1. airspy@groups.io
   Date   
Re: Airspy mini very hot?

Eric Oyen <eric.oyen@...>
 

actually yes. :) Dry ice is fun to mess with, so long as you also respect that it can be a deadly, odorless gas in high enough concentrations.

btw, I am on of those who took an older model pentium, immersed the motherboard, psu and other cards into an insulated vat of mineral oil and used a modified 5,000 btu A/C unit (as well as an external insulated HDD enclosure that is air cooled) to make the computer over clock without damage. It certainly was an interesting experiment and very successful. the only issue I ran into was the muffin fans wouldn't turn in such thick liquid. Basically, it took a full immersion fish tank pump to force circulation through the PSU and another for the heatsink for the CPU.

keeping the unit cold wasn't so much the problem as the ice buildup. it took making a sealed plexiglass container with an input pump and completely filled with oil in order to prevent ice buildup. It certainly worked for me for several years until the cooler failed. after that, the rest of the system got hot in a hurry and also failed.

I don't know if there is a heatsink on your model of SDR Dongle, but it might not be a bad idea to experiment with some cooling schemes.

DE n7zzt Eric

On Dec 19, 2017, at 3:01 PM, jdow wrote:

You play with dry ice that much? (Trivia: -40C = -40F. Have fun and confuse people by leaving off the F or C designator for -40.

{^_-}

On 2017-12-19 13:55, Eric Oyen wrote:
here is a suggestion if the unit is functioning normally, but running hot. Stick the unit in the freezer while in operation. at -40c, it will not only allow the device to run cool, it might also quiet some of the internal noise.
DE n7zzt Eric
On Dec 19, 2017, at 2:52 PM, jdow wrote:
OK, serious mode here. Let's wing it a little. The AirSpy unit is on a USB bus that can be, I believe, 3.3 volts or 5 volts depending on what the "customer" requests. For this job I'd design in a 5 volt to 3.3 volt regulator facility. The RTL dongles pull some 375 ma, I believe. The AirSpy is probably up near the 500 ma limit. That's 2.5 watts.

Now, night lights these days are likely LED and draw almost no power. In the bad old days a 2.5 watt incandescent nightlight could get hot enough you'd want to let it cool before trying to touch the bulb.

The AirSpy is a larger box than the incandecent nightlight bulb. It's correspondingly cooler. Nonetheless, it does get fairly hot to the touch. If it gets hot enough to burn I'd be surprised and concerned. As hot as coffee you can spill on your lap and not burn places that are uncommonly sensitive would not be excessive and probably is in the ballpark. It doesn't get as hot as my laptop. But, then, it runs a lot of power in a small volume so....

Get a meat thermometer. Tape it to the case. Put a wad of nose tissue on top of the probe tip for insulation. Let it sit. What's it say for temperature. I don't think mine gets above about 150 F. For reference that's the temperature the food safety folks insist restaurants in this area keep their soup tureens. And that is hotter than I like to touch. (150 F = 66 C roughly speaking.)

{^_^}

On 2017-12-19 09:44, Andrew Sutcliffe wrote:
I have had my unit running for longer periods lately and it gets really hot - almost too hot to touch.
Firstly is this normal?
Secondly, if yes above, what is causing this heat? An overclocked chip? Linear regulator? If that latter, could I swap for a 662k 3.3v 500mA switching regulator? I have used these on a lot of things lately and they run nice and cool and stable.
Any other thoughts or ideas I might need to know or could try?
Thanks. :)
Re: Airspy mini very hot?

jdow
 

You play with dry ice that much? (Trivia: -40C = -40F. Have fun and confuse people by leaving off the F or C designator for -40.

