Re: [IRCA] [NRC-AM] Reviewing SDR DX

[Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>]

The past several years, I've done more FM than AM DX'ing. For FM E skip, I record
multiple channels 24/7 ( also using TR ). So if there's an opening that lasts, say 3 
hours, and I'm running 8 receivers, that's 24 hours of recordings. And often skip 
openings are spotty and can go longer. There were a couple of openings last year
where I ended up with 50+ hours, and they came as part of a multi-day period of
skip. It can take weeks to go through that. With an SDR, that would never happen,
so I'd rather not have recordings that I can't get to sitting there and tempting me.

For AM, however, if I get to a point where the 2010's are no longer maintainable,
I'll have to make some kind of a decision.

Russ Edmunds
15 mi NNW of Philadelphia  
Grid FN20id
<wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>

AM:  Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot
FM: Yamaha T-80 & T-85, each w/ Conrad RDS Decoder; 
Onkyo T-450RDS; Tecsun PL-310 ( 2);
modified Sony ICF2010 w/APS9B @ 15'; 
Grundig G8 w/whip; modified Sony ICF2010 w/whip

--------------------------------------------
On Sat, 1/11/14, Les Rayburn <les@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

 Subject: Re: [NRC-AM] Reviewing SDR DX
 To: "Russ Edmunds" <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>, "am@xxxxxxxxxxx" <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>, "irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 Date: Saturday, January 11, 2014, 12:44 PM
 
 Best advice I've got so far was an
 off-list reply that said:
 
 
 Spent less time writing to, and reading responses from
 e-mail lists devoted to your hobbies.
 
 :-)
 
 Russ's is a close second. SDR's may simply be too much of a
 good thing. I remember a few years ago when I used "Total
 Recorder" to record TOH ID's on a single channel. I reviewed
 these during my half hour long commute to work in the
 morning, and again while driving home in the evening. Even
 then, I often couldn't get through an entire night's
 recordings.
 
 SDR's have just magnified the problem. Plus my SDR-IQ is a
 great, but not quite the performer that my old Drake R8-B
 was. And it's difficult to use an SDR with a phaser, because
 of the small latency issues. It makes it difficult to adjust
 for the best null.
 
 73,
 
 Les N1LF
 
 
 
 On 1/11/2014 11:18 AM, Russ Edmunds wrote:
 > So far, despite the obvious temptation, my strategy has
 been to resist getting an SDR.
 > 
 > :-}
 > 
 > Russ Edmunds
 > 15 mi NNW of Philadelphia
 > Grid FN20id
 > <wb2bjh@xxxxxxxxx>
 > 
 > AM:  Modified Sony ICF 2010's barefoot
 > FM: Yamaha T-80 & T-85, each w/ Conrad RDS
 Decoder;
 > Onkyo T-450RDS; Tecsun PL-310 ( 2);
 > modified Sony ICF2010 w/APS9B @ 15';
 > Grundig G8 w/whip; modified Sony ICF2010 w/whip
 > 
 > --------------------------------------------
 > On Sat, 1/11/14, Les Rayburn <les@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 wrote:
 > 
 >   Subject: [NRC-AM] Reviewing SDR DX
 >   To: "am@xxxxxxxxxxx" <am@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
 "irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
 <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
 >   Date: Saturday, January 11, 2014,
 12:02 PM
 >     I'm curious to hear how other
 DX'ers
 >   tackle "data management" when it
 >   comes to the use of I/Q recordings
 from SDR receivers. My
 >   SDR-IQ allows
 >   me to record 192 KHz of bandwidth, and
 using HDSDR software,
 >   I've
 >   started recording TOH periods
 overnight. I record about four
 >   minutes per
 >   hour, starting at local sunset and
 continuing through
 >   sunrise.
 >     This provides a total of 19 MW
 channels to be reviewed per
 >   hour,
 >   Recording for 4 minutes over a ten
 hour period, leaves me
 >   with 760
 >   minutes of data to be reviewed daily.
 Some channels are
 >   nearly
 >   impossible to find new ones on, so
 these can be reviewed
 >   quickly,
 >   checking only for unusual conditions.
 But it's still a
 >   massive amount of
 >   data.
 >     Since starting this just a few
 days ago, I've already
 >   deleted days of
 >   recordings, unchecked, simply because
 there is no practical
 >   way to
 >   review it all. Perseus owners would
 have an even bigger
 >   issue, due to
 >   the much wider bandwidth that can be
 recorded. The entire AM
 >   band for
 >   instance!
 >     What strategies have other
 DX'ers found successful for
 >   managing the
 >   data? I've considered recording just
 the sunrise/sunset
 >   periods, or
 >   waiting for a night with unusual
 conditions to record TOH ID
 >   periods
 >   only, or even simply recording for a
 week in mid-winter,
 >   then taking my
 >   sweet time to review them during the
 summer.
 >           --
 >   --
 >   73,
 >     Les Rayburn, N1LF
 >   121 Mayfair Park
 >   Maylene, AL 35114
 >   EM63nf
 >     6M VUCC #1712
 >   AMSAT #38965
 >   Grid Bandits #222
 >   Southeastern VHF Society
 >   Central States VHF Society Life
 Member
 >   Six Club #2484
 >     Active on 6 Meters thru 1296,
 10GHz & Light
 > 
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 Prices!
 >   Details at http://www.nrcdxas.org
 >   
 
 

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