The AM Forum

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 (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 (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 (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 (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 (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

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.

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 (http://www.nn4f.com/SDRuno-cookbook.pdf)

73,

Rob W1AEX

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?

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/  (https://www.facebook.com/groups/sdruno/)

Rob W1AEX

Thanks - I'm going to follow up on both suggestions. W2NBC's projevt might be just what I'm looking for

I just received my SDRplay last week, haven't at the moment sat down long enough to figure it out.  Question, does the SDRuno have any issues with certain operating systems (or is the operating system having issues with SDRuno?), starting with XP on up?

Does this software or hardware block the 800 MHz former cellular frequencies (or any others), or is it truly continuous tuning?

Thanks,

Kevin.

So how do you like it? I'm thinking of placing an order for one today.

Hi Kevin,

I never checked that until today. It steps right through everything continuously from VLF to 2.0 GHz. As expected, all I could hear in the old cellular allocation were digital buzz saw signals. I could definitely also see the digital HDTV signals as I stepped through the UHF portion of that allocation.

Rob

With the SDRplay set to receive an 8 MHz swath it's really easy to see all the stuff that goes on in the CMED region of the 462 MHz band. You can use the big spectrum display as a click-tune device and catch a lot of the quick back-and-forth communications that go on there. Although you can create unlimited memory banks for any service or part of the spectrum, the banks are not yet able to be scanned. I saw a post in one of the forums indicating that the developers are looking to implement a scanning feature somewhere down the road, but nothing has been promised in that area.

First off after ordering it, it arrived in a white wax like envelope instead of a box.  I thought, are you kidding?  When I opened the envelope and looked at the SDRplay in its clear plastic packaging that it was in and noted how small it was, I thought, are you kidding?

I had to ask about if there were any issues involving the OS as the laptop I used didn't shut down properly after installing SDRuno as Windows gave me a warning about the software.  The warning didn't appear again after that.  If anyone hasn't realized it, the computers that one is to use needs a bit of horsepower to be able to fully utilize the features of SDRuno even more so with SDR Console.  The laptop I'm using is 12 years old but had to try anyway.  SDRuno does work but have to operate it with a narrow spectrum display, about 2Mhz max and only one display at that as the CPU is maxed out or nearly maxed out.  I experimented with HDSDR software also and the laptop performed much better with this (with about 60-80% CPU capacity) but doesn't appear to have as much features available as SDRuno or the Console.  I have another newer dual core laptop that worked well with all three programs.  Even with just using the HDSDR on the older laptop, it was very interesting, need to do more experimenting/listening.

Ordered mine from HRO in DE and received it the next day. I’m using SDRuno with it. I already use a Flex 6500, so I immediately discovered that many things are done quite differently.

Entering a frequency, via the keyboard is “quirky” For example, if I enter 119.500 (mhz) it often goes to 119.500 khz. I found that I need to select the closest amateur band first than modify the default frequency.

Very preliminary results shows that it does not seem to be especially bothered by WABC 770 khz, just 2 miles away.

Trying to figure out how to change default tuning step, and if a custom bandwidth can be saves.

Need to connect an external speaker to by laptop – the internal speaker is just horrible!

What is SDRuno extio program used for?

Is the LNA gain variable, or just ON / OFF?

Entering a frequency, via the keyboard is “quirky” For example, if I enter 119.500 (mhz) it often goes to 119.500 khz. I found that I need to select the closest amateur band first than modify the default frequency.

Yeah, this is not all that intuitive because direct frequency entry requires you to input everything in kHz. To listen to WHYN 560 on the AM BCB I click on the frequency display so it displays "0" and then type in 560 and press enter. To go to 3.885 MHz I type in 3885 and press enter. To go to 29.0 MHz I type in 29000 and press enter. It gets a little more tedious when you input VHF and UHF frequencies. Best thing to do is to store your favorite frequencies in the memory panel so you can simply click on a frequency and away you go.

Very preliminary results shows that it does not seem to be especially bothered by WABC 770 khz, just 2 miles away.

That's good to know. I was curious how you would do with that scenario.

Trying to figure out how to change default tuning step, and if a custom bandwidth can be saves.

Right-click on the frequency display in the main RX window and the tuning step menu will popup. Currently, there is no way to save a custom bandwidth. Sounds like you know this but for others who might not know:  The only way you can change the default bandwidth is to drag the filter skirts in the "AUX SP" panel.

