, or a RFSpace CloudSDR. I have both and they are top of the line. I have had several AirSpys and SDRPlays. The AirSPY is okay, but skips band coverage and the SRPPlay DUO has a very poor receiver. The SDRPlay rspDX is better but the front end overloads.
?
Everett N4CY
In a message dated 1/3/2022 1:51:18 PM Central Standard Time, davearea51a@... writes:
?
The AirSpy is a far superior product to the SDRPlay.? I have both and several iterations of the AirSpys including the HF+ Discovery.? The SDRPlay sits on the shelf gathering dust.? Spend a bit more and go with the AirSpy products.
?
Dave - W?LEV
Hi Paul. I'd like to save you some grief. I've used the rtl-sdr v3. So I speak from experience. The Youloop was designed to be used with the Airspy HF+ which has very high sensitivity. The rtl-sdr v3 has quite poor sensitivity and using a youloop without an amplifier will leave you disappointed. Since you live in a big city on the 10th floor, just adding a broadband RF amplifier will most likely swamp the rtl-sdr v3 with FM and probably AM signals too. So plan on building or buying a lowpass and maybe a high pass filter as well. This is why I recommended the MLA-30. It contains the filters and an adjustable attenuator. Alternatively as mentioned you might want to spend your dollars on a better SDR that has good built-in bandpass filters like the Airspy or SDRplay.
73 Tom
?
?
--
Dave - W?LEV
Just Let Darwin Work
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Yes, front end overload is a major shortcoming of the SDRPlays.? Not so much so for the AirSpy products.? Yes, the Persus is outstanding and I wish I had one, but not in the cards on a retirement "salary".? Anyone want to contribute one to me??????
Dave - W?LEV
On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 8:27 PM Everett N4CY via <everettsharp= [email protected]> wrote:
If you are going to buy a SDR, buy either a Pereus, or a RFSpace CloudSDR. I have both and they are top of the line. I have had several AirSpys and SDRPlays. The AirSPY is okay, but skips band coverage and the SRPPlay DUO has a very poor receiver. The SDRPlay rspDX is better but the front end overloads.
?
Everett N4CY
In a message dated 1/3/2022 1:51:18 PM Central Standard Time, davearea51a@... writes:
?
The AirSpy is a far superior product to the SDRPlay.? I have both and several iterations of the AirSpys including the HF+ Discovery.? The SDRPlay sits on the shelf gathering dust.? Spend a bit more and go with the AirSpy products.
?
Dave - W?LEV
Hi Paul. I'd like to save you some grief. I've used the rtl-sdr v3. So I speak from experience. The Youloop was designed to be used with the Airspy HF+ which has very high sensitivity. The rtl-sdr v3 has quite poor sensitivity and using a youloop without an amplifier will leave you disappointed. Since you live in a big city on the 10th floor, just adding a broadband RF amplifier will most likely swamp the rtl-sdr v3 with FM and probably AM signals too. So plan on building or buying a lowpass and maybe a high pass filter as well. This is why I recommended the MLA-30. It contains the filters and an adjustable attenuator. Alternatively as mentioned you might want to spend your dollars on a better SDR that has good built-in bandpass filters like the Airspy or SDRplay.
73 Tom
?
?
--
Dave - W?LEV
Just Let Darwin Work
-- Dave - W?LEV
Just Let Darwin Work
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The AFEDRI SDRs are worth considering as well. Not quite the performance of my RF Space netSDR, but still respectable.
Chris Smolinski, W3HFU
Black Cat Systems
Westminster, MD USA
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Show quoted text
On Jan 3, 2022, at 3:50 PM, W0LEV <davearea51a@...> wrote:
Yes, front end overload is a major shortcoming of the SDRPlays. Not so much so for the AirSpy products. Yes, the Persus is outstanding and I wish I had one, but not in the cards on a retirement "salary". Anyone want to contribute one to me??????
Dave - W?LEV
On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 8:27 PM Everett N4CY via groups.io <everettsharp@...> wrote:
If you are going to buy a SDR, buy either a Pereus, or a RFSpace CloudSDR. I have both and they are top of the line. I have had several AirSpys and SDRPlays. The AirSPY is okay, but skips band coverage and the SRPPlay DUO has a very poor receiver. The SDRPlay rspDX is better but the front end overloads.
