[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [IRCA] Elad FDM-S2 initial testing



Thanks for the further observations Mark. I've traveled in the past with an ALA100 and a chunk of wire, and almost always been able to find a support of some sort. One of the many advantages of a loop is the ability to place it close to the ground, and the ALA100 is quite resistant to noise from the feed line. #22 wire and RG-174 feed line is light.

Hasn't the old style inexpensive netbook pretty much died out now? (ones with RJ45 that can be used with Afedri or NetSDR / Cloud-IQ, plus largish hard drives, effectively a small laptop) One I had was able to handle 1300kHz bandwidth NetSDR recording with ease, but we were talking about Elads, which would be much preferable for travel, and the Elad struggled on that machine.

There are several inexpensive tablets that have an accompanying keyboard with USB ports, but although the one I have is quite zippy, there isn't much native storage for SDR files. As I live in Canada, I realize that I may not be aware of all the options, and don't keep up to date very well anyway. Maybe Guy Atkins has some thoughts?

best wishes,

Nick




 At 17:05 08-03-17, Mark Connelly wrote:
With the Perseus I had a similar experience. Atom-based netbook (MSI Wind) gave me OK record / playback up to 800 kHz bandwidth but it couldn't cut the mustard for 1600 kHz wide captures. Core i3 or higher: no problem.

Are DXers using any netbook form-factor PC's (screen 10 to 13 inch range) that have i3 or better CPU's? Seems like that's what you'd really want for backpacking. Battery life in excess of 4 hours (including the receiver's loading) would be a plus.

Of course you still have to deal with getting an antenna out there, hopefully a directional one. Roll of skinny wire to stretch on the ground + a matching / isolation transformer might work but grounding still has to come into play. Directivity would be sketchy at best. A wire loop is likely better (whether cardioid or figure-of-8 pick-up). The support structure for that (when trees are lacking) is going to be a bigger impediment to backpacking than the laptop + SDR combo. Tuned loops, of course, can be quite compact but then you're essentially limited to one frequency at a time (live) DXing instead of wideband capture for later analysis. Active whips are also compact but they can be "noise getters" if placed within 20 ft. or so of the laptop. No directivity with those either, although a shore site produces directivity independent of the antenna. Single stick pattern of my 1240 local demonstrates that:
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/patg?id=WBAS-AM&h=D

(That map shows why Florida, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, etc. bomb in here ... Midwest not so much.)

I would always take a competent ultralight portable in the backpack as well, just in case something with the PC + SDR goes "kerflooey." No sense to go out there and come back with nothing, especially if considerable flying, driving, biking, or hiking was involved.

Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Hall-Patch <nhp@xxxxxxxx>
To: Mark Connelly <markwa1ion@xxxxxxx>; irca <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, Mar 7, 2017 10:46 pm
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Elad FDM-S2 initial testing

Thanks Mark. I generally use considerably less beefy laptops with my Elad FDM-S1, but down at the Atom netbook level, it's a struggle, unless bandwidth is reduced. Much happier with an i3 core, but not so much battery time, and more weight in the pack.

best wishes,

Nick


At 02:00 08-03-17, Mark Connelly wrote:
As noted on the screen shots (top of page):
<http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/hdsdr_elad_20170220_0500z.jpg>http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/hdsdr_elad_20170220_0500z.jpg

CPU: Intel Core i5-6200U @ 2.30 GHz, RAM: 8082 MB.

Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA

-----Original Message-----
From: Nick Hall-Patch <<mailto:nhp@xxxxxxxx>nhp@xxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America <irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; CapeDX <<mailto:CapeDX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>CapeDX@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; badx <<mailto:badx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>badx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mark Connelly <<mailto:markwa1ion@xxxxxxx>markwa1ion@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, Mar 7, 2017 12:03 pm
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Elad FDM-S2 initial testing

Thanks for posting this Mark. What were the capabilities of the
computer used to run the two pieces of software?

The Elads and some of the more recent SDRs are physically quite
small, so can be used on hiking trips or other travel where not much
luggage can be taken along. But, it's good to be able to use a
correspondingly small and power sipping computer under such circumstances.

best wishes,

Nick




At 18:12 04-03-17, Mark Connelly via IRCA wrote:


>At the end of 2016 I purchased an Elad FDM-S2 which was selling for
>a (discounted $80) price of $495 plus $19.82 shipping from IL.
>
>A few weeks back I did some initial testing of it with both its
>"native" software (FDM-SW2) and with more familiar / generic HDSDR.
>
>Comments below are probably "kindergarten level" for experienced
>FDM-S2 users. Obviously any suggestions that may come forth as a
>result of my observations are welcomed.
>
>First I "live" created a capture file with the FDM-SW2 software. It
>wasn't immediately obvious to me how to schedule captures with that
>software so I then went ahead and created a few captures with
>HDSDR. The HDSDR scheduling set-up is familiar to me from using it
>in the Perseus version.
>
>When you use HDSDR with Elad, you have to select which external I/O
>DLL file to use.
>
>See: <http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/hdsdr_select_extio.jpg>http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/hdsdr_select_extio.jpg
>
>I put up two screen shots of HDSDR running the receiver:
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/hdsdr_elad_20170220_0400z.jpg
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/hdsdr_elad_20170220_0500z.jpg
>
>The first one shows the entire received spectrum, about 400-1800
>kHz, on the spectrum and waterfall plots.
>
>The second one has the spectrum zoomed in on a small range around
>the received frequency (Algeria 549).
>
>What I found interesting is that with HDSDR, I could play back
>captures made either with the FDM-SW2 program or HDSDR.
>
>FDM-SW2 plays its own captures OK (I'd send it back if it didn't)
>but if I tried to use it to play the files I'd created with HDSDR, I
>got a "crab message" = File Not Reproducible.
>
>See: <http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/elad_crab_message1.jpg>http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/pictures1/elad_crab_message1.jpg
>
>Here are some audio clips from captures made from the FDM-S2
>receiver using the HDSDR scheduler.
>
>Spain 1044 (17 FEB @ 2300 UTC)
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/audio1/spain-1044_20170217_2300z.mp3
>
>Algeria 549 (20 FEB @ 0400 UTC)
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/audio1/algeria-549_20170220_0400z.mp3
>
>Algeria 549 (20 FEB @ 0500 UTC) with "tubby anthem"
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/audio1/algeria-549_20170220_0500z_tubby_anthem.mp3
>
>Mauritania 783 (20 FEB @ 0500 UTC) Koranic wailing
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/audio1/mauritania-783_20170220_0500z.mp3
>
>UK 1089 (20 FEB @ 0501 UTC)
> http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/audio1/uk-1089_20170220_0501z.mp3
>
>I also have an SDRplay RSP1 acquired in late 2016. I've tuned
>around the FM band with it some but I have not done file capture or
>AM DX with it yet.
>
>Mark Connelly, WA1ION
>South Yarmouth, MA
>

Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, BC
Canada


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
<https://www.avast.com/antivirus>https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, BC
Canada
<https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient>
[]
Virus-free. <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient>www.avast.com

Nick Hall-Patch
Victoria, BC
Canada _______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx