SDR & BROADCAST PROCESSOR

[KD0HUX]

 Can I or has anyone ran a Broadcast processor (ANALOG ) or( DIGITAL)    with an entry level  ANAN 10E OR FLEX SDR 1000 with an linear amplifier  Would this be over kill or icing on the cake I can not go with a bigger antenna  or linear amplifier now

[KQ6F]

I've done it and I suspect others have, too.  But I quickly decided it was unnecessary as the software (both Flex and ANAN) contain all the features for generating superb sounding audio.  EQ, compression (if you want it), downward expander....it's all there.

Rod

[N1BCG]

Would this be over kill or icing on the cake ?

That depends entirely on your goal. What do you want to accomplish?

[KD0HUX]

Would this be over kill or icing on the cake ?

That depends entirely on your goal. What do you want to accomplish?

I want a great sounding AM station

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Can I or has anyone ran a Broadcast processor (ANALOG ) or( DIGITAL)    with an entry level  ANAN 10E OR FLEX SDR 1000 with an linear amplifier  Would this be over kill or icing on the cake I can not go with a bigger antenna  or linear amplifier now

Are you running any of this stuff now? If not, I wouldn't worry about any additional outboard processing until you get a feel for the equipment you're operating.

[N1BCG]

I agree with Rod, KQ6F, that both have what it takes to sound great as-is although both are quite low power so an amp for either would accomplish much more than a separate processor.

By the way, you'll be able to make some contacts right away on 40M without an amp. Check 7280-7295 on weekend afternoons. It's a great band for rigs of all powers.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

The Flex SDR-1000 works best with 32 bit Windows XP or lower and a PC that's robust. Also it requires a parallel port connection (USB to parallel port cable will not work), uses Windows multimedia mixer console, needs a supported sound card, and I think that last software that worked with it is PowerSDR 2.5.3.

[flintstone mop]

I've done it and I suspect others have, too.  But I quickly decided it was unnecessary as the software (both Flex and ANAN) contain all the features for generating superb sounding audio.  EQ, compression (if you want it), downward expander....it's all there.

Rod

AGREE Completely!
The software and the magic of the computer gives the audio a nice boost and further processing is not necessary. I disconnected all of my processing when I had the ancient SDR 1000 and Power SDR 2.5. Awesome TX audio. Had some drawbacks with hardware requirements, as Pete mentioned.

You said you would also like to upgrade the amplifier. I'd do that before buying processing equipment.  :oThe larger, healthier amp will handle the positive peaks that are going to come out of that Anan radio...You have an SDR 1000??? That was a nice beginning of Flex radio and max audio frequency response in the AM mode. The spectrum worriers didn't like the EXCESSIVE bandwidth of audio in the 1000. And FLEX reduced it in the SDR 3000. (I think) The SDR 5000, Flex came back to their senses and gave back almost endless audio on AM.
What's with your antenna? Are you operating on 160m? 80m? The longer and higher is better, ALWAYS

[kb3ouk]

I've done it and I suspect others have, too.  But I quickly decided it was unnecessary as the software (both Flex and ANAN) contain all the features for generating superb sounding audio.  EQ, compression (if you want it), downward expander....it's all there.

Rod

AGREE Completely!
The software and the magic of the computer gives the audio a nice boost and further processing is not necessary. I disconnected all of my processing when I had the ancient SDR 1000 and Power SDR 2.5. Awesome TX audio. Had some drawbacks with hardware requirements, as Pete mentioned.

You said you would also like to upgrade the amplifier. I'd do that before buying processing equipment.  :oThe larger, healthier amp will handle the positive peaks that are going to come out of that Anan radio...You have an SDR 1000??? That was a nice beginning of Flex radio and max audio frequency response in the AM mode. The spectrum worriers didn't like the EXCESSIVE bandwidth of audio in the 1000. And FLEX reduced it in the SDR 3000. (I think) The SDR 5000, Flex came back to their senses and gave back almost endless audio on AM.
What's with your antenna? Are you operating on 160m? 80m? The longer and higher is better, ALWAYS

I read that as he already has as big as an antenna and as big as an amplifier that he can use or afford at the moment. The biggest improvement he can make that he wants to do is in the audio chain, which if you already have a decent antenna and power, is about the next best thing you can do to improve your station. If you have a decent mic, all you really need after that is some EQ and compression. Set the EQ so that your audio is the most intelligible (lows are nice but too much can make your station sound like crap if band conditions are garbage) and set the compressor so that it averages out the modulation some (so that no matter how close or far you are from the mic it keeps the modulation at the same level). I don't have an SDR of any type, so I can't just make changes like that in software for my station, but what I use is a DBX 286A which has a compressor, downward expander, and a 2 band EQ of sorts, there might be a few other things it does, but just using the EQ and compressor in it had made a huge difference to what the station on the other end hears vs just using the mic by itself into the rig (I use a Pyle dynamic mic).