Everett N4CY
In a message dated 1/3/2022 1:51:18 PM Central Standard Time, davearea51a@... writes:
The AirSpy is a far superior product to the SDRPlay. I have both and several iterations of the AirSpys including the HF+ Discovery. The SDRPlay sits on the shelf gathering dust. Spend a bit more and go with the AirSpy products.
Dave - W?LEV
On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 6:58 PM Tom Seeger <thomas.b.seeger@...> wrote:
Hi Paul. I'd like to save you some grief. I've used the rtl-sdr v3. So I speak from experience. The Youloop was designed to be used with the Airspy HF+ which has very high sensitivity. The rtl-sdr v3 has quite poor sensitivity and using a youloop without an amplifier will leave you disappointed. Since you live in a big city on the 10th floor, just adding a broadband RF amplifier will most likely swamp the rtl-sdr v3 with FM and probably AM signals too. So plan on building or buying a lowpass and maybe a high pass filter as well. This is why I recommended the MLA-30. It contains the filters and an adjustable attenuator. Alternatively as mentioned you might want to spend your dollars on a better SDR that has good built-in bandpass filters like the Airspy or SDRplay.
73 Tom
--
Dave - W?LEV
Just Let Darwin Work
--
Dave - W?LEV
Just Let Darwin Work
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Does anyone have a chart comparing features/price, like sensitivity and other special feataures for the uninformed, so not everyone has to make all the mistakes. Thanks.  | | Bob Willey
K3RLW |
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On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 3:55 PM Chris Smolinski < csmolinski@...> wrote: The AFEDRI SDRs are worth considering as well. Not quite the performance of my RF Space netSDR, but still respectable.
Chris Smolinski, W3HFU
Black Cat Systems
Westminster, MD USA
> On Jan 3, 2022, at 3:50 PM, W0LEV <davearea51a@...> wrote:
>
> Yes, front end overload is a major shortcoming of the SDRPlays.? Not so much so for the AirSpy products.? Yes, the Persus is outstanding and I wish I had one, but not in the cards on a retirement "salary".? Anyone want to contribute one to me??????
>
> Dave - W?LEV
>
> On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 8:27 PM Everett N4CY via <everettsharp=[email protected]> wrote:
> If you are going to buy a SDR, buy either a Pereus, or a RFSpace CloudSDR. I have both and they are top of the line. I have had several AirSpys and SDRPlays. The AirSPY is okay, but skips band coverage and the SRPPlay DUO has a very poor receiver. The SDRPlay rspDX is better but the front end overloads.
>?
> Everett N4CY
>
> In a message dated 1/3/2022 1:51:18 PM Central Standard Time, davearea51a@... writes:
>?
> The AirSpy is a far superior product to the SDRPlay.? I have both and several iterations of the AirSpys including the HF+ Discovery.? The SDRPlay sits on the shelf gathering dust.? Spend a bit more and go with the AirSpy products.
>?
> Dave - W?LEV
>
> On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 6:58 PM Tom Seeger <thomas.b.seeger@...> wrote:
> Hi Paul. I'd like to save you some grief. I've used the rtl-sdr v3. So I speak from experience. The Youloop was designed to be used with the Airspy HF+ which has very high sensitivity. The rtl-sdr v3 has quite poor sensitivity and using a youloop without an amplifier will leave you disappointed. Since you live in a big city on the 10th floor, just adding a broadband RF amplifier will most likely swamp the rtl-sdr v3 with FM and probably AM signals too. So plan on building or buying a lowpass and maybe a high pass filter as well. This is why I recommended the MLA-30. It contains the filters and an adjustable attenuator. Alternatively as mentioned you might want to spend your dollars on a better SDR that has good built-in bandpass filters like the Airspy or SDRplay.
> 73 Tom
>?
>?
>
>
> --
> Dave - W?LEV
> Just Let Darwin Work
>
>
>
>
> --
> Dave - W?LEV
> Just Let Darwin Work
>
>
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Honestly, from everything?I've read here and other forums, for LF, MF and HF you can either choose the AirSpy Discovery HF+ or Perseus.