{^_-}

On 2017-12-19 13:55, Eric Oyen wrote:
here is a suggestion if the unit is functioning normally, but running hot. Stick the unit in the freezer while in operation. at -40c, it will not only allow the device to run cool, it might also quiet some of the internal noise.
DE n7zzt Eric
On Dec 19, 2017, at 2:52 PM, jdow wrote:

OK, serious mode here. Let's wing it a little. The AirSpy unit is on a USB bus that can be, I believe, 3.3 volts or 5 volts depending on what the "customer" requests. For this job I'd design in a 5 volt to 3.3 volt regulator facility. The RTL dongles pull some 375 ma, I believe. The AirSpy is probably up near the 500 ma limit. That's 2.5 watts.

Now, night lights these days are likely LED and draw almost no power. In the bad old days a 2.5 watt incandescent nightlight could get hot enough you'd want to let it cool before trying to touch the bulb.

The AirSpy is a larger box than the incandecent nightlight bulb. It's correspondingly cooler. Nonetheless, it does get fairly hot to the touch. If it gets hot enough to burn I'd be surprised and concerned. As hot as coffee you can spill on your lap and not burn places that are uncommonly sensitive would not be excessive and probably is in the ballpark. It doesn't get as hot as my laptop. But, then, it runs a lot of power in a small volume so....

Get a meat thermometer. Tape it to the case. Put a wad of nose tissue on top of the probe tip for insulation. Let it sit. What's it say for temperature. I don't think mine gets above about 150 F. For reference that's the temperature the food safety folks insist restaurants in this area keep their soup tureens. And that is hotter than I like to touch. (150 F = 66 C roughly speaking.)

{^_^}

On 2017-12-19 09:44, Andrew Sutcliffe wrote:
I have had my unit running for longer periods lately and it gets really hot - almost too hot to touch.
Firstly is this normal?
Secondly, if yes above, what is causing this heat? An overclocked chip? Linear regulator? If that latter, could I swap for a 662k 3.3v 500mA switching regulator? I have used these on a lot of things lately and they run nice and cool and stable.
Any other thoughts or ideas I might need to know or could try?
Thanks. :)
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

jdow
 

Pessimist speaking. I bet the day it arrives the bands go on extended vacation and propagation sucks dead bunnies through garden hoses for at least two weeks.

{O,o} That's the kind of luck I had for about 30 years straight.

On 2017-12-19 08:44, Tudor Vedeanu wrote:
It looks like mine has been shipped too! Now let's see how fast DHL is.
-Tudor
Re: Airspy mini very hot?

Eric Oyen <eric.oyen@...>
 

here is a suggestion if the unit is functioning normally, but running hot. Stick the unit in the freezer while in operation. at -40c, it will not only allow the device to run cool, it might also quiet some of the internal noise.

DE n7zzt Eric

On Dec 19, 2017, at 2:52 PM, jdow wrote:

OK, serious mode here. Let's wing it a little. The AirSpy unit is on a USB bus that can be, I believe, 3.3 volts or 5 volts depending on what the "customer" requests. For this job I'd design in a 5 volt to 3.3 volt regulator facility. The RTL dongles pull some 375 ma, I believe. The AirSpy is probably up near the 500 ma limit. That's 2.5 watts.

Now, night lights these days are likely LED and draw almost no power. In the bad old days a 2.5 watt incandescent nightlight could get hot enough you'd want to let it cool before trying to touch the bulb.

The AirSpy is a larger box than the incandecent nightlight bulb. It's correspondingly cooler. Nonetheless, it does get fairly hot to the touch. If it gets hot enough to burn I'd be surprised and concerned. As hot as coffee you can spill on your lap and not burn places that are uncommonly sensitive would not be excessive and probably is in the ballpark. It doesn't get as hot as my laptop. But, then, it runs a lot of power in a small volume so....

Get a meat thermometer. Tape it to the case. Put a wad of nose tissue on top of the probe tip for insulation. Let it sit. What's it say for temperature. I don't think mine gets above about 150 F. For reference that's the temperature the food safety folks insist restaurants in this area keep their soup tureens. And that is hotter than I like to touch. (150 F = 66 C roughly speaking.)