[KD0HUX]

I've done it and I suspect others have, too.  But I quickly decided it was unnecessary as the software (both Flex and ANAN) contain all the features for generating superb sounding audio.  EQ, compression (if you want it), downward expander....it's all there.

Rod

AGREE Completely!
The software and the magic of the computer gives the audio a nice boost and further processing is not necessary. I disconnected all of my processing when I had the ancient SDR 1000 and Power SDR 2.5. Awesome TX audio. Had some drawbacks with hardware requirements, as Pete mentioned.

You said you would also like to upgrade the amplifier. I'd do that before buying processing equipment.  :oThe larger, healthier amp will handle the positive peaks that are going to come out of that Anan radio...You have an SDR 1000??? That was a nice beginning of Flex radio and max audio frequency response in the AM mode. The spectrum worriers didn't like the EXCESSIVE bandwidth of audio in the 1000. And FLEX reduced it in the SDR 3000. (I think) The SDR 5000, Flex came back to their senses and gave back almost endless audio on AM.
What's with your antenna? Are you operating on 160m? 80m? The longer and higher is better, ALWAYS

My antenna limitations are a 80m dipole and 40 meter loop @ 33feet  no 160m

[flintstone mop]

I've done it and I suspect others have, too.  But I quickly decided it was unnecessary as the software (both Flex and ANAN) contain all the features for generating superb sounding audio.  EQ, compression (if you want it), downward expander....it's all there.

Rod

AGREE Completely!
The software and the magic of the computer gives the audio a nice boost and further processing is not necessary. I disconnected all of my processing when I had the ancient SDR 1000 and Power SDR 2.5. Awesome TX audio. Had some drawbacks with hardware requirements, as Pete mentioned.

You said you would also like to upgrade the amplifier. I'd do that before buying processing equipment.  :oThe larger, healthier amp will handle the positive peaks that are going to come out of that Anan radio...You have an SDR 1000??? That was a nice beginning of Flex radio and max audio frequency response in the AM mode. The spectrum worriers didn't like the EXCESSIVE bandwidth of audio in the 1000. And FLEX reduced it in the SDR 3000. (I think) The SDR 5000, Flex came back to their senses and gave back almost endless audio on AM.
What's with your antenna? Are you operating on 160m? 80m? The longer and higher is better, ALWAYS

I read that as he already has as big as an antenna and as big as an amplifier that he can use or afford at the moment. The biggest improvement he can make that he wants to do is in the audio chain, which if you already have a decent antenna and power, is about the next best thing you can do to improve your station. If you have a decent mic, all you really need after that is some EQ and compression. Set the EQ so that your audio is the most intelligible (lows are nice but too much can make your station sound like crap if band conditions are garbage) and set the compressor so that it averages out the modulation some (so that no matter how close or far you are from the mic it keeps the modulation at the same level). I don't have an SDR of any type, so I can't just make changes like that in software for my station, but what I use is a DBX 286A which has a compressor, downward expander, and a 2 band EQ of sorts, there might be a few other things it does, but just using the EQ and compressor in it had made a huge difference to what the station on the other end hears vs just using the mic by itself into the rig (I use a Pyle dynamic mic).

Shelby
it seems like 80m is the max he can get on his property,,,35 feet high doesn't seem like a ball buster antenna...no mention yet what amp he has.
The SDR software is awesome stuff and no extra boxes needed. all processing and magic happen via software and computer. Plain Jane transceiver / amp or plate modulated TX needs different magic. And more boxes.

[kb3ouk]

I've done it and I suspect others have, too.  But I quickly decided it was unnecessary as the software (both Flex and ANAN) contain all the features for generating superb sounding audio.  EQ, compression (if you want it), downward expander....it's all there.

Rod

AGREE Completely!
The software and the magic of the computer gives the audio a nice boost and further processing is not necessary. I disconnected all of my processing when I had the ancient SDR 1000 and Power SDR 2.5. Awesome TX audio. Had some drawbacks with hardware requirements, as Pete mentioned.

