Category Archives: Radios

SDR# now has AM synchronous detection

SWLing Post reader, London Shortwave writes with a remarkable story about the free SDR application, SDR#(or, “SDR sharp”). He writes:

“Two days ago, I emailed Youssef (SDR# developer lead) to ask if he would consider adding synchronous AM detection to his software at some point.

To my great surprise he e-mailed me back the same day and told me that it wouldn’t take him long to write the necessary code. A few hours later he sent me a preview copy of the software with the feature included (all I had to do was to swap one .dll file in the version I had installed at the time). The following day, he integrated it into the latest release!

With the new sync detector the software is rapidly becoming my favourite SDR application.

Here’s a demo video I made for Youssef (and everyone else!) to show how I’ve been getting on with it:

This is amazing–what’s especially impressive is that a first iteration of AM sync should be so well implemented. I love the way you can use the IF shift to block out interference within a sideband, much like USB/LSB selectable sideband. There are paid and OEM SDR applications that can’t do this.

London Shortwave: you’ve convinced me to see if SDR# will drive any of my receivers. Many thanks!

Chris suggests installing a shortwave receiver in your car

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On the topic of shortwave radios in automobiles, SWLing Post reader, Chris, writes:

“Seven years ago, I purchased a Sony Car Stereo with a Shortwave receiver from the Shortwave Store in Canada. It works remarkably well especially on those summer trips to Northern Wisconsin and Michigan when I can get away from the city noise. Last summer while driving from Chicago to Copper Harbor Michigan (a 10 hour drive) I listened to Radio Australia, Radio New Zealand, Radio Havana Cuba, Radio Exterior Espana and the BBC (Ascension). It certainly made a long drive more enjoyable.

Below is a video I took last night of a relatively weak signal of Radio Exterior Espana (due to local electrical noise and weather) then followed by a nice strong signal of Radio Romania. The signals were recorded next to Lake Michigan in Chicago.

If you can’t afford a BMW with a Shortwave receiver or you don’t have an appetite for a Smart Car you can always install a receiver easily found for sale on Ebay.”

Click here to view the Pioneer DEH-X2650UI Shortwave Car Auto Radio on eBay.

Of course, the receiver is only as good as its antenna. Chris admits that, “the [radio] installation was a hassle and I had to install an aerial whip antenna (which required drilling).” Obviously, your investment in the whip antenna is paying off, Chris. I’m impressed.

Resources:

I have created an eBay search string to search for shortwave car radios: Click here to search eBay for a mobile shortwave radio.

You can also search for the Pioneer DEH-X2650UI Chris suggested by clicking here.

Maplin stocks the Tecsun PL-660

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If you live near a Maplin retail store in the UK you’ll be happy to note that they now sell the excellent Tecsun PL-660 portable radio.

Many thanks to London Shortwave who snapped the above shot in his local Maplin store. He notes/tweets: “though it’s a lot more expensive [at 99 GBP] than buying on eBay, [it] shows that the radio now has mainstream recognition.”

Dates of availability for new Etón shortwave radios…

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Several SWLing Post readers have been asking about the availability of the new Etón shortwave radio product line.

I’m pleased to report that I can confirm these availability dates for retailers, suggesting that these Etón units may be ready to ship on these dates:

Etón Mini 400: July 14, 2014 ($39 US)
Etón Field: July 21, 2014 ($129 US)
Etón Traveller III: September 8, 2014 ($59 US)
Etón Satellit: September 15, 2014 ($199 US)

Testing SDR#’s noise reduction in a London park

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Yesterday, SWLing Post reader London Shortwave took his laptop, FunCube Dongle Pro+, and 6 meter long wire antenna to a local park where he tested SDR#‘s new IF noise reduction.

He made the following screencast/video where he toggles the IF noise reduction feature while receiving the BBC World Service’s Pashto language service on shortwave:

Most impressive! Indeed, I believe SDR#’s noise reduction might rival that of OEM applications. While I’m not the biggest fan of noise reduction for everyday use (due to inherent digital artifacts) it is a valuable tool when noise levels are high.

Click here to follow @LondonShortwave on Twitter.

If you would like to experiment with SDR#, click here to download your free copy. SDR# has a number of additional plugins and dedicated users/developers who communicate via this this Yahoo! Group.

Many thanks to @LondonShortwave.

Any other readers using SDR#? Please comment.

Shortwave Radio Recordings: the Voice of Greece, one year on

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Last night, while learning the ropes of the new Elad FDM-S2, I noticed some great music on 9,420 kHz, the former Voice of Greece frequency.

