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First month impressions RSP 1

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 4:50 pm
by mjk3997
Thought I would hop in here with some thoughts impressions and my huge lack of a technical understanding concerning SDR basics.Out of box I was more than amazed at the simplicity of setting this little receiver up on my windows 10 dell computer.All downloading including SDRuno was a breeze.Iv'e been a SWL/HF utility monitor since the the 60s. Mainly using an Icom R-75 right now and the Wellbrook ALA1530.First use of the RSP1 all setting were default except for LNA and AGC in the main panel.I was mesmerized seeing for the first time all the activity in slice of the radio spectrum.Especially the Ham bands.To a lesser extent the aviation bands.Even though I knew the noise floor would be a challenge as compared to the R-75 the selectivity and sensitivity of the RSP1 was beyond expectations and almost an equal to the R75.Like others have noted the front end overloading passing images and local noise requires a learning curve.Especially how settings seem to interact.One adjustment seems to effect others which in a traditional receiver would have no effect.I have almost zero knowledge of how an SDR actually accomplishes what it does.So its intriguing for me to experiment and sort of self teach myself with the countless settings within SDRuno. Iv'e learned already there are sweet spots and ways to mess up the functionality of the receiver.Being able to use reset makes everything much less intimidating. Bottom line this SDR has opened up an entirely new really neat window into the whole monitoring hobby.

Re: First month impressions RSP 1

Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 4:53 am
by someYguy
Very good, sounds like you're getting along well with it :).

I too have been active as an SWL since the 1960s, and a ham since 1977. Many receivers used here over the years, and none of them more versatile than the little SDRPlay.

I find that controlling the gain (actually gain reduction) manually in the RSP device panel rather than using AGC works very well, and I can stop nearly all overloading and most all image signals. My preferred software is HDSDR, and SDR# is a close second. SDRuno is great also, but I find that I like having the ability to directly bring up the RSP device panel, which SDRuno does not allow as far as I can tell. Also, both HDSDR and SDR# have continuously variable spectrum zoom, whereas SDRuno does not, only steps.

Anyway, its most clear to me that we have come a long way since I was staring closely at the front panel of my Collins R388 :).