Need to connect an external speaker to by laptop – the internal speaker is just horrible!

What is SDRuno extio program used for?

This is a separate executable for use with other SDR hardware like the FiFi or the RTL dongles that rely on a hardware specific EXTIO.dll for proper initialization.

Is the LNA gain variable, or just ON / OFF?

It is variable if you turn AGC off. Then you can use the gain reduction slider (labeled as GR) in the "MAIN" panel to adjust the LNA gain.

There is a very good SDRplay group on Facebook. Several people have installed their SDRplay boxes inside an aluminum enclosure. The resuklts seem to be worth the effort. Here's one photo of what happens by just installing a snap on choke to the USB cable.

SDRuno v1.1 released

Yeah, this looks like a nice effort to integrate more of the controls onto fewer panels. I ran it for around 12 hours on the day it was released and it performed flawlessly, except for one anomaly. When I selected the LowIF option only two sampling rates were available: 2.0 MHz and 8.xxx MHz. Not sure why that happens but I'll send that in as a bug. Otherwise, it seems to run really well.

Rob W1AEX

So, I really like the SDRplay and have two issues that I have not been able to solve.
1. I enjoy listening to the Mil Aircraft band, roughly 230 - 350 mhz. SDRplay uses a 250 mHz LO, so you get a ton of images from the local FM broadcast stations @ 338-358 Mhz. I have a rather aggressive FM Notch filter that gives me almost -60db of attenuation. It reduces it, but they are still there. Someone suggested using the 168 Mhz LO option, that should shift the images, when listening in that region. Have not tried that yet.

2. If I open the BW to 10 mHz, I keep hearing a "think, think, thunk" noise which I suspect might be the time it's taking to process that much of the spectrum vs. what my PC can do. At BW of 5 mHz, no problem.

I'm going to mount the PCB inside a shielded enclosure, as some have reported that it decreases the noise floor. I suspect it may be receiving some of its own RF generated noise using the plastic case.

Yeah, I see exactly the same FM images up in the 338-358 MHz range if I am using the Zero-IF option or the default Auto LO setting. Changing the LO-IF to the 168 MHz offset makes the FM band images completely disappear up there.

Regarding the "thunk, thunk, thunk" noise that is happening with the 10 MHz sampling rate my guess is that your suspicion is probably correct that the computer might not be able to keep up with the data processing required for a spectrum chunk of that size. In previous versions of SDRuno you could choose whether or not the "Output Fractional Resampler" was enabled, but it looks like they have decided to remove the option to disable it with the newest version. This means that if the computer falls behind SDRuno will empty its buffers every time they overflow. This can cause a slight frequency shift and with a fast computer you won't notice it at all unless you are in SAM mode where you might hear a slight blip. With a slower computer you probably will run into a continuous "correction" loop and resultant dropouts with very high sampling rates.

Rob W1AEX

I rec'd my SDR Play today and downloaded the software...With multiple screens and plenty of acronyms to learn..... It may be a little while before I hear anything but noise..I have learned to use HPSDR with a Tony Parks Ensemble II Rx  and I find SDRuno to be quite different so far...This will be fun and I am looking forward to using  the coverage from 10KHZ to 2 Gig...I am using windows 7 ..Currently studying the "SDRPlay cookbook" for further instruction..

I use the SDRplay as my only receiver, and I love it!  The software I'm using is HDSDR.  It's very simple to use. 

They're on sale for $129 at HRO until the end of the month.

Jon

How are you muting the rx for use with a transmitter?

I was going to ask the same question,  as I ordered an Rsp1 this week.

I planned on a dpdt relay outside the Kenwood,  fired off by the +8 volt on t  line.   I figured a small resistor and 5 volt relay would work sped up.  Ground the input to the rsp on TX,  should be good,  no?

That saves the input.   Now,  how about audiouting,  another pole on the relay w the speaker?

Ideas from those already using one?

--Shane
KD6VXI

I don't mute the receiver during transmit. My station is sequenced, however, so the antenna relay is switched first so that the receiver is protected.

I also switch the audio out using a relay. If you didn't, you'd receive delayed audio feedback. I've tried talking on the air with that audio pumped into my headphones. It's nearly impossible. Instead, I have an RF pickup that rectifies the audio and pumps that into my headphones.

My guess is that you'd want to use a sequencer with this SDR receiver. The manufacturer even cautions against using the same antenna with the transmitter.

