Category: Featured

Amateur Radio Projects and Software Defined Radio

SDRplay RSP1A First Look

November 15, 2017

Inroduction
SDRplay’s RSP1 has long been a great value in an entry level SDR platform for radio hobbyist looking to get involved in Software Defined Radio. The RSP1 has also been a favorite for adding spectrum displays to non-SDR radios or experimenting with SDR applications. The other advantage of the SDRPlay series is strong software support. SDRplay offers their own SDR program SDRUno which is a highly powerful and well polished SDR client that leverages all the features and capabilities of the SDRplay series. The SDRplay SDRs are also compatible with several popular 3rd party SSDR programs such as HDSDR, SDR-Console, and CubicSDR. Several PC platforms are also supported including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and Raspberry Pi 3. SDRplay offers excellent support via their website and Facebook Page. In short, the SDRplay series offer a great value for an entry level SDR. The nice thing about SDRplay is the Jon Hudson and SDRplay Team are always looking for ways to improve the SDRplay platform, either through improvements in software or hardware. The SDRUno software is updated on a regular basis with new features and improvements. The RSP2 was added last year and offered hardware improvements and new features. Frankly, …

SDRPlay RSP2 Review

November 22, 2016

Introduction

If you have read our past articles on the SDRPlay RSP, you probably noticed that it has been a highly regarded SDR receiver here at HRS. It was named as the best SDR radio available in its price category. The SDRPlay RSP is even good enough to hold its own against far more expensive SDR products. Not to mention that it comes with excellent support from SDRPlay team. Over the past year, the SDRPlay got even better when SDRPlay acquired the excellent Studio One SDR software and adapted for use with the SDRPlay RSP. The new version of Studio One for the SDRPlay was renamed to SDRuno. The addition of SDRuno to the SDRPlay makes the RSP even a better value by adding a very powerful SDR program with a very attractive and professional user interface. Unlike some SDR programs that look pretty dated in comparison. The SDRPlay team continues to add new features and improvements to SDRuno on a very frequent basis. Not to mention that the price of the SDRPlay RSP has been lowered to $129 and is easily available in the US from Ham Radio Outlet. With the SDRPlay RSP’s low price, continous coverage from …

Why Apple’s iMac May be the Best PC for SDR Applications

August 12, 2016

Introduction
Most radio hobbyist these days have a PC in the shack these days. Even though convenient and sometimes necessary these PCs can be the source of annoying RFI (Radio Frequency Interference). Of course with many SDR systems, PC’s are a necessary accessory. PC RFI is not limited to affecting SDR systems but also affect analog radios also. It’s just more obvious on SDR radio systems because the RFI can been seen on the spectrum / waterfall display. What causes this? Modern PCs can generate a great deal of local noise via it’s CPU and possibly it’s power supply. The other large RFI generator is the LCD display. Between the two, they can wreak havoc on radio reception. Modern PCs now usually contain multi-core processors that can generate a good deal of RFI. It really doesn’t help matters at all that most PC manufacturers use a large amount of plastic in the cases which allows RFI to leak out more easily. LCD monitors another large source of RFI are all over the place. Some LCD monitors only generate a small amount of RFI while others generate a good deal. All this interference can be seen and heard on your SDR …

Icom 7300 Review

April 10, 2016

Introduction

Last summer Icom announced a new radio that caused quite a stir in the amateur radio community. The new Icom IC-7300 was the first SDR HF / 6M direct sampling transceiver available produced by one of the “big three” manufacturers of  amateur radio equipment. The announcement of the IC-7300 caused quite a bit of buzz, controversy, and anticipation amongst the amateur radio community. After approximately 8 months of waiting, the Icom 7300 finally landed on US shores in the later part of March of this year. The IC-7300 has made into the hands of eagerly awaiting amateurs to be put through its paces. So far the reports from early adopters have been nothing short of stellar. Some users are reporting that the  IC-7300 easily matches or bests the performance and features of their existing high end “legacy” transceivers costing 2 to 3 times more than the IC-7300. Speaking of price the US version of the IC-7300 currently comes to $1499. The IC-7300 is considered to be an “entry level” transceiver, but that is really not the best description. The IC-7300 is really more of a high end transceiver in a lot of ways that offers a huge bang for …

Elad FDM-DUO – SDR Done Right!

March 9, 2016

Introduction
The SDR-DUO has been on the bench in day to day use for about 2 months now so it’s time to talk about how it works out in “real world” use. The Italian made FDM-DUO has to be the most versatile, well designed, and well thought out SDR system currently on the market. With some of the major amateur radio manufacturers beginning to bring SDR systems to market, they would do well to take a look at what Elad has done here. The FDM-DUO can be used as a very pleasant and capable standalone transceiver as well as a very powerful SDR system when coupled with Elad’s brilliant FDM-SW2 SDR software. The FDM-SW2 software has to be hands down the best SDR programs out there featuring a wide array of useful features currently unmatched by other entries. It’s also nice to know that Elad isn’t resting on their laurels when it comes to software. Elad is continuously making improvements and adding new features to the FDM-S2 software. The FDM-DUO concept is exactly what a lot of radio hobbyist have been looking for. A pleasant easy to use standalone direct sampling SDR transceiver for times when you just want to …

Best SDR Radios of 2015 and 2016 (so far)

January 7, 2016

Looking back over some SDR Radio products that were reviewed here and some that were not. Here is our picks of the litter so far:

Best “Dirt Cheap” SDR – $25
RTL Dongle – The venerable old RTL Dongles are still hard to beat for the price. The dongles are still one of the best ways to get your feet wet in SDR for a pittance. With free software, a wide VHF/UHF coverage range, a decent sized sample rate, and tons of projects based around them, what’s not to like. However, once you do get your feet pretty wet, you will probably be ready to move up.

RTL-820T Dongle from NooElec. One of the good ones!

Best “Bang For the Buck” – SDRPlay – $149
The recently reviewed SDRPlay is the perfect step up from the RTL-Dongles. Matter of fact if you decide to skip the dongle phase you may want to go straight to this one. With very wide coverage from 0.1MHz to 2GHz you can listen to just about anything. The very wide bandwidth up to 8MHz will you to view large swaths of frequencies at once in the SDR software client or even set up multiple VFO’s …

SDRPlay Review

January 7, 2016

Introduction
After having the SDRPlay around in daily use for a few months, it’s time to talk about this little gem. Good things indeed come in small boxes. The SDRPlay wideband receiver (0.1MHz to 2GHz) is a great example of what can be done to produce an easy to use and fun inexpensive wide coverage SDR receiver. On top of that throw in top notch customer support and you wind up with an excellent product all for the lowly sum of $150. While not entirely perfect, it’s really hard to complain too much given the cost and the hard work the SDRPlay development team has put in to continually improve the product. The SDRPlay would make a great product for radio hobbyist looking to get involved with their first SDR receiver due to it’s ease of setup or if you have been using RTL dongles and need something that packs a little more of a punch. More advanced users will find something also since the SDRPlay is pretty tweakable as well as far more sensitive on the upper end of its frequency range. The other advantage with the SDRPlay is that now you can order or pick one up from …

Ham It Up Plus HF Converter
NooElec NESDR
HackRF One SDR Transceiver

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