Good morning — again, The beacon on 1296 is building steadily this morning. I suppose it is just typical morning enhancement. I am showing a signal level of -110 dBm and that is 30 dB above my system noise floor. The indicated S-meter reading on the computer is S-3, on the K2/DEMI144 receiver it shows S-8. The reason for all of this detail is to say that The SDR system I am using is a remarkably accurate device, especially considering its price. I am using the Softrock VHF Ensemble II kit. It cost me $79.95, I believe. I run it with a free program called HDSDR. Many of you are probably familiar with it. The program is written, and periodically upgraded, by a ham in Germany. I have used it for several years now as a spectrum display on the IF of my microwave converters. They all run 144 MHz IFs and I just switch the one I am using at the moment into the Softrock. The Softrock input is run from a 3 dB hybrid, the other side of which feeds my K2/Demi receiver. So I have a parallel system. It is very handy for finding stations that are off frequency without the endless tuning of the K2. Everyone is always off frequency on the microwave bands :-) The soft rock is remarkable in that it has calibration features for frequency AND amplitude. The latest version of the HDSDR program added amplitude. The tuning of the Softrock is stable. So by using my signal generator, which is very well calibrated in both frequency and amplitude, I now have a precision frequency and power meter for the price of $79.95 (plus the computer) . By itself, the softrock noise floor is -153 dBm. The scale on level is accurate to at least -30 dBm and has marks that go to 0 dBm. I didn’t run my generator higher than -30. I did check accuracy down to -140 dBm. I find this system to be a veery useful addition to my state. Perhaps you wold also. 73, Dave, K4TO ps — the beacon dropped to S- 1 1/2 while I was writing this and is fading.

Dave...Tnx for your great and detailed reports. Good science and very useful. Hopefully, Mike will have an abundance of free time once he is fully retired in a few weeks. That will let him finish the new beacon TX with at least 10 dB more oomph. From Tom Holmes, N8ZM > On Jul 16, 2017, at 8:39 AM, Dave Sublette via mvus-list <mvus-list@febo.com> wrote: > > Good morning — again, > > The beacon on 1296 is building steadily this morning. I suppose it is just typical morning enhancement. > > I am showing a signal level of -110 dBm and that is 30 dB above my system noise floor. The indicated S-meter reading on the computer is S-3, on the K2/DEMI144 receiver it shows S-8. > > The reason for all of this detail is to say that The SDR system I am using is a remarkably accurate device, especially considering its price. > > I am using the Softrock VHF Ensemble II kit. It cost me $79.95, I believe. I run it with a free program called HDSDR. Many of you are probably familiar with it. The program is written, and periodically upgraded, by a ham in Germany. I have used it for several years now as a spectrum display on the IF of my microwave converters. They all run 144 MHz IFs and I just switch the one I am using at the moment into the Softrock. The Softrock input is run from a 3 dB hybrid, the other side of which feeds my K2/Demi receiver. So I have a parallel system. It is very handy for finding stations that are off frequency without the endless tuning of the K2. Everyone is always off frequency on the microwave bands :-) > > The soft rock is remarkable in that it has calibration features for frequency AND amplitude. The latest version of the HDSDR program added amplitude. The tuning of the Softrock is stable. So by using my signal generator, which is very well calibrated in both frequency and amplitude, I now have a precision frequency and power meter for the price of $79.95 (plus the computer) . > > By itself, the softrock noise floor is -153 dBm. The scale on level is accurate to at least -30 dBm and has marks that go to 0 dBm. I didn’t run my generator higher than -30. I did check accuracy down to -140 dBm. > > I find this system to be a veery useful addition to my state. Perhaps you wold also. > > 73, > > Dave, K4TO > > ps — the beacon dropped to S- 1 1/2 while I was writing this and is fading. > > > _______________________________________________ > mvus-list mailing list > mvus-list@febo.com > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mvus-list