Jon

An interesting announcement - $169
http://www.nn4f.com/index.php/46-sdrplay-rsp2-rsp2pro.html

Looks like an excellent solution for anyone who has proximity issues with nearby AM or FM broadcast stations. As far as I can see the core of the radio is basically the same as the RSP1 so it's nice that they are offering both options to potential buyers. Very nice!

Rob W1AEX

Well, can I feel smug, or only partially smug.

I ordered the SDRthing from HRO, $120 and free shipping. As its only receive; Can I only be 1/2 smug, or can I be fully smug? And do I have to stand by until I get it in the mail, or can I start my smugishness now?  Anyway, I can still look down on the unwashed.


klc

I take delivery of mine Monday.

The weather in Bakersfield has been unusually Smuggy this week.   I think I now know why,  klc....


Lol


--Shane
KD6VXI

KLC   Half smug better than no smug...

Being able to look down on the unwashed is worth at least the price you paid...

I have a problem with my sdrplay...I have the software loaded,  I plug the black box in, but the software doesn't see the radio...all I get is noise....It is hard to be smug.....Steve

It's that TMC transmitter.   The SDRPLAY saw that thing and got scared as all get out!

Seriously,  you sounded great here yesterday in the roundtable..  Nice to hear you in Washington,  Brandon in Louisiana,  the boys in Arizona and even Montana was in there.

40 looks to be good this winter.   Very Smuggy.

--Shane
KD6VXI

Steve, can you confirm that the SDRplay is seen by Windows in Device Manager? I had an issue with the USB cable that I got from HRO when I bought my SDRplay. I learned that not all USB cables are compatible and what they were selling definitely fell into that category. I grabbed another USB cable that was lying around and as soon as I hooked it up the Mirics API driver loaded immediately, the rig initialized, and the software saw the rig every time from that point on.

Rob W1AEX

TNX Rob...I got it working.....a different USB cable and some fooling around with the IF Gain level and it took off......Steve

Nice! Hope you enjoy it!

Rob

Rob, I would like to express my thanks to you for sharing all your knowledge and information regarding the SDR platform, it is very helpful to all of us.  I especially appreciate the information you provided to help us use the FIFI SDR with the current software offerings.  I know it is a lot of work to document and share the details, Thanks and best regards!

Thank you Rick!

The SDR play works FB. A great inve$tment for $120.

I feel smuglier every minute.

KLC

I recently bought a used SDRplay 2 on eBay, and I'm somewhat disappointed with it compared with my Afedri. 

I'm not a huge fan of the SDRUno, and its weird frequency entry method (I don't have a mouse wheel on my laptop).  Also it overloads much easier than the Afedri, and the USB2.0 in my cheapo laptop is too slow for very wide frequency spans.  Still, for the $140 bux I paid, I can't complain to loudly - it covers up to 2 gig, (Afredri only goes to 30 MHz).  FM radio sounds fantastic.

Wish SDRUno did sync AM ISB (ie USB in right audio channel, LSB in left) like CuteSDR.

Did you try it with HDSDR or SDRConsole. These two apps are better than SDRUno in most respects.

"smuglier"?  ::)

Here is a sneak peek at the soon to be released v1.2 of SDRuno. Looks like this will be a nice version with a number of improvements in the interface:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXi70IDzkJs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXi70IDzkJs)

In case you did not see the news, the new SDRuno version 1.2 was released yesterday. The full release notes and the download link for this update can be found here:

http://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2579 (http://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2579)

There are fixes, changes, and new functions in this version. It's a major release and worth it to upgrade. It seems to work beautifully here!

73,

Rob W1AEX

Using the new version with the new 1A receiver version. Very nice enhancement with the built in BCB moth filter option. 2 miles away from WABC 770 kHz.  Almost as good as my flex6500! Built in FM trap also cleaned up the mil aircraft band. A very nice package for a very reasonable cost.

For any SDRplay owners who have not yet stumbled upon this free spectrum analyzer program, it is available at the link below. Keep in mind that it's an alpha release so there will no doubt be improvements as the developer refines it. I have tried it out and found it to be a useful tool, although as far as I can see, there is no way to control the IF offset so on some frequencies I see a carrier on the frequency that I am tuned to. It's worth a look.

The first screenshot down below shows WTIC AM on the BCB at 1.080 MHz. The second screenshot shows my DMR hotspot that is sitting on 446.250 MHz with some kind of unidentified carrier that cycles on and off repeatedly about 350 kHz below and another signal about 250 kHz above it.

