Another SDR Online

I had to remove the antenna form the SDR because there is some issue with the connection and I won't have a chance to fix it for a while.

jmcc wrote: »

You might like to take a look at the new SDRplay software. It has added a scanner function and implemented some changes with AGC and IF handling (There was an announcement in the SDRplay Facebook group).

Regards...jmcc

Cheers, yes I saw that on youtube.

SDRs are getting more and more interesting.

I've had to put this project on hold for the moment, hope to have it back up soon.

Ok I wasn't satisfied with the SDRPlay RSP1A on 40 meters Ham band so I connected up the Airspy HF+ definitely more sensitive on par with the Kiwi SDR, unfortunately again the laptop power supply is wiping out most of the band, the difference when I turn off the power supply is amazing but it wouldn't last long.

Try it again Micko , I had internet trouble, isp related. I got green status again.

I've been using the SDR remotely today with no issues, it uses a lot more bandwidth than the Kiwi but you get a full on SDR experience.

I would love a more mobile option this is why the Kiwi is great.

I must see if I can get Openwebrx to work on a Raspberry pi with the Airspy HF+.

micko45 wrote: »

i have a sdr play version 1 myself and its fascinating switching between mine and yours in the sdr console software. Previously i only used hdsdr or more recently sdruno, (loving the new scanning feature).

I now like SDR console after using it and find it a much better experience than OpenWebRX. First time user of OpenWebRX and just didnt like it.

You mean you don't like the Openwebrx via the Kiwi SDR ? yes I know what you mean but it doesn't have the horse power to provide such a fully fledged sdr experience and isn't it's intended purpose, for what it does openwebrx is amazing and being able to see the entire LF - SW Spectrum on the Kiwi is amazing.

Yes , the Airspy HF+ and sdrconsole remotely still give the fully fledged sdr experience at the price of "much" higher bandwidth.

Openwebrx is a different beast that is designed for low energy low power devices and for people with low internet bandwidth, it can be used in any browser and on mobile devices easily , SDR console can not.

SDR Uno is great software I like it a lot.

The Airspy HF+ is a really good upgrade to the SDR Play 1 which over loads a lot at night, phantom stations show up all over the place. The SDR Play RSP1A doesn't suffer this and has attenuation to block out strong MW stations which shouldn't be much of an issue for use here in Ireland anyway.

Has anyone used the Airspy SDR via SDR Console lately, thoughts , opinions ? any issues ?

I've used it in work a lot this week and I really love it, it gives a full on SDR experience with much better sounding Audio.

I'm still keen to try it via Openwebrx because I have a nice 5 volt linear supply that can power a Raspberry Pi.

I am disappointed that the Laptop Power Supply is destroying the performance on Lf all the way to parts of 80 meters, when I disconnect the laptop PSU the reception on LW is simply amazing.

This 22 cm Bonito whip blows me away each time.

The Bonito MegaDipol and Megaloop ate also great antennas but the MA305 is tiny !!!

The Ma305 and Megadipol are great antennas for DX'ing and it's interesting to hear U.K hams much clearer on the Megaloop compared to the MegaDipol or Ma305 but DX contacts come in clearer on the Ma305 and Megadipol.

micko45,

Have you used the Kiwi's yet ? what do you think ?

I still have to find the offending ESB pole causing QRM on certain bands.

I've actually noticed the Kiwi overloading at times which is unusual.

The Airspy never ever overloads, it's got a larger dynamic range. It's a great receiver, very quiet, not as harsh to listen to, reminds me of my old Tecsun PL-660 Radio, lovely quiet receiver and very sensitive where as modern DSP radios can sound very harsh. They do have their advantages of course such as being able to reduce and increase the bandwidth.

micko45 wrote: »

The Kiwi, its ok, and for phone and maybe limited broadband it could be great. But after using the SDR Console v3 there is no comparison if you have the bandwidth, i find it way more immersive than kiwi.

Been using yours on and off for last few days, today its working well. At the moment 40 and 20 meters are booming. Yesterday it was not so hot as there was pulse every 2 seconds. I have a video if you want to see it but it could the that power supply issue. Today it seems to be gone.

