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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, John, for sharing this video review of the DX Patrol SDR receiver.
The reviewer gives the DX Patrol high marks on shortwave performance, but admits that there is a significant learning curve in terms of software installation and tweaking settings for performance.
At 79 € ($110 US) the DX Patrol is certainly an inexpensive wide band SDR. Unlike the $20 RTL-SDR dongles, the DX PAtrol requires no external up-convertor.
Cross Country Wireless have just released a HF Upconverter. This will allow HF or VHF SDR receivers such as the RTLSDR dongles, Funcube or our own SDR-4+ receiver to work on HF, LF and VLF.
Unlike other upconverters currently available we have added the RF protection features from our SDR-4+ receiver including an antenna isolation transformer and RF over-power protection. This protects the SDR receiver or dongle and the attached PC from damage caused by static electricity charges on the antenna or nearby high power transmitters.
There are two versions of the Upconverter. One has a 125 MHz local oscillator and the frequency range is 12 kHz to 45 MHz. This is intended for use with the RTLSDR and Funcube dongles.
The other version has a 10 MHz local oscillator and is designed for use with the SDR-4+. This has a frequency range of 12 kHz to 1.6 MHz.
Here are some of the specifications Cross Country Wireless has published for the HF Upconverter:
Technical data – 125 MHz version for RTLSDR and Funcube dongles
Frequency range: 12 kHz to 45 MHz
Input impedance: 50 ohms
IF rejection: > 60 dB
Local oscillator frequency: 125 MHz
Local oscillator level at antenna socket: < -50 dBm
Gain: -6 dB
RF connectors: SMA female
Power connector: USB B
Technical data – 10 MHz version for SDR-4+ receiver
Frequency range: 12 kHz to 1.6 MHz
Input impedance: 50 ohms
IF rejection: >100 dB
Local oscillator frequency: 10 MHz
Local oscillator level at antenna socket: < -60 dBm
“This is a video of a Cross Country Wireless HF Upconverter used with a CCW SDR-4+ receiver to listen to VLF and LF transmissions using a half wave dipole cut for the 80m amateur band.”
There are 20 second samples of the following stations:
BBC Radio 5 Live on 693 kHz AM
BBC Radio 4 on 198 kHz AM
GYN2 Skelton on 81 kHz FSK
MSF Anthorn on 60 kHz time signal
GQD Anthorn on 22.1 kHz Anthorn
GQD Anthorn on 19.6 kHz
This version of the Upcoverter uses a 10 MHz local oscillator so the frequency displayed is 10 MHz higher than that received i.e. 10.693 MHz = 0.693 MHz = 693 kHz.
