SDR-14 first impressions

Finally it arrived safe and sound at my QTH. After some initial problems with the installation of the software(I forgot to install the USB driver) I fired up the beast. My good friend Ove (OFL) installed the trial version of SpectraVue and we had contact over Skype figuring out a lot of the functions together.

I must say I am plesently surprised but there are a few things, thus far, that I don't like.

The GUI looks like it belongs in the early 90's! The old-style Windows looks like c**p. When you change the setting of the spectrum it seems to live it's own life, sometimes increasing in frequency and sometimes decreasing with no apparent logic. I would like a button in each pop-up window for updating the settings-file. The reason for this is the fact that there is a large amount of different setting that can be made and if you forget to update the settings-file and close down the programme, well tough luck....
The file size is limited by the amount of GB. I would prefer to limit the file size by specifying a time, but that's just me.
When I replayed a recording the spectrum was not the same as when I made the recording! I hope this is just a matter of setting it up correctly and not a "feature". I have not had the time to investigate this further but I will do that tomorrow.

But there are a lot of GREAT things with this machine.
The spectrum analyzer is very good with no apparent lag.
I also like the fact that you can listen to two frequencies at the same time, one in the right channel and one in the left . They can be independently tuned, within the chosen spectrum, by the click of a button.
Recording straight onto a external hard disc is also a plus, no need to fill the internal hard disc with recordings.
Transfer of station id's to a separate .wav-file is also very easy even if I would prefer .mp3-files, but I don't regard this as a big problem.

It's getting late and I have laundry to take care of so I'll finish here.

KKEE Astoria OR 1230

The PD verified my 5 October reception of the station with a short email. Nice to get this one. I have heard it a couple of times before, unfortunately with rather weak signal. On the PAX63 expedition I managed to get a really good recording of the full-hour id.

KSDP verification and SDR-14

A letter from 830 KSDP Sand Point AK arrived today confirming my PAX54 reception of the station.
I have been informed by UPS that the SDR will be delivered tomorrow. I have purchased an 250GB external harddrive an a external soundcard. On Thursday I will travel to Parkalompolo to join the PAX64 expedition to try out my new receiver.

Not quite finished....

As I was going through my logbook I found a small note next to the date 4 October and frequency 760 KHz saying "Check this one". I had earlier missed it and when I listened to the recording I heard a spanish speaking station which I was unable to identify. I heard lots of "doble O" ,"noticias" and other stuff but could not make sense of it all.
Yet again HK came to the rescue. I sent the recording to him and after about 30 minutes the answer was in my mailbox. HK identified the station as WORA "Notiuno" Mayagüez PR. This was a really nice surprise and think that I almost overlooked it!
With this nice logging I close the books on PAX63. Now it is just the small matter of sending the reception reports. I'll post as soon as there is any progress.

Reception reports and SDR-14

I have started sending out the reception reports from the PAX63 expedition. The first one was KHNC 1360. The first time I heard the station was on PAX47 but I did not get a reply so I will try again and hope for better luck.

Today I also ordered a new receiver. The choice fell on the SDR-14 from RFSpace which seems to be the latest craze. I guess it will be about two weeks before this dx-machine arrives at my home and I can hardly wait. Reports from fellow dx-ers are positive. According to them there are almost to be no drawbacks with this gadget, but I will try it out and only after that will I know what it is capable of. If the receiver even comes close to my modified NRD-515 I will be a happy camper.

PAX63 finalized

I got a very prompt answer from HK on my question regarding the unidentified spanish speaking station on 840. Henrik listened to the recording and told me that I had heard CMHW Doblevé, Santa Clara from Cuba.
This means that my log from the PAX63 expedition is complete.

http://hem.bredband.net/sm2tcx/Pax63_Final_Logg.rtf

Note! Stations in bold will receive a reception report from me.

Now I will enjoy the rest of my weekend doing things not related to radio.

PAX63 update

As expected I did not find much in the remaining recordings, only two stations from Puerto Rico.

1480 WMDD Radio Tropical, Fajardo
1660 WGIT RadioVoz/Gigante, Canóvanas

I have one more spanish speaking station on 840 to solve but I will send the recording to my good friend HK and I'm positive that he will be able to positively identify that one.

The mailman came by today

A friendly letter from the CE at KOMO 1000 Seattle arrived today verifying my PAX54 reception of the station. I am very happy to get this one as I have sent a number of reports to the station without any reaction until now.

PAX63 continued

I've been working hard reviewing the recordings since yesterday and I have about 2-3 hours worth of recordings left to check. I don't expect to find much of interest on the remaining recordings but then again you never know.
The new one's I found are:

1400 KART Jerome ID
1460 KUTI Yakima WA
1460 WDDY Albany NY

I have somewhere in the vicinity of 35 reception reports at this stage. Just to be sure I will review all the recordings of the identified stations once again to make sure that the recordings are of good enough quality. After that I will know exactly how many reception reports I will send out. I have already sent one out and got it verified. 1700 XEPE Tecate BCN verified my reception report via email. My first and probably last mexican as my interest in mexicans is lukewarm at best.

PAX63

About a week ago I returned from the PAX63 expedition. Propagation was fair the first days, then useless for a couple of days and really good at the end. This week I have been checking recordings and have found a few new stations unheard by me before:
1270 KIML Gilette WY
1280 WTTC Minneapolis MN
1280 CHQB Powell River BC
1310 KZXR Prosser WA
1400 KBCK Deer Lodge MT

The complete log will be published at http://www.furuogrund.se/pax/PAX/pax.htm

I'll keep you posted of any new findings in the coming days.

These are the stations I have noted so far: http://hem.bredband.net/sm2tcx/Pax63_Total_Logg.rtf

Welcome to my very own Blog!

In this blog I will write about my radio hobby. Hopefully I will manage to post relative regularly, but there are times when the radio hobby has to stand back for my other hobbies.