SDR Console is great , in fact, I think it's convinced me not to put it on Openwebrx because the Openwebrx is a lot more basic than the Kiwi version, the Kiwi is based on the original Openwebrx version and is always getting updated and Openwebrx is an absolute pain to set up in Linux.

SDR Console server is very bandwidth intensive and I have 4G Voa externall antenna on the Roof and while it's mostly pretty decent it can slow down at night and I think this might be where the issue lies or part of, I've certainly had issues lately. I was getting 30-50 Mbs now in the evenings I can get as little as 1.5 Mbs down but that's not that often but it is mostly less now than I was getting.

What bugs me is that when someone is connected via the internet I can't use it at home on the Lan and I've never seen more than 1 person connected which I am curious to know if there is an issue. I'd also like to know if someone can connect from the internet while I'm using it on the LAN.

Reducing the bandwidth will help a lot when you connect in the evenings if it's my bandwidth from my 4G connection. I might actually cap it lower from this end. But yes the dodgy PSU might be causing the CPU to be throttled too much, if it doesn't detect the PSU properly it throttles the CPU and I must see if this can be turned off.

Regarding the Power Supply, I can get a linear supply which will clean up reception a bit but to be honest it really effects LF - LW and MW a bit but I listened to MW last night and it was booming, that antenna is fantastic for only 22 cm long, it's a good DX antenna. I use H155 good quality shielded Coax and it's earthed at the base of the tree where I have it installed. These antennas need to be earthed, loop antennas will get away with it.

I found that the QRM on the upper part of 80 Meters ham is down to the laptop itself. Probably due to the core I5 CPU and not the power supply, switching on and off the laptop makes no difference.

I'm not sure I could justify spending about 150 Euro's on a PSU from China for Lw, it's funny that MW during the day seems more effected by the laptop PSU probably because the signals are a lot weaker than at night.

It's mad to see when I turn on and off the PSU how it practically wipes out LW.

SDR console server is not perfect and it's buggy, sometimes I have to CNtrl-Alt-Delete to kill it and re-start it again.

The Kiwi SDR's are great for mobile use and can be used in any browser but the SDR Console is definitely a far better experience and the Ma305 Antenna + Airspy HF+ are a great combination.

Hansanter wrote: »

Hi all,
There's obviously some very knowledgable folks on here so I'm hoping someone can help.....
I'm running an Airspy HF+ at home here in north county Dublin, it's hooked to either a longwire antenna (with 9:1 balun) in the back garden, a mini-whip active on the roof, or a Wellbrook 'type' loop antenna on a small rotor in the attic.. (all home made). Recently I've become very frustrated at the amount of locally generated noise and hash in large sections of the HF bands. I've tried several things to reduce this but none seem to work at any decent level. The amount of electronic devices that fill the bands with crap only seems to be increasing. Around Christmas is really bad as the droves of cheap Chinese LED lighted crap and other rubbish creates a ton of interference. If I had my way I'd ban Christmas.... nah... I'm not that bad .

Anyway, I'm now pondering the idea of remotely locating the HF+ with either a mini-whip or a longwire antenna and access it with a spyserver setup using SDR Sharp (my preferred s/w). Up to this point I've had zero interest in reading or learning about this topic as it simply didn't interest me, but now I'm sorta forced into at least considering my options in this regard.

Here's what I envisage.... find some willing remote-ish house/farm owner (friend of a friend sorta thing, 'out of town'/'in the sticks' if you will) that would be willing to allow me to setup my gear (perhaps for a small yearly fee to cover the lectric), in say, a small weather proof box in a shed with the antenna outside. Obviously, power and an internet connection would be essential and need to be readily accessible.

So, I'm hoping somebody here can give me some advice or tips on how to set this up. I believe I may need a Rapberry Pi device ? to connect the SDR to ? After that.. I'm lost.
Any help appreciated.

Han./

Start at your house, get a decent portable battery radio with good MW reception and if there's a lot of local noise it should be picked up on the portable radio. Next , turn off the power to the house , then if the noise goes away or reduces then you got some detective work to do. Find the frequency or frequencies effected, make a note of them, tune the radio to those and walk around the house and find the source.

LED lights, stay away from no name bulbs in the likes of Woodies and get quality bulbs from Philips which I find very electrically quiet unless up very close.

