Hi All,
Awhile back I posted a message saying that I was looking to purchase a Softrock LF receiver, were they still available and where? ? This is a rather long message, as I'm going into obtaining, the arrival and installation of my 'new-old' receiver.?? OK, here goes.
1.? Thanks to the folks on this list I discovered where I could order the set, and proceeded to do so, even though with the severe rheumatoid (sp?) arthritis in my hands I knew it would be very difficult to handle the small parts.? Some days I can hardly close my fingers to make a fist. That's something that didn't bother me years ago when I built my previous sets.
2.? THEN, I received an email from Tony Casorso offering to give me his Softrock LF that he apparently hadn't used in years.? Thank you Tony!? For me this was a big case of Deja-Vue (nobody ever gave me an 'A' for spelling) as Tony had loaned me that very same receiver many, many years ago and it got me started on the trip down the SDR trail.? With it I learned how to do overnight recordings of the NDB beacon band.
3.? But to make it ready to install a Softrock I really needed to do some upgrades to my computer.? It is a high performance "tower computer" with Win11 on it.? In addition to my radio hobbies, I collect old time radio shows, old TV, old Movies, old comic books etc.? Mostly public domain, I share about? 112.7TB of files on various sharing hubs.? So, I have a total of 15 hard drives running 24/7, they vary in size from 10-18TB each.? 13 of the drives are "internal" drives that are mounted in two drive storage bays (5 bay & 8 bay).? With other peripherals installed all my USB ports were in use, and I had a couple external USB hubs installed too.? Problem is, if I was downloading or uploading files, with all those drives are churning away, it caused frequent data collisions and other problems.? So, I decided to install a new PCIe card in the 'puter along with a new Sound-blaster Audigy FX? PCIe card just for the Softrock.? The next paragraphs explain the problems I had with both of those cards , it may help somebody in the future troubleshoot card installation problems.? NOTE:? I'd installed similar cards in previous 'puters with NO problems.
4.? Installed the? FrescoLogic"USB3.0 Super Speed PCI Express Host Card" (7 USB ports).? Reading the (tiny) instruction sheet I installed the drivers for it from the provided CD (THANKS!) Rebooted the 'puter and tested the ports, nothing, DEAD ports! In checking the devices in the list of installed devices there was a yellow !? indicating that device wasn't working (I knew that). After a couple of hours working on installing, rebooting and so forth I finally went to their web site and looked for their help section.? Found it, the FIRST problem covered was "card not working" after install (or words to that effect).? The gist of the story was that the install CD is ONLY to be used on machines running Win8 and earlier.? Win 10 (it didn't mention 11) is to NOT use the CD, but during installation have windows look for the best driver which is part of Windows (again I have Win11).? After uninstalling it and then reinstalling? and letting Windows do it's thing the card works perfectly!?? Gee, thanks, all it would have cost would have been the price of a small piece of paper a few inches square with "DO NOT USE CD ON Win10 and LATER"!
5.? Installation of the Sound-Blaster PCIe card.? Should be fairly straight forward, I've done it before.? So after installing the card everything looked good, the 'puter saw the card as a valid sound card.? Plugged the Softrock into the Line In port and fired up? HDSDR (V.2.76) which I prefer.?? I kept getting an error to the effect that the Soundcard didn't recognize that particular file format.? After going around in circles for awhile I decided to try HDSDR V.2.80.? Imagine my pleasant surprise when the Softrock took right off and I was getting the expected waterfall and everything seems OK now.? Just for grins I retried? HDSDR (V.2.76) and it too worked just fine.? So I'm really NOT sure what the problem was at the start, but all is good at "The Beaconeer's Lair" (what I've called my shack for many, many years)!
?--
<>< 73 From "The Beaconeer's Lair" ><>
Specializing in DXing NDBs (Longwave Beacons)
Phil, KO6BB,
(\__/)
(=’.'=)
(”)冲(”)
EQUIPMENT:
YAESU: FTDX-101MP Xceiver, Dual SDR Receivers (~2020)
YAESU: FTDX-3000 Xceiver, DSP IF, 300Hz Roofing filter (~2019).
Portables: Eton Elite 750 (2), AKA Grundig Satelite 750 (2020)
Sangean ATS-909X2 (2021), Tecsun PL-990 (2021)
SDRs: Airspy Discovery HF+, SDRplay RSPdx
Scanner: Uniden SDS200
ACC: MFJ-993B Auto Antenna Matcher.
HOMEBREW 4 Port Antenna Multicoupler, Feeds 4 RX's.
HOMEBREW Tunable LF-MF Pre-Amp.
Ratzlaff 440Hz, 6.5Hz BW Audio Filter
Autec Research QF1 Audio Filter.
ANTENNAS: 88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole, ~35 feet AGL for MW/HF.
Top Loaded Tee (Dipole fed as single element).
Butternut HF-6V 6 Band Vertical, ~12 Feet AGL for 75-10M
Ratzlaff Active whip, 5 Foot Long, ~22 Feet AGL For LF/MW/HF.
Wellbrook ALA1530LN Loop For LF/MW/HF at ~17 Feet AGL
Discone at ~35 Feet AGL For Scanner
QTH: Merced, California, 37, 18, 37N 120, 30, 6W CM97rh
Guy Mengel N1GMM