{^_^}

On 2017-12-19 09:44, Andrew Sutcliffe wrote:
I have had my unit running for longer periods lately and it gets really hot - almost too hot to touch.
Firstly is this normal?
Secondly, if yes above, what is causing this heat? An overclocked chip? Linear regulator? If that latter, could I swap for a 662k 3.3v 500mA switching regulator? I have used these on a lot of things lately and they run nice and cool and stable.
Any other thoughts or ideas I might need to know or could try?
Thanks. :)
Re: Airspy mini very hot?

jdow
 

OK, serious mode here. Let's wing it a little. The AirSpy unit is on a USB bus that can be, I believe, 3.3 volts or 5 volts depending on what the "customer" requests. For this job I'd design in a 5 volt to 3.3 volt regulator facility. The RTL dongles pull some 375 ma, I believe. The AirSpy is probably up near the 500 ma limit. That's 2.5 watts.

Now, night lights these days are likely LED and draw almost no power. In the bad old days a 2.5 watt incandescent nightlight could get hot enough you'd want to let it cool before trying to touch the bulb.

The AirSpy is a larger box than the incandecent nightlight bulb. It's correspondingly cooler. Nonetheless, it does get fairly hot to the touch. If it gets hot enough to burn I'd be surprised and concerned. As hot as coffee you can spill on your lap and not burn places that are uncommonly sensitive would not be excessive and probably is in the ballpark. It doesn't get as hot as my laptop. But, then, it runs a lot of power in a small volume so....

Get a meat thermometer. Tape it to the case. Put a wad of nose tissue on top of the probe tip for insulation. Let it sit. What's it say for temperature. I don't think mine gets above about 150 F. For reference that's the temperature the food safety folks insist restaurants in this area keep their soup tureens. And that is hotter than I like to touch. (150 F = 66 C roughly speaking.)

{^_^}

On 2017-12-19 09:44, Andrew Sutcliffe wrote:
I have had my unit running for longer periods lately and it gets really hot - almost too hot to touch.
Firstly is this normal?
Secondly, if yes above, what is causing this heat? An overclocked chip? Linear regulator? If that latter, could I swap for a 662k 3.3v 500mA switching regulator? I have used these on a lot of things lately and they run nice and cool and stable.
Any other thoughts or ideas I might need to know or could try?
Thanks. :)
Re: Official Amateur Radio Astronomy/RF Space Science/SETI Resource List, and Station Pics #waterhole #seti #RTL #radioastronomy #21cm

Eric Oyen <eric.oyen@...>
 

I would like to get in on this, but from a blind persons perspective. I know the H1 line is far wider than what the human ear can hear, but my ears can probably pick up something in a sound scape that might not be noticed by someone watching a waterfall. It's a differing technique to sight.  believe me, I find this field of study highly interesting.

btw, as a teen (and fully sighted back then), I had a Tasco Brand 1500mm Cassengrain telescope and I spent a lot of nights in the back yard looking at some of the more interesting objects in the night sky. I really do miss that and would certainly want to enjoy it again, if only by touch and sound.

DE n7zzt Eric

On Dec 19, 2017, at 2:17 PM, David Eckhardt wrote:

Thank you, Robert for all the invaluable information!

I belong to several technical google,io groups other than AirSpy.  They have all migrated from the older yahoo groups which are going away, if they haven't already, to the google forums.  Yes, we have SARA and a few other dispersed resources online and in books and publications, but possibly we might (suggestion) start a moderated google.io group specific to ARA.  RadioJove really sticks to 20.1 MHz, although many spectra are published on that forum which cover above and below 20 MHz with nothing said (myself included).  I have learned an awful lot from the other groups, non ARA, to which I belong.   I'd propose just beginning to think of the possibility of starting a moderated ARA-only google,io group.  There is SO MUCH to be discovered using an SDR re solar and Jupiter emissions than just a single-frequency receiver like the RJ receiver.  I started with the Icom R-7000, but once I purchased my first 8-bit USB dongle, I was hooked on the SDR technology.  I've so far been through two AirSpys one damaged by ESD (USB) and the other by a close-by lightning strike (front end).  I have a third and love it! 