Are you in an estate, in the middle of town or in the country ? in my old house the HF bands, MW and all were completely wiped out from my neighbours TV, I do not know what type it was but the noise travelled about 30 - 40 meters away from the house, it was unbelievable.

Even if you are remote you need to stay well away from power lines and poles, there's a huge amount of poles with dodgy connections arching and this noise travels down the line and acts like a gigantic antenna.

Remote operation can be a pain, if it goes down and you can't get it back up remotely then you have to physically go to the remote location.

Remote access is essential.

Get the wellbrook out of the attic, this is essential and as far from the house as you can. If you got trees they make good antenna mounting points.

Ground the whip antenna with a 6 foot ground rod burred in preferably damp soil.

The long wire antenna will probably not be great for receiving compared to the loop.

What's the whip antenna you got ? I got the Bonito MA305 and it's a superb antenna that is only 22 cm long and outperforms most if not all antennas for receive and for quietness.

I also got a Bonito Megadipol Megaloop , 10 meter diameter, another great antenna but it's more suited to more local range over hundreds of kms and I got the megadipol also from Bonito which is better for DX ( long range ) signals.

The MA is one of the most impressive, it's sheer performance for 22 CM blows me away each time.

I got it online via SDR Console, have you checked it out yet ? it's called EmeraldSDR 3 Carlow.

I also got 2 x Kiwi's online

http://emeraldsdr1.ddns.net:8073/

http://emeraldsdr.ddns.net:8074/

How does yours compare to those above ?

SDR Console is good because it offers a full sdr experience and the Audio is much better. I use this with the Airspy HF+ a really good radio which you will hear in action with the MA305 antenna if you install SDR console 3.0.6 I think is the latest version.

I have some noise from ESB Pole I need to get fixed. Also the laptop itself causes some noise mainly on 80 meter ham band and the laptop power supply wipes out LW.

Things that can cause a lot of noise are , LED Bulbs, Laptop and mobile phone chargers. The Power supply for your Raspberry Pi may also cause a lot more noise than you think. Older Fluorescent backlit LCD TVs can be very bad.

My Kiwi's are powered by Linear power supplies and not the more typical switch mode power supplies found on most electronic devices today. I got them from China, if you get a Raspberry Pi then hook it up to a 5V regulated linear power supply.

I do advise using SDR COnsole for a proper SDR experience, it only works on Windows but it's well worth it, I had an old Core I5 Laptop lying around which I am using.

Radio is a great hobby and very fascinating. I hope to pass my Amateur radio license in May which will open up a whole new world of Radio to me and I can't wait.

Imagine the joy of hearing the distant station some thousands of Kms away call back your call sign ? all from only 100 watts of power and even 5 watts can get you considerable distances. You can build your own antennas and experiment with so much equipment. The internet is just too easy and boring, the challenge of getting your signal out and making up antennas is where all the fun is.

Apply now and you should get in for Ma but might be a bit late however next exam should be November if you miss May, do it you will be glad you did.

Hansanter,

The PL-660 might not be the best radio for hunting QRM unless it's on SW, it's a great radio on SW but it's deaf on LW-MW. The newer PL-880 is much better on LW- especially MW. It has better filtering but I much prefer the PL-660 on SSB even with it's wide filter, the sound is much better, the PL-880- sounds harsh to the ears much like all those DSP radios but the PL-880 sounds great on FM and SW and is very sensitive, slightly more than the PL-660 on SW.

Getting the loop out of the attic or any antenna will make a big difference especially getting it as far away form any house. Being outside on some class of a pole will provide better results than being inside on a rotator.

If you already got SDR Console then check out mine "emeraldsdr 3 Carlow" you will get a taste at what the MA305 can really do , it's an incredible antenna, however I am suffering intermittent QRM from ESB pole and Some QRM from Laptop itself around 80 meters and Laptop PSU on LF -LW.

I Used H155 Coax for the MA305 and it's grounded via the shield and Bonito's grounding spike.

