Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, JMMHam, who comments:
The new DX version of BELKA -DSP is now available in the Mobimax Store. The new Belka-DX receiver is about 5 euros more expensive but great. I bought it here: https://www.mobimax.bg/en/BELKA-DX-shortwave-receiver
Very fast delivery !!!
Thank you for the tip! I’ve only had my Belka-DSP for a few weeks, and absolutely love it. 13dka’s review of it was spot-on.
It appears the main additions are:
We’ll have to see how it stacks up against the original Belka DSP which I consider to be one of the best portable HF receivers out there at the moment.
I purchased my Belka-DSP from Mobimax.
After I purchased from Mobimax.bg the new “DX … all mode” (updated) receiver, I’ve done so far only two things:
1. .. turned it on, plugged the headphones, plugged the antena, WOOHAAAAUUU – it worked smooth, just “locked” some french speaking station (Africa?)
2…. and I had to disassemble it to see what it has inside.
It has new internal audio connector (two pins), and it is possible to connect and fit inside a tiny laptop speaker.
There is secondary 3.5mm “data output” next to the dial.
Internal battery in 2200 mAh (3.7V)
Works beautiful, and it is made to last (just needs protection over the screen).
Initial impressions. Received mine from Boris at Mobilmax today. I placed my order on Oct. 20, received it today Oct 28. Connected it to an outside antenna for a quick listen at 15:00 EST, was very impressed. My first mod was to add a wrap of GT-5000 grip tape (Amazon.com) to the tuning knob. Working on putting up a 64 ft end fed long wire antenna out the bedroom window, with a simple end fed wire antenna tuner (short article to follow). But for tonight I’ll be using the short extendable antenna. With TS Zeta headed our way here in NE TN I’ll see how it preforms.
Having built and purchased a number of SWL receivers over the years, the Belka DX may be (IMHO) the wholly grail of compact trail shortwave receivers.
Bummer. I received my Belka DSP just last week. The only new feature that I’m interested in is the dial lock, but I have a hardware idea for that. It’s an amazing little receiver.
I did the same, Al, but honestly? The Belka-DSP is pretty amazing as-is and I’ve no regrets. Worth every penny!
AL, not sure I misunderstood you but the dial can be locked by holding the Vol button for 2s (a lock symbol will appear in the display) on both models.
Thanks, I did not know that! I guess I’ve got everything I need, then. If I need any kind of spectral display, I’ll just fire up my HF+ Discovery.
You’ve got an HF+ Discover *and* a Belka-DSP? Al, you are in possession of DX greatness! 🙂
Thomas
Received mine yesterday. Short video here just looking through the settings. I had no idea a new version was on the way. I’m glad I didn’t order a few weeks ago! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm7WgsaCrGs
A bit disappointing that this upgrade happened literally a few days after I received my regular Belka-DSP radio. Can a firmware upgrade at the very least open up the extra frequencies and boost sensitivity? Please help Alex!
I dod the same, Paul. Honestly, though, I’m very happy with the Belka-DSP as-is. I’ll find out if the upgrade is worth it. I rarely used the frequencies at the lower end (save the bit between 1500-1700 kHz).
I’m in the same boat, Paul (well, plus a few weeks). However I bought the Belka for what it is – like Thomas I didn’t care much for anything below 3Mhz because 160m is not terribly interesting over here, just like the small portion of the AM band (on an external antenna that even kind of works with the Belka DSP).
I don’t have high hopes that the firmware can be upgraded easily (and by the user) and the sensitivity change down there may have required some hardware change as well. But the sensitivity doesn’t taper off very sharply below 3.5 MHz anyway, I find it really gets bad on the last bit (< 1800 kHz) only and the band noise down there is above the sensitivity threshold most of the time.
This is great! But……….Alex (The inventor, maker, manufacturer) also sells it on his own website in Belarus for $116 U.S. Mine was ordered on the 29th of September and is in customs in the U.S. On the 19th of October. Alex tells me that total time from ordering to my house can be anywhere from 14-30 days. Or, maybe get it from the other distributor for twice that amount. $116 is shipping included from Alex
Ah OK thanks, Ron! I’m not even sure why I was under the impression this gets cut in half too, maybe I confused that with my income and taxes, or I remembered my very short, very pricy and very underwhelming affair with an analog IQ output (Alinco scanner) wrong. 🙂
The mobimax website is apparently changing since this weekend with more details being added, the manual on berig.by is also not quite changed all the way yet, so that’s really in the making right now. Surprise, surprise. Would be interesting to see if and how the 1.5-3.5 MHz range was changed/improved. A module version sounds interesting, too.
The SDRUno screeshot symbolizing the IQ output is maybe a bit too enthusiastic 🙂 It says it’s an analog IQ output, so the visible portion of spectrum will be 1/2 of the sample rate, e.g. 24 kHz at 48 kHz SR and so on.
Nope, it’s correct, with IQ sampling at 48kHz sample rate the spectrum bandwidth will be 48kHz. Remember, IQ sampling takes twice as many samples – you’re sampling I (‘real’, amplitude, whateveryouwanttocallit) @ 48kHz _and_ Q (‘imaginary’, phase, whateverelseyouwanttocallit) @ 48kHz, capturing both amplitude and phase – and the upshot is you’re taking (the equivalent of) 2 ‘real’ samples per period, which Nyquist tells you is fine, and recoverable bandwidth = sample rate.