[Skimmertalk] Current SDR choices for CW skimmer?

[Prasad VU2PTT]

Just reviving this old thread.

I have now got my hands now on an SDRPlay receiver ($150) and seems to be a
good candidate to cover 3 adjacent HF bands in one device.This one can
cover 8 mhz at a time between 100 kHz to 2 Ghz and uses a 12-bit ADC -
frequency accuracy is pretty good and frequency seems to be stable. I am
using this as a wide band pan adapter for the TS-590SG and sensitivity
seems to be on par if not better than the radio.

See www.sdrplay.com - if we can now get Skimmer Server to work with this
would simplify matters to cover all bands at once - or even have a couple
of these to cover 6 bands at once :)

Shipping speed from the UK was amazing and I received it within a week.

73 de Prasad VU2PTT


On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 2:54 AM, Jeff AC0C <keepwalking188 at ac0c.com> wrote:

> Pete,
>
> The limitation of the QS1R is 7 bands and for the other 3, I use separate
> softrock receivers here.  The 4 telnet feeds consolidate in Aggregator.
> This works OK on 80/160 but the 3rd covers 6m and it's not very sensitive.
>
> I would be interested in seeing how that multi-dongle thing is working.
> It may be a good alternative short of a second QS1R.
>
> 73/jeff/ac0c
> www.ac0c.com
> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Pete Smith N4ZR
> Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 1:32 PM
> To: skimmertalk at contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [Skimmertalk] Current SDR choices for CW skimmer?
>
>
> Hi Andy - K8ND has already given you a very nice response about various
> radios commercially available. One I would add is the Softrock Ensemble
> II or II, either of which can be had for under $100 assembled from
> KB9YIB.  I tested one here, hoping that it would prove, in combination
> with W3OA'sband rotation software, to be an acceptablesubstitute for the
> QS1R in the RBN's gap-filling initiative.  Just for fun, I ran it off
> the same antennaas my QS1R, and compared a bunch of rotation intervals,
> changing bands every 2, 5, 10 and 20 minutes.  While the sensitivity on
> any given band was closely comparable to the QS1R, I found that at most
> the Ensemble only yielded about 30 percent of the number of spots
> produced by the QS1R, both during contest weekends and ordinary times.
>
> There are a couple of other options out there.  There's a creature
> called an RTL Dongle which is a dirt-cheap TV tuner. with an
> upconverterfrom Nooelec.  N1GP has even figured out a way, with some
> Linux programming, to gang 7 of these through a single upconverter and
> an rtl to hpsdr program (see https://github.com/n1gp/rtl_hpsdr ).  He
> has run up to 7 RTL dongles simultaneously with CW Skimmer Server
> through a .dll written by K3IT to interfact Skimmer Server with Hermes.
> For that matter, Hermes would be another option.
>
> I'll be glad to fill in more info offline if you want.  It would be
> great to have more capability in the Pacific Northwest!
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
> Check out the Reverse Beacon Network at
> http://reversebeacon.net,
> blog at reversebeacon.blogspot.com.
> For spots, please go to your favorite
> ARC V6 or VE7CC DX cluster node.
>
> On 3/20/2015 12:33 PM, Andy (KU7T) wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>>
>> I am researching the idea of getting a CW skimmer up for the major HF
>> bands;
>> there still is a shortage in the Pacific Northwest.  I played with a
>> softrock but never got it to work satisfactorily, so I am looking at a
>> non-kit SDR. Looking for something reasonable that can do 5 HF bands. I
>> know
>> about the QSR1, but the cost is pretty steep.
>>
>>
>> What other options are out here for a 5 band CW skimming capable SDR? Is
>> the
>> SDR-IQ good, it not quite clear from its description.
>>
>> Is there a 2nd hand market for these things?
>>
>>
>> Thanks and 73
>>
>> Andy
>>
>> KU7T
>>
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>>
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