Bringing new life to my station - SDRPlay & SDRuno

I have decided to explore the world of SDR and my first venture into this arena was with the rather sensibly priced SDRPlay RSP at £127.20 including VAT and delivery.

I have been really pleased so far with my experience and even more so that I have been able to sync the new RX up to my existing FT-1000mp Mark V setup to give me a band scope and additional RX using SDRuno software and the Ominirig connection server to share the CAT data with the radio. 


I have already been asked how I have setup the station so produced this graphic to help explain how I set it up. The PC is nothing amazing and is an old cast off from a family member as I usually am a Mac user and wanted a PC to run some basic software in the shack. 



I have made use of the RX antenna in and out from the FT-1000mp Mark V to split the RX and return it to the main radio and send half to the SDR. OK there are some losses but then they are marginal and can be turned on and off using the RX switch on the front of the Yaesu. It allows a band scope on the SDR and also benefits from the same band pass filters used in the main radio to help the front end cope a little better.

Initially I am happy with my results and the outcome, I am also very happy with the added functions to my aging radio setup. 

I hope to get some videos done once I get to grips with the software to get the most from the performance. So far I have found it very good on weak signals for QRP reception. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Modifying the FT-897 to get the best from it.

Image
I have been using my ft-897 for a while now, the main rig has a fault and I have been far too busy to get it sorted and repaired. I found it was not quite right, I have been spoiled by using quality receivers over the last few years and I couldn't quite put my finger on what was missing. Some reading online and some tests quickly helped me identify what it was, the AGC was a little too fast and the audio amplifier adds a certain hiss and noise to a signal. I found two fixes online, the first one was to add a capacitor in parallel to modify the AGC hang time adding it to C1503 - mod to be found on DG2IAQ modification sheet, a great source of information for any 897 owner. found here. http://www.ok1kng.netcontrol.cz/rs/download.php?soubor=25 The other fix was to reduce white noise, the info can be found here. http://ok1fig.nagano.cz/FT897D/FT-897D_LessWhiteNoise.htm By adding two capacitors to make up the 0.75uF and a resistor of 68 Ohm between pins 2 and 4 on the IC the TDA200...
Read more

Improving the FT-1000mp Mark V RX

Image
I have been on a mission to make the most of the equipment in my shack, I didn't want to get sucked into buying more radios or very expensive new models to chase a very small improvement. I decided the next best thing was to squeeze every improvement I could out of my existing equipment. I have been really pleased with the RX on the FT-1000MP Mark V and wanted to get all of the filters loaded into it. It has taken me some time but I have finally tracked down the full set of Yaesu filters to install in the radio and improve the way the RX performs when using narrow filters. I have already done the NB mod that is documented earlier on my blog. I have now managed to add the 2.0kHz SSB 500Hz and 250Hz in both the 8.2MHz IF and the 455Kz IF. I can assure you that having two 250Hz filters inline can really help improve the signal to noise for CW and for RTTY/Digital modes. The 2.0kHz filters in line really help with SSB but it does make the signal less pleasing to the ear and require...
Read more

Laserbeam delights - Audio DSP filter for CW

Image
Last Monday I had a bit of free time and I have been planning to help Keith G0RQQ put his new audio CW filter into a box for some time. It made sense to use the bench in the workshop here because everything is set up and read to go, Keith preferred that option to destroying the dining table at his place. He has a Laserbeam dual band filter module from Sotabeams http://www.sotabeams.co.uk/dual-bandwidth-filter-modules-ssb-cw/ and I have to say it is a great bit of kit for something so small. Well worth the money to add a new level to older or wider receivers. In the classic QRP style Keith wanted to fit the board into an Altoids tin to be the ideal companion to his Frog sounds QRP single band 40m rig. Keith did add on the additional filter integration kit from Sotabeams for an additional £5.50. VK3YE has done a great look at this and has a video demonstrating its use on home-brew kit. Have a look at the video to get a really good idea of how this works. We really were b...
Read more