Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Paul Evans, who passes along the following tips:
Circuit Specialists have started Black Friday, but only 10% off everything.
The code fer Circuit Specialists is CYBER2020
at checkout…10% off everything until midnight Monday.
There’s also a raffle for free 100MHz 2x DSOs and some pen style 25MHz
DSOs fer each purchase made during the time of the sale.
Click here to browse Circuit Specialists online.
Yaesu have $800 off the FTDX101D ($3050 instead of $3850!) inc. free shipping, of
course.
Check out FTDX101D pricing at Gigaparts, DX Engineering, and Ham Radio Outlet.
Thank you for the tips, Paul. Wow–if I had the funds, I would jump on the FTDX101D! Could Father Christmas be that generous–? One can dream! 🙂
“why can’t they decode digital signals.”
Because…
“Equipment of this cost an complexity are trying to get clear sound from weak signals”
😉
…how good is this trans for general coverage? Too bad that in Canada, it costs $7,0000 CDN….!
This transceiver like many new products use the Software Designed Receiver technology. Equipment of this cost an complexity are trying to get clear sound from weak signals why can’t they decode digital signals. Digital Radio Mondiale receivers ignore all the interference and can even give stereo sound. Why don’t they buy the software and add it to the existing software they have designed to run the receiver?
The FTDX101D is a ham radio transceiver and DRM isn’t a mode used in the world of ham radio. There are a number of digital voice modes (D-Star, DMR, System Fusion), but they’re not as effective as analog modes on the HF bands. There are a number of D-Star HF nets, but few HF radios can transmit D-Star on HF (save a few Icom radios like the recent IC-705).
In general, though? Digital voice modes just don’t give the user the reliability and distance per watt as analog modes yet.
It seems quite rare in my experience, but I have stumbled across FreeDV on amatuer HF bands.
https://freedv.org/
Not sure I would want to listen to its current lowest-bandwidth 700D mode all day in its current form, but it is more “efficient” than analog SSB; technically of course.
http://www.rowetel.com/?p=6103
Thanks, Robert. I’ve seen FreeDV before, but have never used it. The audio in the second link is pretty impressive. It can be challenging for digital voice modes to handle QSB on the HF bands. The interesting thing to me is I’ve been an analog listener for so much of my life, it’s easier for me to pull a voice out of a weak and fading SSB signal that a digital signal that is experiencing the “R2D2” effect from dropped data. I’m sure for some, it’s the opposite.
Similar thoughts. I generally would prefer a weak-signal SSB copy than highly-compressed digital audio with compression artifacts, clipping, fallouts, etc. as well.
That said the FreeDV devs like pushing the envelope for an open source codec. Codec 2 already was demo’d as low as 450bps a couple of years ago, and now they are looking into VQ-VAE tech.