The only practical diference is seen if you decide adopting techniques and workflow of hard core MW DX folks:
- Perseus allows you to record slices of up to 2MHz, while AirSpy DHF+ can only record slices of 900 KHz.
- Perseus lets you to use Jaguar SDR software, which was specifically tailored for MW DXing and became the standard in the hobby.
- Perseus has better/more numerous traditional band-pass filters. AirSpy DHF+ has fewer filters, but its car-stereo IC (ST Microeletronics?STA709)?uses ?'polyphase mixer' for improve performance*
AHF+ has some advantages on its own:
- powered directly from the USB port (Perseus needs a separate power supply)
- Coverage between 61 and 260MHz, providing a very decent VHF and Broadcast FM receiver (Perseus goes up to 40MHz, 88-108MHz coverage possible if you buy their downconverter)
pu3hag
*?
Hi Bob,
How did you add the picture and contact info to your email?
Everett N4CY On Monday, January 3, 2022, 5:05 PM, Bob Willey K3RLW <bobwilley@...> wrote: Does anyone have a chart comparing features/price, like sensitivity and other special feataures for the uninformed, so not everyone has to make all the mistakes. Thanks. | | Bob Willey
K3RLW |
|
|
On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 3:55 PM Chris Smolinski < csmolinski@...> wrote: The AFEDRI SDRs are worth considering as well. Not quite the performance of my RF Space netSDR, but still respectable.
Chris Smolinski, W3HFU
Black Cat Systems
Westminster, MD USA
> On Jan 3, 2022, at 3:50 PM, W0LEV <davearea51a@...> wrote:
>
> Yes, front end overload is a major shortcoming of the SDRPlays.? Not so much so for the AirSpy products.? Yes, the Persus is outstanding and I wish I had one, but not in the cards on a retirement "salary".? Anyone want to contribute one to me??????
>
> Dave - W?LEV
>
> On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 8:27 PM Everett N4CY via <everettsharp=[email protected]> wrote:
> If you are going to buy a SDR, buy either a Pereus, or a RFSpace CloudSDR. I have both and they are top of the line. I have had several AirSpys and SDRPlays. The AirSPY is okay, but skips band coverage and the SRPPlay DUO has a very poor receiver. The SDRPlay rspDX is better but the front end overloads.
>?
> Everett N4CY
>
> In a message dated 1/3/2022 1:51:18 PM Central Standard Time, davearea51a@... writes:
>?
> The AirSpy is a far superior product to the SDRPlay.? I have both and several iterations of the AirSpys including the HF+ Discovery.? The SDRPlay sits on the shelf gathering dust.? Spend a bit more and go with the AirSpy products.
>?
> Dave - W?LEV
>
> On Mon, Jan 3, 2022 at 6:58 PM Tom Seeger <thomas.b.seeger@...> wrote:
> Hi Paul. I'd like to save you some grief. I've used the rtl-sdr v3. So I speak from experience. The Youloop was designed to be used with the Airspy HF+ which has very high sensitivity. The rtl-sdr v3 has quite poor sensitivity and using a youloop without an amplifier will leave you disappointed. Since you live in a big city on the 10th floor, just adding a broadband RF amplifier will most likely swamp the rtl-sdr v3 with FM and probably AM signals too. So plan on building or buying a lowpass and maybe a high pass filter as well. This is why I recommended the MLA-30. It contains the filters and an adjustable attenuator. Alternatively as mentioned you might want to spend your dollars on a better SDR that has good built-in bandpass filters like the Airspy or SDRplay.
> 73 Tom
>?
>?
>
>
> --
> Dave - W?LEV
> Just Let Darwin Work
>
>
>
>
> --
> Dave - W?LEV
> Just Let Darwin Work
>
>
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I appreciate this SDR discussion, and the information/links provided!
I have been on the fence for awhile between the HF+ and the RSPdx.
-- Andy - Arlington TX
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May I suggest also the Elad S2 ?
I have both the Perseus and the Elad S2, and have performed A/B comparisons, and to my ears they perform similarly.
The Elad S2 is quite sensitive down to 10 kHz. I have used it last Christmas Eve to receive the annual SAQ transmission, and you can see the results here :
And the Elad S2 is about half the price of the Perseus....
