[TenTec] OT: Dynamic range of SDR Radios with 16-bit DAC

[shristov]

Gary J FollettDukes HiFi wrote:

> If I leave that 2 uV signal (the one I am trying to hear) at the 
> input, and then apply 30 million microvolts (30 volts, which 
> is143 dB over 2 uV) at another in band frequency, I will not 
> experience any digitization problems?

That is another matter.
Dithering removes nonlinear effects of ADC steps,
but it does not remove other forms of nonlinearities.

Due to ADC nonlinearities (other than quantization steps),
some distortion, similar to intermodulation, will be present.
Frequencies of distortion products will depend
on signal frequencies and on the sampling frequency.

For example, with two very strong input signals,
a number of distortion products will appear on various frequencies.
Those products may happen to interfere with your desired signals,
or they may be removed by the filtering used.

I have no idea about distortion level in FLEX receivers,
but the worst-case signal-to-distortion ratio (with two or more strong input signals)
can be expected to be much worse than 96 dB, let alone 140 dB,
due to the current ADC technology.

73,

Sinisa  YT1NT, VE3EA