73,

Rob W1AEX

https://www.sdrplay.com/spectrum-analyser/ (https://www.sdrplay.com/spectrum-analyser/)

New version (1.0 alpha) of the SA software is out. It will now do spans greater than 10 MHz. I've been playing with it recently. Pretty sweet.

https://www.sdrplay.com/spectrum-analyser


New version of the SDR Uno software too.

https://www.sdrplay.com/windl3.php

I had random crashes and mis-operation on it before. I'll have to get the radio back and try the new version.

The new version of SDR Uno includes a scanner function. You can scan over a range of frequencies or scan selected freqs (channels). I've been listening to the air traffic band the past few days. Lots of action, albeit rather mundane.

The new Wideband noise blanker has some good use too.

The SA software is still quirky. Sometime the sweeping (or sweeping display) just stops. Switching to a more narrow span will sometimes get it going. Other times nothing will. Probably not ready for prime time but may have some use in testing ham transmitters, etc.

Thanks for the SDRplay update information Steve. After seeing your post I chased after the 1.0 Alpha version of the SA package and have been playing around with it for the past week. I very much like that the new version now allows the user to select an IF offset so that it's not stuck with only the Zero-IF option that displayed a carrier right on the frequency of interest. Also, although it appears that we are stuck with an AGC that can't be switched off, it's easy to get around the tendency of the AGC to repeatedly scale up and down by inserting an inline attenuator pad. As shown in the pictures I can get decent displays of my ANAN-200D driving my ALS-1306 solid-state amplifier with a two-tone test by using a combination of a 10dB pad off the RF coupler and by trimming it out with the dBm Trim adjustment in the SA software. The PS on and off results compare closely with what the ANAN's Thetis software reports and I don't think I'll be running that amp without engaging the ANAN's adaptive pre-distortion feature!

I'm off to grab the new SDRuno package with the long-awaited scanning feature. That should be lots of fun!

Thanks again for the update.

73,

Rob W1AEX

There's a new version of the SDRPlay hardware out: RSPDx. From the website:

The SDRplay RSPdx is a single-tuner wideband full featured 14-bit SDR which covers the entire RF spectrum from 1kHz to 2GHz giving up to 10MHz of spectrum visibility. It contains three antenna ports, two of which use SMA connectors and operate across the full 1 kHz to 2 GHz range and the third uses a BNC connector which operates up to 200MHz.

The RSPdx is a replacement for the highly successful RSP2 and RSP2pro SDR receivers, which have been extensively redesigned to provide enhanced performance with additional and improved pre-selection filters, improved intermodulation performance, the addition of a user selectable DAB notch filter and more software selectable attenuation steps . The RSPdx , when used in conjunction with SDRplay’s own SDRuno software, introduces a special HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode for reception within selected bands below 2MHz. HDR mode delivers improved intermodulation performance and fewer spurious responses for those challenging bands.

KEY BENEFITS & FEATURES

• Covers all frequencies from 1kHz through VLF, LF, MW, HF, VHF, UHF and L-band to 2GHz, with no gaps • Receive, monitor and record up to 10MHz of spectrum at a time
• Performance below 2MHz substantially enhanced – improved dynamic range and selectivity
• Software selectable choice of 3 antenna ports
• Enhanced ability to cope with extremely strong signals
• External clock input for synchronisation purposes, or connection to GPS reference clock for extra frequency accuracy
• Excellent dynamic range for challenging reception conditions
• Free use of windows-based SDRuno software which provides an ever-increasing feature-set
• Strong and growing software support network
• Calibrated S meter/ RF power and SNR measurement with SDRuno (including datalogging to .CSV file capability)
• Documented API provided to allow demodulator or application development on multiple platforms


Also, the lates version of their software, SDRUno has these feature relevant to AM:

A unique synchronous AM mode with selectable/adjustable sidebands, dedicated PLL input filter, & selectable PLL time constants.


Details at

https://www.sdrplay.com/rspdx/

As I've said before, I'm a firm believer in the SDRplay and it'll be the last receiver that I'll ever need. I pair it with all my homebrew transmitters (using receiver protection in the antenna changeover relay).

I use the RSP2 and my only complaint is that sometimes it has difficulty dealing with very strong adjacent signals. My fix is to just increase software selectable receiver gain attenuation. I'm excited to find out how the new one fixes this.

I'm using the SDRuno software.

Jon