Very impressed with what it will hear with this antenna set up. This is really convenient - no antenna tuning, just a 2 way antenna switch. I use it with a PA0RDT active antenna for VLF to HF and a discone for VHF and up. It works pretty good on MF/LF, I am copying WSPR stations across Europe on 472kHz even in summer, lots of NAVTEX on 518kHz, it gets excellent copy on Region 1 LW broadcast stations, pretty good on MW broadcast too. Using the VB virtual audio cable you can feed the appropriate decoding software very easily. ![]() The wide coverage 10kHz to 2Ghz gives you a lot of scope to do new (well, new to me) stuff - amateur satellites, WXsat images, low band working. This was probably the best £100 I have spent on radio kit. Probably equal to any high end SW receiver on the market. When used as a receiver only this RSP1a is tops in performance. And using a coax switch to remove the SDR while your in QSO should keep it from damage. Careful testing while watching the SDR metering would be in order. I suppose a receive only dipole in the attic would help isolate the SDR. I have not tried this set up with the linear amp yet and dont know what will get into the SDR. The 1708 still receives the PTT signal to activate it and it also has a built in RF sensing circuit that also activates it. I put a coax switch in line with the SDR input and manually open the SDR to get the tuner on line with the Tx and then switch it back. ![]() Your automatic antenna tuner will freak out when it tries to tune. ![]() The MFJ1708 does a good job of dropping and shorting the SDR antenna input to ground to protect the SDR from being connected to the output of you amplifier, BUT. ![]() The only challenge is interfacing it with your antenna system. Greatly improving your awareness of when operators are on the air. Using a HP Stream PC for $150 including w10 you have $250 total investment. The software, SDRuno is no worse to learn than any good radio. The performance of this unit is beyond compare. When used with a transceiver as a stand alone panadaptor or spectrum analyzer, it allows you to view the entire band, allowing you to see activity thats going on and can then go to, instead of scanning your memories or spinning the VFO knob in search of traffic.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |