Yes, with the Spyverter, it will cover down to nearly DC. I use the
Ham-it-Up to monitor 60 kHz WWVL and lightning research. That came out
before the SpyVerter was available. With the Spyverter, you just set the
offset of the LO of the converter in SDR#, and readout is proper on the
frequency scale.
The AirSpy HF+ covers basically DC to 240 or 260 MHz. It does not go very
deep into VHF territory. Personally, I am not interested in the AirSpy HF+
as most of my interests in radio astronomy are not in the HF region. I
have several 'real' spectrum analyzers, so I don't need coverage into HF
for those purposes. If you do go for the AirSpy HF+, you will need to
remove a capacitor to gain any real sensitivity at ELF and VLF. It's a
very minor mod.
Another SDR you may stumble across is the RSP 1 and RSP 2 which Ham Radio
distributes for a little less $$. I do NOT recommend it even though it
covers HF to roughly 1.8 GHz. It does not have the capability of operating
as a spectrum analyzer as does the AirSpy nor is it too good as it produces
all kinds of spurs, especially at VLF/ELF. Also, it is very prone to
mixing of strong signals and does not do well even with out-of-band strong
signals. Even though it is a little less expensive, I do NOT recommend
that SDR. I have one and hardly use it for those reasons. In addition,
the only SDR app it operates under is SDRUno unless you can find a very old
and outdated version of SDR#. I absolutely dislike SDRUno. SDRUnjo and me
just do not get along in scientific applications. 10 dB changes in the
WWVL signal may be as little as 5 dB and as much as 25 dB. WWVL transmits
very precise 10 dB steps. As far as I'm concerned, the RSP 1 and RSP 2 are
junk. Don't throw away your hard-earned $$. I did once and forever regret
it.
Dave - WØLEV
On Sat, Feb 3, 2018 at 7:23 PM, Jim Stahl <jimk8mr@aol.com> wrote:
> Dave -
>
> Are you referring to the AirSpy R2? It does look interesting.
>
> It appears that with that, you will need the extra Spyverter R2 to go
> below 20 MHz. With the Spyverter, will the spectrum analyzer work down to
> VLF?
>
> Alternately, does the AirSpy HF+ have full spectrum analyzer capability
> for the frequency ranges it covers (LF, HF and VHF, less 31-60 MHz)?
>
>
> 73 - Jim K8MR
>
>
> > On Feb 3, 2018, at 12:43 PM, David Eckhardt <davearea51a@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > I'll jump in here as I'd recommend you spend a bit less than $200 and buy
> > the AirSpy SDR. The reason is that the AirSpy can be used as a very
> > capable spectrum analyzer that can cover roughly 20 MHz through 1.8 GHz
> in
> > a single sweep and down to 10 MHz in a single sweep. The app comes free
> > with the SDR# download. This makes it very easy to detect where the
> > maximum emission level is placed in the spectrum rather than just looking
> > in 8-MHz slices. The AirSpy is a VERY good but economically priced SDR.
> > The 8-bit USB $12 dongles can not approach the performance of the AirSpy
> > line of SDR receivers. They are pretty much on a par with SDR receivers
> of
> > 2 to 3 years ago costing over $1k. Spend the bucks. You'll never be
> > sorry!!
> >
> > No connection to AirSpy other than a very pleased user of the products.
> >
> > Dave - WØLEV
> >
>
>
--
*Dave - WØLEV*
*Just Let Darwin Work*
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