You said you would also like to upgrade the amplifier. I'd do that before buying processing equipment.  :oThe larger, healthier amp will handle the positive peaks that are going to come out of that Anan radio...You have an SDR 1000??? That was a nice beginning of Flex radio and max audio frequency response in the AM mode. The spectrum worriers didn't like the EXCESSIVE bandwidth of audio in the 1000. And FLEX reduced it in the SDR 3000. (I think) The SDR 5000, Flex came back to their senses and gave back almost endless audio on AM.
What's with your antenna? Are you operating on 160m? 80m? The longer and higher is better, ALWAYS

I read that as he already has as big as an antenna and as big as an amplifier that he can use or afford at the moment. The biggest improvement he can make that he wants to do is in the audio chain, which if you already have a decent antenna and power, is about the next best thing you can do to improve your station. If you have a decent mic, all you really need after that is some EQ and compression. Set the EQ so that your audio is the most intelligible (lows are nice but too much can make your station sound like crap if band conditions are garbage) and set the compressor so that it averages out the modulation some (so that no matter how close or far you are from the mic it keeps the modulation at the same level). I don't have an SDR of any type, so I can't just make changes like that in software for my station, but what I use is a DBX 286A which has a compressor, downward expander, and a 2 band EQ of sorts, there might be a few other things it does, but just using the EQ and compressor in it had made a huge difference to what the station on the other end hears vs just using the mic by itself into the rig (I use a Pyle dynamic mic).

Shelby
it seems like 80m is the max he can get on his property,,,35 feet high doesn't seem like a ball buster antenna...no mention yet what amp he has.
The SDR software is awesome stuff and no extra boxes needed. all processing and magic happen via software and computer. Plain Jane transceiver / amp or plate modulated TX needs different magic. And more boxes.

I was not suggesting that he needs a bigger antenna. Not everyone can get an antenna 150 feet in the air and run 300+ watts of carrier, I should know, at the moment I run 30 watts of carrier on 75 meters with a 25 foot high dipole and make contacts. I can't improve on the height or power at the moment either, but even when I move my station to my new location I will only be able to go up to about 35 feet, possibly 50, which is perfectly fine for making contacts out to 300 to 500 miles. So I worked on improving my audio chain while slowly working on building a homebrew transmitter that will be able to handle the power level I plan to work at. Anyway, back on topic, a linear that does 600 to 800 watts peak would work fine if you don't have one already, and if you already have one that does this or better, then that's great. Most people would say to run this at 150 to 200 watts, I would set it to run at about 100 watts of carrier, the amp will run cooler with less stress and it will allow you to have a higher percentage of modulation (over 100% positive, probably more in the order of 125 to 150%, which either of those SDRs should be capable of from what I understand). Most amps are built a little on the light side and don't hold up too well if hammered on AM, that's the biggest reason I had for building a homebrew transmitter because the amp I did have which was kinda beat when I got it didn't live too long after I started pushing it with AM, even though it was a 800 watt PEP amp and I was only asking about 125 watts of carrier from it. Now as far as the audio chain goes, one of the biggest jobs that the processing equipment has in a broadcast station is to keep the modulation level the same over all. It makes a big difference on the receiving end between having an audio setup that can hit 100% modulation or better 90 to 100% of the time while you are talking vs only being able to hit 100% modulation during only 50% of the transmission. This is what compression does, brings up the average audio level which in turns gives a more even modulation level, bascially the compressor is an AGC for the microphone. As far as EQ, I guess it depends on your tastes, but taking band conditions into consideration makes a difference too. Like I said before, when the band goes to crap, having deep bass audio is not going to help you one bit, you'll want to limit the low end audio some and possibly even give the mids and highs a slight peak. On my 286A, it has what basically amounts to a 2 band EQ, that is just labeled as LF Enhancer and HF Enhancer. I set the LF to where I thought sounded best, then peaked the HF just a bit above the level the LF was set at. Best thing to do to set your audio up is do an on air test, when band conditions are good find someone that will give you an honest report on what you sound like and start experimenting. That's what I have done before, first I set the audio up to what I thought looked ok, then got on the air and started asking for some opinions, while changing different settings up and down until I found something that everyone agreed sounded good. Having more than one person listening and providing an opinion helps, because what one person might think sounds good (or bad) might not to another. Something else to consider, because I'm pretty sure I remember hearing from someone that those SDRs will allow you to do this, is creating two or more audio profiles to use, maybe have one for normal band conditions and one that is set up different for when the band conditions are lousy, maybe the normal profile is set up for full bass audio and a certain level of compression, and the lousy band conditions profile is set up to have the lows reduced and the mids and highs peaked and maybe a few other changes.