You could also try the Galvanic Antenna Isolator GI1000 You tube video below.





https://hamradioshop.net/en/Antennas/Antenna-Accessories/Over-Voltage-Protector-OVP1000.html

Grounding clamp for Coax

https://hamradioshop.net/en/Antennas/Antenna-Accessories/Grounding-clamps-for-coax-cables-H-155-Hyperflex-5-RG-58-Airborn-5-Kabel.html

Ground spike also handy for portable use.

https://hamradioshop.net/en/Antennas/Antenna-Accessories/Grounding-spike.html

This is also dead handy, it allows cables to be brought through windows, handy for temporary use or when on holidays etc.

https://hamradioshop.net/en/Antennas/Antenna-Accessories/Flat-Coaxial-Door-Window-Jumper-Cable-with-BNC-or-PL-connectors.html

I also wrapped about 13 turns of the USB cable around a FT240-31 core and it made a lot of difference to QRM travelling down the USB cable to the SDR. Put one on the USB and coax cables. Better USB cables help too.

I've contemplated getting The Airspy HF+ online via Spyserver however I prefer SDR console and I think it offers a much better SDR experience but I might give it ago on an Odroid Xu3 that I have lying idle. These are far faster than Raspberry Pi's. The reason I might give it a go on the Odrois is because I have a spare 5V linear PSU lying around and just to experiment because SDR console has a lot of bugs when using remotely.

Here's a link to the Ebay seller of linear supplies, he will build you what you want, just remember to get an amp or 2 more than you need for more headroom. And tell him the connector you need and polarity.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/sep_store?ul_noapp=true

I had to give up on SDR Console, far too much interference from the core i5 Dell laptop. I really like SDR Console but there was issues, it didn't run smoothly all the time.

After a lot of headbanging I got it to work on an old Odroid Xu3 Lite I had lying around.

Advantages, much reduced power consumption and I have a 5 V 3.5 Amp Linear PSU that I can hopefully use which will greatly reduce noise on LF-LW and some of MW.

The Odroid works anyway, detects the Airspy HF+ and runs.

Problems to over come.

1 : Auto start script doesn't work when Odroid boots.

2 : Need to get Wifi working, using this headless all commands via SSH major pita.

Any update lads, what have ye done since we last posted on this thread ?

Well, I since got my Ham licence, absolutely love Ham radio, love working portable.

I swapped my SDR Play 1 and RSP1A for a End Fed Half Wave, the hyendfed.nl 5 Bank MK III in order to operate in the sitting room, some digital and the odd SSB QSO. Digital modes are handy when I want to play radio and the Missus is watching TV or reading. And when she's gone to bed and I can't be arsed going to the shack I can have QSO's. Having the setup in the sitting room means I can also listen and if I hear something good I can key up the mic and talk.

Anyway, it makes for a very good receiving antenna for SWL /MW not sure about LW because I listen mostly via the Yaesu FT-891 and it has much reduced sensitivity on LW but it picks up BBC R4 LW and RTE fine but no other stations which I assume is down to the lack of sensitivity on the 891. But the 891 makes a great MW/SWL receiver.

I still have the Airspy HF+ and it's connected to the Icom IC-7300 via the PTRX-7300 panadapter and I use it via SDR console and use Omnirig to control the radio so wherever I clock on the waterfall it follows on the radio, very cool, in fact I was considering selling the 7300 because I wasn't happy with the receive audio and no amount of messing with the built in Equaliser could make it better because it's the noise that just doesn't exist with the Airspy HF+.

The Noise reduction is also far better via SDR Console, this is what I use but having the large waterfall on the computer monitor makes so much of a difference you wouldn't believe it until you use it, it just makes the experience so much better.

I don't listen to the audio from the 7300 any more, I listen from the laptop.

Being able to select the bandwidth via the mouse wheel and click anywhere and you're tunes is really great, then fine tune with the mouse wheel.

Anyway, back to the Kiwis, sadly 3.ie have blocked the ports and nobody can connect any more via the internet and due to Covid I can not find another 4G provider, I wanted to move to Vodafone but they don't have an online shop, would you believe it ? and I can't go to the local Vodafone store.

So Kiwi will be offline for a while I'm afraid because if that's the game 3.ie want to play they can stuff it, I'd rather pay someone else. This has happened before and it just came back so keep checking, the internet connection will be live at least until the credit runs out.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know what ye're up to now.