Topband: VU2GSM webSDR use

[Jim Thomson]

Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2018 15:48:04 +0000
From: Paul Mclaren <paul.mcl at gmail.com>
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: VU2GSM webSDR use

<Interesting and an explanation why he doesn't respond to my calls from here in NW Europe.  I had put it down to poor RX at his end due to high local noise which I guess is part of the reason.

<Regarding SDR's I use a remote SDR situated in a nearby farmers field about 250 metres from my home QTH connected via a 5Ghz wifi link over the top of the neighbours houses.  It offers two benefits over my own average RFI polluted garden in the village, <the first being virtually zero noise floor and secondly more space to put up RX antennas.  Just this weekend I connected up a 200 metre long unterminated beverage which compared to my Wellbrook loop on 80m and 160m is worlds apart and would have <been impossible in my own garden.  

<I have this stated on my QRZ.com page and it is within the rules of most contests regarding the radius in which the RX and TX must be located.  I just see it as optimizing the RX of the station.

<Regards

<Paul MM0ZBH

##  IMO, what difference does it make whether  you have a SDR in a nearby farmers field, 250 meters away....  vs  living on  20 acres of property and also having  a beverage the same 250 meters away  ??   Thats semantics really.
Some folks are living on huge acerages, whereby the RX and TX ants could easily be extreme distances apart, like several thousand feet.   I still cant hear worth a damn on 160m on my postage stamp lot, and am seriously considering  a remote sdr
on my daughters  11 acres.... waterfront property, on a cliff,  aprx  120 miles north of me.   Heck,  I could put the TX there as well, easily done.  But just having the SDR capability would enhance the RX end of things.   If she was 8 miles out of town,
on acerage, I would also consider it.   If I owned a few acres, outside of town, I would also consider a SDR for rx. 

##  But listening on a sdr in another country is absurd really.   VU2GSM copying  VE6WZ.... via nearby VE6JYs  SDR takes the cake.    JY  +  WZ  are not very far apart.   Whats next, me using a remote sdr  across town from 
my favourite european  station ?     It would really enhance RX..and make for a good ragchew.  Heck,  you could give them all  S9 ++  signal reports.   The concept is sound, just dont claim it as dxcc credit.  Anyone could easily get away
with it, and not get caught, but any card you receive would really be meaningless.   You would only be fooling yourself.   Taken to the extreme,  remote sdrs could be used at both ends of the circuit.  At that point, I may as well telephone VU2 land, since
I have free LD calling to that country.  

Jim  VE7RF