GREECE-ECONOMY-MEDIA It was then that I realized yesterday (June 11) marked the one year anniversary of the day that the Greek government shut down ERT and the Voice of Greece. If interested, click here for some audio I recorded that very night.

Amazingly, one year later, 9,420 kHz is still active out of the Avlis transmitter site and last night, the Radio Station of Macedonia (a.k.a., ERT 3) was playing an excellent mix of Greek music and jazz.

Click here to listen to the 51 minute recording, made with the Elad FDM-S2 software defined receiver, starting at 00:50 UTC:

You’ll note great audio fidelity and a low noise floor despite the numerous static crashes present from area thunderstorms. (Note that I did not have DSP noise reduction nor the noise blanker engaged.) I started the recording in standard AM mode, then changed it to AM synchronous detection between songs in the first half of the recording.

The Elad FDM-S2 SDR: Unboxing, installing, and a first recording

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At the Dayton Hamvention last month, I made a point to check out the Italian radio manufacturer, Elad. Though I’ve known about Elad for some time, I hadn’t investigated their offerings yet simply because I was under the impression they only sold and warrantied their equipment within Europe. Fortunately, Elad has begun supporting and shipping their products within the US, via their division Elad-USA.

The Elad USA table at the 2014 Dayton Hamvention

Elad’s booth was one of the first stops I made at the Hamvention; I met with their representatives there, who answered my many questions. While Elad is soon to release their flagship tabletop SDR transceiver (the FDM-DUO, see below), I was more interested in their flagship receiver, the FDM-S2–which really impressed me during their demo.

The FDM-DUO attracted a lot of attention at the Elad booth.

The FDM-DUO attracted many visitors at the Elad booth.

Yesterday, I unpacked a loaner FDM-S2 Elad sent for review; this review will be published first in The Spectrum Monitor magazine, and following, here on the SWLing Post. While it will take some time to piece together a full review for TSM, I thought I would periodically post recordings (and note FDM-S2 features) I discover along the way…

Unboxing the FDM-S2

Being a receiver with a small footprint (a major plus, in my world), the FDM-S2 comes in a small box (measuring only 6.5 x 5.5 x 2 inches).

Contents of the box are few and simple: the FDM-S2 receiver, a black cloth carrying bag, and a 4GB USB drive with installation software and documentation. A standard USB cable was also included in the shipping box.

FDM-S2-Box-Contents

The FDM-S2 metal enclosure is beautifully engineered, and feels of excellent quality in my hands.

Installation

I found installation of the Elad FDM-S2 to be fairly straightforward. However, I would encourage you to follow the included guide, since installation is a two-step process:

First, you install a C++ package on your Windows PC which, when complete, triggers the actual Elad software installation: this is a two-part installation that you only initiate once.
Secondly, you install the USB driver for the FDM-S2, found in the installation folder of the supplied software. At time of posting, the USB driver cannot be automatically discovered and installed by your PC; you must initiate the installation via the device manager. However, this is very easy: the guide takes you through the process step-by-step.

On the back of the FDM-S2 you'll find an HF and VHF SMA antenna ports, a USB port, serial interface, and on/off switch.

On the back of the FDM-S2 you’ll find HF and VHF (SMA) antenna ports, a USB port, serial interface, and on/off switch.

The FDM-S2 derives its power from the same USB cable that is used for data, no separate external power supply required–a huge plus, for those of us who like to travel.

Once I installed the software and driver, I hooked up my antenna to the HF SMA connector on the back, turned on the FDM-S2, and launched the application. The FDM-S2 clicked to life, and the application ran on the first go: very nice!

I spent a good hour or so familiarizing myself with the Elad software yesterday evening. It’s quite a departure from the WinRadio Excalibur and Microtelecom Perseus applications with which I’m most familiar. Nonetheless, while I’m still learning how to adjust the spectrum bandwidth (which can be a full 6 MHz wide!) plus manage the four virtual receivers, I found I was able to do quite a bit of band-scanning.

In fact, I noticed some great music on 9,420 kHz, the former Voice of Greece frequency:

FDM-S2-Waterfall

I initiated my very first AF recording on the FDM-S2 (see screen capture above). The process was quite simple and I’m very happy with the level of customization Elad affords in its software; indeed, I can set the file name to automatically note the frequency, time, date and mode.

Click here to listen to that recording in the recent post, The Voice of Greece, one year on.

Day One with the FDM-S2? So far, so good. The Elad application is very customizable, hence has a higher learning curve than SDR applications I’ve used in the past. Thus I’ll need to log quite a few hours on the FDM-S2 before I can say that I’m proficient.

Readers: Have you had experience with the FDM-S2? Any hints or suggestions? Please comment–!