Re: [IRCA] Housing the RF-Space SDR-IQ

["Rob Moore" <rmoore5@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Colin,

My impressions during the past several weeks with the SDR-IQ haven't been
that bad.  It seems to be quite close to the R8B's performance.  To allow me
to make detailed comparisons between the R8B and the SDR-IQ, I've ordered a
Minicircuits Antenna splitter so I can connect one antenna to both radios at
once with equal signal levels.  I'll try to have some results in a week or
so.

Regards,
Rob


-----Original Message-----
From: cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:cafe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 9:17 AM
To: rmoore5@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Mailing list for the International Radio Club of
America; Patrick Martin; irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Housing the RF-Space SDR-IQ

> Hi Patrick,
> 
> I have an R8B but haven't made any detailed comprisons of sensitivity or
> selectivity between the SDR's and the R8B.  The SDR's all have the
> advantage of a visual view of the spectrum which allows you to see
> various station peaks, spurs, interference etc, and that is why I like
> them.  I will say that I have no complaints whatsoever with the
> sensitivity of any of them.

>From my 2 or 3 days worth of observations I feel that the
Drake R8 series of receivers is the clear winner.

In the numbers I think the Drakes have the typical 1.2 microvolt
sensitivity for a certain level of signal -- and the SDR-IQ is more
like 3 to 4 microvolts.

I plugged both "receivers" into the same antennas and noted:

-The SDR-IQ is easily overloaded. The Drake R8 is most certainly NOT easily
overloaded.
-The Drake R8 consistently out-performed the SDR-IQ with my peculiar set-up.

I think if you were in the country and had a long-wire antenna and
were far enough away from any MW transmitters - and could feed lots of
signal to the SDR-IQ, it would be a mighty impressive tool.

In the urban environment, there are some compromises with the
unit (SDR-IQ) and quick relief is achieved with a traditional radio
like the R8 series.
Even in the few days I had the SDR-IQ, the Eton E1 coped and performed
better in my listening environment.



--
Colin Newell - Editor/Creator coffeecrew.com | dxer.ca
Web-Design / E-Commerce / Writing
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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