SDRplay and SDRuno hardware/software SDR package
W1AEX:
I don't know how many in the forum have seen one of these little SDR receivers but the SDRplay hardware and SDRuno software make for a killer receiver combination. HRO sells the SDRplay hardware for 149 bucks and the SDRuno software is a free download. The software was created for the SDRplay hardware by the guy(s) who created the "Studio One" suite. It can view a maximum of 10 MHz of spectrum and allows you to create as many "Virtual Receivers" (within a 10 MHz swath) as your computer system's USB bus can handle. It is capable of continuous reception between 10 kHz to 2 GHz and does a beautiful job receiving the AM BCB (with AM or Synchronous Detection), the FM BCB (mono or stereo), every ham band up to 2 GHz, the VHF AM aircraft band, the military 200 MHz aircraft band, all the VHF-UHF public service frequencies, the N.O.A.A. weather frequencies and pretty much anything else you can think of.
In the lower left corner of the first picture below you can see the "memory panel" which allows you to create an infinite number of memory banks. You can also import the complete EiBi HF SW Database which is what I have loaded there. A simple click on any of the frequencies in a saved database takes you there instantly. In addition, it does synchronous detection with selectable DSB, LSB, or USB or you can grab the filter skirts (in the panel shown in the upper left of the larger view picture) and create whatever asymmetrical filter you want. Not too shabby!
At any rate, this thing is definitely more than a toy! The heart of it is a 12-bit ADC that produces reception that is remarkably free of spurious crud in the panadapter. I have several YouTube videos that I made of the SDRplay hardware running SDRuno and will add more as I have time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq2K3osyz1M 3 Virtual Receivers positioned simultaneously on the AM BCB, 75m, and 40m.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isFtXJv02YU 3 Virtual Receivers positioned to simultaneously monitor Gander and NY Advisory HF aircraft traffic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrbejzzfoHg 3 Virtual Receivers positioned to simultaneously monitor Bradley International Airport approach and departure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZwEHCh7CXk Tuning around the FM BCB using a memory bank, one-click tuning, and direct frequency entry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92xyyxa-R5Y The SDRplay running SDRuno with a 10 MHz view from 10 kHz to 10 MHz
This is a great hardware/software package for anyone looking to find a relatively inexpensive path into the SDR world. The performance of this hardware/software package should also be appealing to anyone looking to add a high quality, wide-range receiver to their station. Keep in mind also that the SDRplay hardware is compatible with Simon Brown's SDR Console (versions 2.x and 3.x) and SDRsharp. There may be other software that the SDRplay hardware can run but I have been consumed with figuring out everything that SDRuno can do. My SDRplay/SDRuno combination has been running almost continuously since UPS delivered it earlier this week!
Rob W1AEX
WB2EMS:
I've been using one since a week after the great lightning hit of '16 ;D I use it remotely with sdr-radio version 2. That software seems to need a bit of twiddling to get the gain settings right to use it well, but once I get that sorted, it works about as well at my SDR-IQ did, with more frequency range. I just downloaded SDRuno based on your videos and look forward to playing with it. Thanks for pointing it out.
W1AEX:
Hi Kevin,
The SDRuno learning curve is not trivial but as far as the installation goes it is pretty much plug-and-play for the SDRplay hardware. I would urge you to download and read the excellent "SDRuno Cookbook" written by NN4F and KD2KOG. It definitely saved me from stumbling around in the dark with things like saving multiple workspace setups and setting up virtual receivers:
http://www.nn4f.com/SDRuno-cookbook.pdf
73,
Rob W1AEX
WA2SQQ:
http://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1058
Rob
I've been looking at this receiver, primarily for coverage above 30 mhz. I already use a Flex 6500, so some of my concern is likely related to wondering how much worse this $149 will be. I've played wwith the "dongle" receivers which work, but leave a lot to be desired.
While reading the comments in the above discussion, I'm seeing a lot of mentions that external band pass filters are suggested. Without them, the opinions expressed is thatthe sensitivity is rather poor. I live about 2 miles from a 50 Kw BCB station on 770 khz, so this alone raises some concerns. How many problems have you run into with regards to images and front end overloading?
How about on the AM BCB, how's the sensitivity?
W1AEX:
Sensitivity is very good on the AM BCB and with SDRuno you can software-switch the LNA on and off for that band as needed. There is also a gain reduction slider in the software that acts kind of like an RF gain control to allow you to survive in the shadow of a nearby broadcast station. I am about 12 miles away from WTIC 1080 kHz which is a 50 KW broadcaster and their signal was strong enough (almost full-scale on the s-meter) to drive the AGC nuts if I enabled it. They did something to tame that problem with the v1.04 release a few weeks ago but I still prefer to run with the AGC toggled off. I found I can leave the LNA enabled and set the gain reduction to a level where WTIC does not produce any artifacts and I am still able to easily listen to 880 WCBS and 770 WABC (about 100 miles away down in NYC) without any problems at all. That setting also allows me to tune up and down the AM BCB and find all kinds of low-powered hometown stations up and down the east coast. I have also used SDR Console v3.0 (preview release) a few times with my SDRplay and as I recall it might have a more robust "gain control" setup but I'm not absolutely sure about that. With all that being said, I honestly don't know how the SDRplay will behave for you with your 2 mile proximity to WABC.
I do not run any external band pass filters and use a broadband 85 foot vertically oriented triangular loop for VLF to 10 MHz reception and have no issues on any of the lower ham bands with overloading or spurious images. I switch to my 20-17-15-12-10 meter hex beam for the upper bands and use a 3 element beam for 6 meters and the SDRplay with SDRuno works beautifully on those bands. For VHF/UHF reception I use a log periodic Grove Scanner Beam and have found reception on the FM broadcast band and 2m/440/900 to be excellent. The SDRplay uses a 12-bit ADC and an LO setup that is easily adjustable by setting it to an automatic mode, or manual selection of LO presets, or you can simply run any custom LO scheme that you want. You can also run it in "Zero IF" mode and that also works well. Most of us running SDRuno version 1.04 still feel that there is something not quite right with the LO implementation but it does seem to work if you fuss around with it. The performance is way better than the RTL dongles but it is definitely no Flex 6500! You might want to message Jeff - W2NBC as he built a beautiful external band pass filter for his SDRplay and it works beautifully for him.
If you try one of these out I'd be very interested in how it behaves with your proximity to WABC. If you are on Facebook there is a very informative SDRplay-SDRuno user group where some of the developers hang out and respond to questions. You might want to see if they have any predictions about how well the SDRplay does with strong AM BCB stations nearby. https://www.facebook.com/groups/sdruno/
Rob W1AEX