73? Alberto? I2PHD
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I own the Afedri SDR Net, SDRplay RSP Duo and Airspy HF+. I've tested all of these units thoroughly on an 80m passive loop, active loops, and tuned loops on LF~HF. For me the Afedri wins, but not by much (a couple of dB or so in s/n ratio). As for the RSP Duo consideration has to be given to the fact that it is an ultra wideband receiver. However, if used wisely (correct adjustment of the front end in software, or an external attenuator when conditions dictate), It is very capable on LF~HF (Splitting hairs on HF, not as good on LF), and its diversity reception feature has proved useful on many occasions. In fact given it's coverage, versatility and price, I'd argue it is a must-buy for anyone who's not solely interested in LF and MW. My Airspy HF+ is out on semi-permanent loan, for me its redundant.
I started out in PC connected SDR's building SoftRock kits, I've learned they all behave differently, and work is always required to eliminate locally generated noise and ground loops. I often wonder if some owners fully understand how important this is to thoroughly testing the performance of an SDR.
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Hi, The Elad S2 is an excellent HF SDR receiver but not always or everywhere. It outstands in urban areas and close to strong signals. But in low noise environment areas, other less expensive SDR can be equally successful or even beat it. Look this test I made on FM Band (the video is conclusive!). Here:? 73's --
Jorge Garz¨®n (EB7EFA ¡¤ EA1036 SWL)?
QTH: IN83ag / 43?15' N ¡¤ 03?56' W
Urb. San Roque 95, casa 5 (Villasevil)
39698 Santiurde de Toranzo (ESPA?A - SPAIN)
..................................................................................
Blog:??¡¤?Twitter:?
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I second the Elad. I have it and it is a solid performing SDR. Very compact and well built.
On Tue, Jan 4, 2022 at 10:27 AM Alberto I2PHD < i2phd@...> wrote: May I suggest also the Elad S2 ?
I have both the Perseus and the Elad S2, and have performed A/B comparisons, and to my ears they perform similarly.
The Elad S2 is quite sensitive down to 10 kHz. I have used it last Christmas Eve to receive the annual SAQ transmission, and you can see the results here :
And the Elad S2 is about half the price of the Perseus....
73? Alberto? I2PHD
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Tests on popular receivers can be found here.
However performance is only half of the story, a lot depends on your interests, style of listening and how you 'drive' the radio.
For most folks living in an urban environment, what you can hear will be constrained by the type of antenna you can erect, and the level of electrical interference you have to contend with, and not by the performance of the receiver in use.
Having a very sensitive receiver with excellent dynamic range is often only required in particular situations. For most of the time an average or good receiver is usually good enough for the purpose, and money may be better spent on improving the antenna and / or reducing the level of noise and interference.
Regards,
Martin
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The best receiver is the one you use the most.
I found myself using Airspy HF+ Discovery the most. Performance is good enough for all of my use cases, and the price was reasonable.
A tiny box plugged into USB2 is very convenient, and the software/driver support is decent.
I am also running Red Pitaya 24/7 for FT8 monitoring, but it is not a general purpose SDR.
73, Mike AF7KR
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The main negative factor I have read about the Airspy HF+ Discovery is about the occurrence of aliased signals. And perhaps the low bandwidth. The latter doesn't bother me much.
Are the aliases due to setting the bandwidth too high for the sample rate, or something else?? If due to something else, how bad is it?
If the alias is sitting atop a real signal, is there a way to move the alias elsewhere? I could live with that, assuming the alias was intelligible enough to recognize it was not at the right frequency.
I'm a retired electrical engineer, but my career was in board- and FPGA-level digital logic, etc. with a little bit of DSP implementation (in an FPGA) on one project. In other words, I'm not a complete newbie to DSP, but I'm still quite a novice.
-- Andy - Arlington TX
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If you want to casually listen to one signal at a time then the
receivers mentioned are OK but you can pay a lot and get very
little extra. But if you are into digital modes or want to monitor
different bands with one receiver then KiwiSDR's, Red Pitaya or
Hermes Lite 2 offer 4-16 separate receivers per device. It is not
uncommon for the people spotting on PSKspotter or WSPR.live to run
24- 48 virtual receivers 24 hours per day. A great deal more
interesting than listening to a single receiver.
