Monthly Archives: September 2021

Malahit DSP-2 versus Chinese Clone: Taking the Gloves Off

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, for the following guest post:

Malahit 2 versus Chinese Clone: Taking the Gloves Off

New DDC (Direct Digital Conversion) Version in Development

by Dan Robinson

It’s been a few weeks since my last commentary on the Malahit/Malachite, which as of this writing remains at the DSP-2 level, though there are continuing hints from the Malahiteam in Russia about future changes, including a DDC version.

All of the observations I made in previous articles are unchanged. As of today in mid-September, the latest test firmware version posted by the Malahiteam remains M2_FW2_10D. This includes a widening of the waterfall bandwidth from 160 kHz to 192 kHz. See my previous articles for more information.

Recently, I obtained a Chinese clone, one which will be familiar to anyone who has taken a dive into the clone market. This one is by HFDY and is immediately recognizable for its front speaker and longer slim rectangular form factor.

The HFDY (Malahit SDR V 3) has two high quality black metal encoder knobs on the right, with a large power button between, and USB-C and a headphone jack on the left side. On the bottom are two OFF/ON slide switches, one marked for 3.3 volts and the other BOOT(O).

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Radio Waves: Is the Titus II Still Alive, Navajo Broadcasters Make History, Portalo Stranah, and R.I.P. Sir Clive Sinclair

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Radio Waves: Stories Making Waves in the World of Radio

Because I keep my ear to the waves, as well as receive many tips from others who do the same, I find myself privy to radio-related stories that might interest SWLing Post readers. To that end: Welcome to the SWLing Post’s Radio Waves, a collection of links to interesting stories making waves in the world of radio. Enjoy!

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributors Dennis Dura, Zarpo, Maxime, and the Southgate ARC for the following tips:

Is the Titus II portable Android tablet shortwave SDR close to release? (RTL-SDR)

The PatronX Titus II SDR is something we’ve been posting about several times since 2016, but in the end it was never released and assumed to be vaporware. However, we found that the website for the Titus II SDR was updated only a few weeks ago, and pricing details have been added advertising $120 and $150 for two versions of the product. But on the new website there is no store, just an email link to contact sales for ordering information. We contacted that email two weeks ago for more information but have not received a reply back yet.

The PantronX Titus II was advertised to be a portable Android tablet based SDR that would feature a 100 kHz – 2 GHz tuning range, and software that focuses on HF digital DRM decoding, as well as DAB on VHF. Computer rendered images show the tablet housed in a portable carry enclosure with two speakers. [Continue reading…]

Two Navajo broadcasters make history announcing D1 college football game in Navajo language (KRQE)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Two men from the Navajo Nation made history at Saturday’s Rio Grande Rivalry game, with a first-of-its-kind radio broadcast in Albuquerque. For the first time ever, two men from the Navajo Nation announced a D-1 college football game in the Navajo Language.

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Mark’s Malahit DSP-2 notes

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mark, who recently shared the following comments in response to Dan Robinson’s excellent Malahit DSP-2 review series. Mark writes:

I’ve been playing with my new Malachit for a week now and I am very impressed. It’s got a superb receiver and last night I was pulling in several South American stations using the absolutely amazing Bonito MA305 with the longer whip, not the stock one, it’s around 30 feet up in a tree using H155 coax grounded at the base of the tree, this antenna really blows me away. Some of these stations are only 1Kw and the little Bonito was pulling them in very well indeed. I am in the country so have a very low noise floor and QTH is Ireland.

Yes I do have to turn the RF gain to 0 and use around 20db attenuation on Longwave but I know what I should be receiving here in Ireland on LW and by using attenuation it has no negative effect on LW. I do have a strong enough LW transmitter around 45-50 miles away which is probably having an effect here but if I compare it to my Tecsun PL-990x the Malahit completely obliterated the 990x on LW even with the attenuation on the 990x. Its performance on LW with external antenna is very poor even using one of the hidden features by Press and hold the [ 3 ] key for about 2 seconds, this does make a notable improvement to the 990x on LW and MW but the Malahit completely obliterates it on LW and External antenna. Of course the Malahit has no internal ferrite so without external antenna you won’t receive anything on LW or MW.

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Check out the new scheduler functionality in SDRuno V1.41

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Many thanks to Jon Hudson with SDRplay who shares the following information about the latest release of SDRuno on the SDRplay blog:

Try out the new features in SDRuno V1.41 released today

SDRuno V1.41 was fully released today. It includes the much requested full scheduler facility which allows you to set up numerous recording events for your RSP. As well as providing all the expected calendar options (time of day, date, start and stop times, repeating options and so on), you can also set the ‘profile’ for each recording – this allows you to pre-set frequencies, bandwidths, demodulator options (AM/FM/USB/LSB etc.), choice of filters and antenna port selection. Additionally you can choose the settings for connectivity to other third party software or the running of a specific plugin.

Added
• New Scheduler panel which replaces the old “Recorder” panel (launch using the SCHEDULER button in the main panel).
• A new autolayout to include the scheduler (for screen resolutions of 1920×1080 and above).
• Backup and Restore of the ini file settings (access via the main panel OPT menu)
• Screenshot button has been added to the SP1 title bar
• IQ wav files can now be used in plugins
Changed
• Autolayouts now take account of the taskbar location and size.
• Autolayouts have been improved to take account of higher resolutions.
• Saved workspace notification moved to the status bar.
• Memory Panel will now prompt to save any changes made when switching to another memory
bank.
Fixed
• Decimation and the LOLOCK state are now correctly saved and recalled within a profile.
• Main panel version tooltip now displays correct information.
• The step size could be set incorrectly when using non-FM modes and pressing any of the FM sub
mode buttons.
• ADS-B/DAB mode now handles when in both band-framed mode and also when the LO is locked.
• Bugs associated with wav file playback
• When loading a profile, the last used memory bank field will update correctly
• Saving a profile will now update the displayed loaded profile field correctly
Known Issues
• SP2 CWAFC drift issue (Zoom/window size/freq display)
• IF output mode disabled SP1 spectrum mouse clicks
• Occasionally if SDRuno is closed whilst a plugin is still running, it may not close properly. This may
necessitate a PC reboot to fix it.

You can find this latest version of SDRuno on our downloads system :https://www.sdrplay.com/downloads

Click here to continue reading this post on SDRplay’s website which also includes a number of tutorial videos.

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Dean recommends KM4MPF Sales

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dean Bianco, who writes:

I have purchased another C Crane SSB Skywave brand-new from an on-line retailer called KM4MPF Sales On-Line Store out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. [I paid a] discounted price of $149.99 vs the $169.99 price charged by C Crane direct. […] I feel not enough listeners would be aware of the significant discount of this fine, but normally pricey receiver. C Crane still earns money in the process, so it is a guilt-free decision to buy from the Tennessee company I would think.

Click here to check out KM4MPF’s selection of radios.

Thank you for sharing this, Dean! I know I have seen KM4MPF at local hamfests in the past. He has a great inventory of radios. Thanks for the tip!

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“Anatomy of a Field Radio Kit” series on QRPer.com

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If interested, I’ve now published both parts of my Anatomy of a Field Radio Kit series over on QRPer.com. This series was originally featured in the June and July 2021 issues of The Spectrum Monitor magazine. Here are links to both articles:

These articles primarily focuses on portable amateur radio field kits, but many of the concepts are ones I also use for my field portable receiving setups like this one.

I hope you enjoy!

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