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Re: Topband: SDR Mythbusters - ADC Overload myths debunked

To: topband@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: SDR Mythbusters - ADC Overload myths debunked
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 2015 10:47:16 -0700
List-post: <topband@contesting.com">mailto:topband@contesting.com>
On Sat,10/10/2015 2:15 AM, Steve Ireland wrote:
Of course, I was talking about using a DUC/DDC in a single transmitter/receiver urban/semi-rural station setting on a quarter to half an acre block, which is the setting in which the vast majority of people who subscribe to this reflector would be using a transceiver.

Your use is not nearly so much a majority as you might suspect. A fair percentage of contesters operate SO2R. MANY hams live in proximity to high power broadcast stations. Hams with good antennas in locations exposed to many in-band and out-of-band signals are likely to encounter far higher voltages at the input to the radio than you do. VK, for example, is exposed to far fewer in-band signals than EU or the eastern half of NA.

That said, there's one element of the RX system that is often overlooked in this discussion -- the bandpass filters that are a part of virtually any competent multi-transmitter station. So, while the radio itself lacks a pre-selector, the outboard bandpass filter can provide the pre-selector function.

So far, the only SDRs I've used have been K3s and KX3s. I like them for their combination of features, RF performance, and user interface. What I've seen of the UI for other SDRs makes them OK for casual operation but useless in my station. That's something that, IMO, must also be greatly improved before I'd consider using one of them.

73, Jim K9YC
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