Tag Archives: Portable SDR

The Siru Innovatios SDR20 adds new features

LondonShortwave: “Scanning the skies”

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, LondonShortwave, who shared (via Twitter) this video with recordings made with his portable SDR in a London park:

Brilliant recordings, LS, and amazingly QRM-free!

You can follow LondonShortwave on his blog and via Twitter.

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The Siru Innovatios SDR20 multi-touch portable SDR

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A few weeks ago, at the Four Days In May conference (held alongside the Dayton Hamvention) I met Jarkko Mäkivaara from the Finnish company Siru.

Jarkko was demonstrating the SDR20: a radio that immediately grabbed my attention from across the room. The SDR20 is a fully portable, robust, multi-touch portable SDR transceiver.

The screen on the SDR20 is as responsive as an iPad and fully developed around SDR functionality. While Jarkko didn’t have an HF signal of any sort inside the hotel convention room, I was able to play with the interface a bit, which I found rather intuitive.

(Source: Siru)

The SDR20’s product brochure lists some of its features:

2-channel transceiver operation
Two methodologies for implementation: IQ Mod / Demod and Direct Down and Direct Up (DDC, DUC) conversion
Up to 200MHz bandwidth per channel
100mW transmit power. Higly efficient 1kW exciter available separately.
Frequency range covers DC to 2.5 GHz
State of the art Altera Cyclone SOC-FPGA (Including dual-ARM9 Cortex)
Graphics Prosessor accelerated Multi-Touch screen with a slick user interface
GNURadio, C++ API/Python, VHDL/Verilog/High Level Synthesis sandbox
High-speed ethernet interface for computer connection
Internal clock 20 PPS
Coherent operation with external clock source (GPS, Rubidium etc.)
Rugged and stylish enclosure / Rack mount

Of course, the SDR20 is truly designed for industrial and government/military applications, thus it carries a price tag reflective of those markets: €3,395.00 (about $3,800 USD).

Still, seeing the SDR20 gives me hope that multi-touch, portable SDRs will become more commonplace as capacitive screens, processors, DSP chips and solid state storage continue to decline in price. Indeed, I wouldn’t be surprised if Siru is able to lower the price on future iterations of their portable SDR line.

If you would like to take a look at some of the SDR20’s specifications, check out this PDF product sheet and the video embedded below. Of course, you’ll find even more information and updates on Siru’s website. The SDR20 has shipped to Beta testers and should begin full production in the fall.

https://vimeo.com/122629896

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London Shortwave updates his portable SDR

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SWLing Post contributor, London Shortwave, has updated his portable SDR setup to achieve a lower noise floor by implementing a Wellbrook UMB130 balun.

Click here to read his post.

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An inexpensive Windows tablet for portable SDRs?

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I’ve never been a fan of tablet PCs. I have an old Android tablet that I occasionally use to watch Netflix and read eBooks, but when I want to interact with a computer, I typically want the convenience of a proper keyboard and the precision of a mouse or large track pad.

With that said, this year at the Winter SWL Fest, I was co-host of a forum called: “Time Travel, Teleportation & Spectrum Hoarding for the Contemporary DXer.” My good friend and co-host, Mark Fahey brought his Windows tablet PC and we used it to demonstrate how easily and effectively SDRs can be taken to the field and spectrum recordings can be reviewed practically anywhere. Indeed, Mark tunes through his spectrum recordings while taking the train to work! (How cool is that!?!)

This week, I reviewed a guest post about portable SDRs by London Shortwave; afterward, I decided that I must begin the search for a Windows tablet. Since I would only use this tablet for portable SDR work, I really want to keep it as affordable as possible ($200 US or less).

It appears to me that there are a few things that you must overcome in a portable SDR package including: mitigating internal noise produced by the tablet and accessories, and the ability to power the tablet and the SDR at the same time.

Windows Tablet Wishlist:

Inexpensive (less than $200)
Enough speed and memory to run SDR applications and record spectrum to an internal SD card or external portable drive
Separate USB and power ports or the ability to power both the tablet and SDR at the same time

My choices so far:

Readers: Your recommendations and advice are most welcome! Please comment especially if you have experience using tablet/SDR combos.

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Video: Controlling the Elad FDM-S2 SDR with the HP Stream 7 tablet

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Guy Atkins, who shares the following video demonstrating how the Elad FDM-S2 can be controlled with the $99 HP Stream 7 Windows 8.1 tablet PC:

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Using the Elad FDM-S2 on the $99 HP Stream 7 tablet

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The HP Stream 7 Windows 8.1 tablet

Regarding the Elad FDM-S2, Guy Atkins comments:

“This week I bought an HP Stream 7 tablet from the local Microsoft Store for $99, and it runs my Elad FDM-S2 receiver great! This recently introduced tablet is the perhaps the lowest priced new computer with Windows 8.1. I can even record the entire MW band, and play back the WAV files without audio stuttering. CPU load is an impressive 11-12%. Once you add a small OTG USB adapter you can plug in a USB hub and attach a wireless mouse receiver, the SDR’s cable, and other stuff. I was recording to a micro SD card (the slot is a bit of a pain, as you need to remove the back cover of the tablet. Recording to a USB external HD or SSD may also work). I also had an AC adapter powering the USB hub, as the tablet’s micro USB port cannot supply enough current for the Elad SDR.

This will be a neat, very portable setup for camping DXpeditions and when I want to take the SDR right to the termination of a phased loop array antenna for adjusting nulls. I do that now, but it’s more of a hassle with a regular laptop.

I presume I’ll be able to run the Afedri SDR-Net in “LAN mode” also but I’ll need to attach a USB-to-LAN adapter to the tablet first. A LAN rather than a USB connection is required for this particular SDR to have the bandwidth to handle all of medium wave at once.

Here’s a review of the 7-inch, Win 8.1 tablet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoPNzx8bcVQ. Also, when you buy it for $99 USD it includes a one-year subscription to MS Office 365, that can be used on two different devices. That’s worth $70 in itself.”

Wow–thanks so much for sharing this, Guy.

I’m very impressed you can record the entire MW band to an SD card and playback without stuttering. The quad core Atom processor must have enough horsepower to cope with the incoming data.

This setup would be ideal for field recording then taking the SD card back to the PC for analyzing later on a larger screen.

As you use this set-up, Guy, please keep us informed about any tips or quirks you discover along the way!

I found the Stream 7 at the following places online:

Update: Check out Guy’s video demonstration of the Stream 7/FDM-S2 combo.

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