AmateurLogic.TV Episode 15

George builds the Softrock Software Defined Radio.
Jim introduces us to the International Beacon Project.
Tommy demonstrates and explains all about the amazing Ham Radio Deluxe. Peter is back with a mountain top review of the Degen DE-1103 shortwave receiver.
It's 44:30 of amateur radio related entertainment we know you'll enjoy.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• amateur
• radio
• tech
• vidcast
• arrl
• wia
• technology
• video
• comedy
• ham

[gthomas]

You would need to tap into the IF stage of the radio and then feed that to a SoftRock or similar receiver to use as a downconverter. The SoftRock kit is around $50. I will be covering a detailed example of doing this in a future episode.

[Pepsifx357]

@gthomas So could you connect a regular radio to a down sampling device and use this software? If so, how much would a device like that cost?

[gthomas]

You got it! There are a lot of guys using 192 KHz cards. I have one but unfortunately it won't work with the software I use.

[Pepsifx357]

@gthomas That makes much more sense. So if I were to use, say, a 192khz sound card, I would be able to see more of the spectrum? And, obviously, even more with a sound card that could achieve 384kHz.

[gthomas]

The SoftRock acts as a downconverter. It steps the RF signals down to audio frequencies which are then fed into the soundcard. With a 96KHz samping rate soundcard I can see almost 50 KHz of bandwidth. Since most HF signals are around 3KHz wide, I can see about 15 of them at once. PowerSDR software allows me to select up to two of these signals to listen to at once. To see another portion of the band (or another band) the frequency of the SoftRock is changed.

It really does work great.

[Pepsifx357]

I'm new to Ham Radio but I know a lot about audio cards on computers. If the lowest frequency on a 1.25 Meter band is 222.0 MHz then how can a sound card, which most have the highest A/D conversion of 96Khz, be able to decode radio signals? You would have to acquire a high cost audio mastering interface, that supports the DAD A/D conversion format to get to the 5MHz range of decoding.

[stuartthegrant]

I do so enjoy this channel.

Allways interesting allways stimulating.

Nice Guys..

[petegkSalonika]

lots of thanks, you guys doing a great job my best regards and thanks from Europe Greece 73' Pete sv2mke

[1KiloWatt]

hi

is it possible to download this videos in a better quality?

73s

[dcgibson55]

The Degen DE1103 reviewed in this episode is an outstanding radio at an extremely low price. The USA version is called the Kaito KA1103. The only difference between them is that the USA version comes with a 120 volt AC adaptor as opposed to a 220 volt that comes with the Degen. I highly recommend it.