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Can I or has anyone ran a Broadcast processor (ANALOG ) or( DIGITAL)    with an entry level  ANAN 10E OR FLEX SDR 1000 with an linear amplifier  Would this be over kill or icing on the cake I can not go with a bigger antenna  or linear amplifier now

Although not required, I still use all my audio processing that I usually have connected to the bcast TXs with the HPSDR (Alex, Penny etc) that I have. It's a 500mW out SDR radio running into a Collins HF-8020 1KW amp, which only needs 100mW for full output, all autotune, works great. The audio processing (Orban, Texar and a gated EQ) all seem to make nice audio driving the HPSDR radio. I then use minimal EQ in the software to round out any anomalies. Makes some pretty nice positive peaks. I am using Power SDR software interface, tailored by W5WC for AM mode. It's a few years old now, but still works great. I am reluctant to make any changes as it has been so stable for a few years now.

Good luck!

Paul

[flintstone mop]

Can I or has anyone ran a Broadcast processor (ANALOG ) or( DIGITAL)    with an entry level  ANAN 10E OR FLEX SDR 1000 with an linear amplifier  Would this be over kill or icing on the cake I can not go with a bigger antenna  or linear amplifier now

Although not required, I still use all my audio processing that I usually have connected to the bcast TXs with the HPSDR (Alex, Penny etc) that I have. It's a 500mW out SDR radio running into a Collins HF-8020 1KW amp, which only needs 100mW for full output, all autotune, works great. The audio processing (Orban, Texar and a gated EQ) all seem to make nice audio driving the HPSDR radio. I then use minimal EQ in the software to round out any anomalies. Makes some pretty nice positive peaks. I am using Power SDR software interface, tailored by W5WC for AM mode. It's a few years old now, but still works great. I am reluctant to make any changes as it has been so stable for a few years now.

Good luck!

Paul

That's a helluva amp, Paul. Needs a little tickle of RF and away you go with QRO!! Shudda bought one of those during my rich dayzz

[KD6VXI]

Like,  an ncl-2000 driving a new 2 tube autotune Alpha!

Clean,  me thinks,  too.

--Shane
KD6VXI

[VE7 Kilohertz]

Can I or has anyone ran a Broadcast processor (ANALOG ) or( DIGITAL)    with an entry level  ANAN 10E OR FLEX SDR 1000 with an linear amplifier  Would this be over kill or icing on the cake I can not go with a bigger antenna  or linear amplifier now

Although not required, I still use all my audio processing that I usually have connected to the bcast TXs with the HPSDR (Alex, Penny etc) that I have. It's a 500mW out SDR radio running into a Collins HF-8020 1KW amp, which only needs 100mW for full output, all autotune, works great. The audio processing (Orban, Texar and a gated EQ) all seem to make nice audio driving the HPSDR radio. I then use minimal EQ in the software to round out any anomalies. Makes some pretty nice positive peaks. I am using Power SDR software interface, tailored by W5WC for AM mode. It's a few years old now, but still works great. I am reluctant to make any changes as it has been so stable for a few years now.

Good luck!

Paul

That's a helluva amp, Paul. Needs a little tickle of RF and away you go with QRO!! Shudda bought one of those during my rich dayzz

It's a pretty slick setup, but needs careful initial adjustment as I am only driving it with about 50mW on SSB and 60mW for AM. I run the output thru a little SMA 3dB pad to the amp. Yes, it's very clean and that 4CX1500 runs very cool as it has a rather large squirrel cage blower in it. I get about 350W of AM carrier and 1KW SSB. The amp has all sorts of safeguards in it to protect the screen and to keep from over driving it general. The best part for me is the auto tune TS-8020 panel, just select the band you want to operate and hit it with a little RF to start the tune cycle and within 3 seconds it's all tuned and ready for full output, 1.6MHz - 30MHz. This amp is part of a whole HF-80 system I bought years ago, and includes preselector and HF-8054 RX and a few other items which I can't recall off the top of my head, very cool stuff from the early 90's.

Cheers