{"id":41854,"date":"2020-02-04T10:08:02","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T14:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=41854"},"modified":"2020-02-04T10:08:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T14:08:02","slug":"dans-initial-review-of-the-belka-dsp-portable-shortwave-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/dans-initial-review-of-the-belka-dsp-portable-shortwave-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan’s initial review of the Belka-DSP portable shortwave radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares the following guest post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

An Initial Review of the Belka-DSP Shortwave Receiver<\/h1>\n

by Dan Robinson<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, during daily online excursions, I ran across the Belka-DSP receiver. \u00a0 This is not really a new receiver. Demonstrations have appeared on You Tube going back into 2019.<\/p>\n

The Belka has a price of only about $120 U.S. I felt this was a fairly easy purchase, so I went to the website of Alex Buevky (EU1ME)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The receiver has a tuning range of 1.5 \u2013 30 MHz \u2013 note that this is a revision from the description on the Belrig site, which still had a range starting at 3.5 mhz as of the time I am writing this.<\/p>\n

The Belka is contained in a small heavy duty metal box \u2013 the size reminds one of a few boxes of matches put together \u2013 85x50x20 mm with weight of about 100 grams.\u00a0 Indeed, the diminutive size is quite striking.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Viewing videos of the Belka, including several by Fernando Duarte who runs the FENU site<\/a>, the immediate impression of the receiver is that it has really decent sensitivity and that it is quiet.<\/p>\n

While the menu system appears to be a bit confusing, once you start using the receiver you get used to the logic of it. \u00a0 From the description of the SDR:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is possible to adjust the frequency band both from above, from 2.4 to 4.7 kHz, and from below from 50 to 300 Hz.\u00a0 In telegraph mode, the frequency band is constant, about 300 Hz, and its center is regulated from 500 Hz to 1 kHz.<\/p>\n

The settings of the favorite radio stations can be stored in any of 32 memory locations.<\/p>\n

The receiver does not have a built-in speaker, but there is a rather powerful VLF bridge that provides sufficient volume when working with an external speaker, speaker or headphones.<\/p>\n

The built-in LI-Ion battery lasts for 24 hours of total operating time on the headphones.<\/p>\n

In addition to the built-in battery, the receiver can also work from an external DC voltage source of 5 V.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Belrig site is English and Russian, which makes ordering easier.\u00a0 However, be aware that when you hit purchase using a major credit card you may receive a security alert from the card company. \u00a0 Once I confirmed, the process completed and I received a verification email from Belrig \u2013 quite quickly and efficient.<\/p>\n

Communications with Alex has been excellent \u2013 he is very responsive to suggestions and input.<\/p>\n

The SDR arrived in an excellent small heavy cardboard box wrapped with the typical packing tape for the Belarus postal system.\u00a0 The receiver itself and a telescopic antenna with BNC connector were wrapped in bubble wrap. No paper instructions \u2013 those are available directly at the Belrig site [click here to download PDF manual<\/a>].<\/p>\n

The only other item on the Belrig site is a Panoramic Adapter:<\/p>\n

\u201cdesigned for use as part of a radio receiving path of a transceiver\/receiver jointly with a personal computer (PC) and SDR software\u201d according to Belrig.\u00a0 This Pan@SDR \u201callows you to visually see the RF spectrum in a band up to 200 kHz as well as to receive and decode different modulation types (depending on a software type). . . [and] may be used without a transceiver as SDR-receiver with fixed oscillator (similarly to SoftRock RX), for example, to listen to amateur and broadcasting stations, to decode and to record telegraph stations with CW skimmer, to control signal quality, to calibrate frequency. It may be used as well as a selective millivoltmeter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An unboxing video of the Belrig SDR can be seen here:<\/p>\n