Cost wise you can buy 24 virtual receivers for the cost of one
old fashioned expensive single channel receiver. The KiwiSDR is
also a great deal more advanced? than any of the others for
general listening with a longer list of decode modes than any
other SDR. You can also try before you buy via kiwisdr.com
73, Alan G8LCO
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Mike, if you select another option at boot the Red Pitaya can be
used as a single channel SDR? with a PC. Indeed the Red Pitaya is
probably the most versatile device listed for the? advanced user.
73, Alan G8LCO
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On Fri, Jan 7, 2022 at 01:43 AM, Andy - Arlington TX wrote:
The main negative factor I have read about the Airspy HF+ Discovery is about the occurrence of aliased signals.
Hi Andy, I'd be interested to read that comment if you can tell me where you saw it. The Airspy HF+ does suffer from 'IF blowthough' where signals in the range 0-192KHz can appear elsewhere in the spectrum. Most noticeably the upper HF bands where the noise floor is low and it doesn't mask weak signals that can be produced by strong LW broadcast stations operating within the sampling range of the ADC. This can be cured by adding a 200KHz HPF ahead of the receiver. Personally, as I mainly monitor utility bands, I'm a great fan of the KiWi web sdr. Although it's not one of the best receivers available, it's more than adequate and the very wide 0-30MHz waterfall and spectrum display make it ideal for spotting signal patterns that would not otherwise be obvious. In fact whenever I use one of my other SDR's, I feel that I'm viewing the short wave spectrum through a small letter box rather than a wide window. The ability to operate it remotely over the internet, and use a device such ass a table to control it means that it can be used whilst sitting on the sofa or in the garden and not just in your radio shack. Here's one of mine. A map of more world wide publicly accessible KiWi SDR's can be found here. And a list of KiWi's raked by Signal to Noise ratio can be found here. VE3SUN has some interesting on-line tools to help you find the best KiWi for reception of a given location. Regards, Martin
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On Fri, Jan 7, 2022 at 11:49 AM, Martin wrote:
and use a device such ass a table to control
Ha, the spell checker strikes again...... and use a device such as a tablet to control
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Martin,
I've seen these comments multiple places (can't recall one off the top of my head), but some of the comments indicate "blobs" rather than "signals" appearing in the spectrum. And some articles relate they are anything more than VERY low level ghosts that are common on lots of receivers.
This could also be due to some SW packages misconfiguring the Discovery (not enabling existing filters?)...
At my current state in the hobby (VERY novice), I'm looking for something reasonably low cost, LF to VHF coverage, with as good a performance as practical at that price.?
-- Andy - Arlington TX
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On Fri, Jan 7, 2022 at 05:43 PM, Andy - Arlington TX wrote:
At my current state in the hobby (VERY novice), I'm looking for something reasonably low cost, LF to VHF coverage, with as good a performance as practical at that price.?
Hi Andy, If you simply wish to 'dip your toe into the water' of SDR's then the RTL-SDR.com V3 is a very good low cost introduction, especially if you want to have VHF & UHF coverage too. If you wish to spend a bit more money, it's hard to beat the SDR Play RSP-1A (but not the earlier model RSP-1). The Airspy products are good, but tailored more towards high performance use for specific types of listening. As an experiment I'm currently playing with a RTL-SDR.com V3 and a home built 50cm tuned loop sitting on my windowsill near my PC, and I can still hear > 80% of the shortwave signals that are audible on my external antennas. Regards, Martin
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On Tue, Jan 4, 2022 at 04:59 AM, Andy - Arlington TX wrote:
I have been on the fence for awhile between the HF+ and the RSPdx.?Andy - Arlington TX
Hi Andy I have both and am still on the fence. I am completely a-technical but get excellent results fro both - as far as I'm concerned it's a toss-up. Actually, I prefer to use the RSPdx and SDRuno (but although it has a native IQ recording function & scheduler), I use this and the Airspy HF+ Disco on Console for this function. Using the same antenna for both and doing side-by-side (sequential) comparisons I'm still undecided. Good Luck Paul
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Everett N4CY
Bob Willey K3RLW
Alberto I2PHD