Example:  We recently 'fine tuned' our H1 receiver system and dish feed at LTO in Berthoud, Colorado. We have a 14' off-center fed dish.   I was amazed to actually SEE the H1 line painted down the waterfall of SDR# from one of the Galactic arms.  A single-frequency receiver in no way can visualize the roughly 260 kHz bandwidth of the thermally spread line centered on 1420.405751 MHz!  But, we really need more bandwidth for radially Doppler shifted deep space objects other than the Galactic arm.

Again, thank you for the references.  I need time to digest the list, but I really do believe we should pull everything together in an ARA-only group. 

Dave Eckhardt - WØLEV
Volunteer:  Little Thompson Observatory (LTO)
                 <starkids.org>        

On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 4:34 AM, Robert Gast <robert.w.gast@...> wrote:
Let's face it Amateur Radio Astronomy (ARA from hear on out) isn't the most popular hobby, and is rare among hams even. Secondly I would venture to guess that most people out there beginning experiments in ARA are using simple systems based on hacked Sat Finders or products like the RAL10KIT from Radio Astro Lab, to me these are totally clumsy and inferior solutions that belong back in the 20th century! There isn't a whole lot of people out there using SDR for ARA, although that is changing and SDR will ultimately be the main tool for ARA as more and more people get comfortable with the new paradigm shift in RF thinking.  

I figure it would be nice to start a topic specifically as a place where we can all share are ARA resources like software, web sites, pdf files etc. I have quite a modest amount of info covering lots of different topics that I have scrounged up while doing research on setting up an ARA station. I am hoping that others may have quality resources they have discovered that I have not and and will post them here too. While your at it why not post some pictures of your set up and write a little bit about what your doing with ARA.

So I figured I would post all the software I know of related to ARA, especially ARA using SDR along with I consider some of the best ARA web sites in my book marks. I also have a lot of cool radio astronomy based pdf files on all sorts of topics about everything from using helicals instead of dishes for the h-line, to a comparison of an SDR and GNU Radio Set up VS a traditional super pricey radiometer(The USRP wins, and since the AirSpy has even better Rx than USRP....). In the near future I plan to set up a blog about Electronics and ARA, until then I will just upload the PDF files to my main website and post the link here as long as there is sufficient interest in any of this ARA stuff!

Ok lets get to the list already!

Software Resources for, or that work well for ARA and SDR/DSP.

#1 SDR#/AstroSpy/SpectrumSpy 
I don't think this needs any description, but if you did not know AstroSpy has a config file where the bandwidth among other things can be tweaked.

#2 Spectrum Lab 
Windows DSP software like SDR# it is usually used with sound card input but can be adapted to SDRs like AirSpy/RTL via audio piping or directly with a little work (when set up directly for SDR SpecLab isn't limited by audio cards bandwidth). Spectrum is much more complicated than a general SDR program like SDR#/GQRX and allows features like custom band pass filtering etc...

#3 GNU Radio Windows Binary
Everyone knows what GNU Radio is, now there is an easy to use windows installer in case you weren't aware. On Linux just use your package manager to download it obviously.

#4 Pothos SDR
Framework by Josh Blum, like GNU Radio. It also supports GNU Radio code with in it. Pothos is based on soapy SDR which is a cross platform SDR agnostic development environment. Pothos is suppose to be more intuitive than GNU Radio, and there are people jumping on the bandwagon for example there is a team using dishes to track NASAs Stereo A and B space probes for solar research, they are using Pothos as there framework of choice to actually demodulate and decode the probes signals (not just track the Doppler of there carrier like most DSN). As someone who uses Linux as there main OS with a WinVM always running for SDR# SpecLab etc etc, I love the idea of soapy and pothos layer of total hardware and OS abstraction.

For those unfamiliar with GNU Radio Companion, any script/flow chart can easily be opened and it's source block can be changed back and forth between RTL and AirSpy along with the receiver sample rate

#5 CCERA RadioMeter
GNU Radio program to use your SDR as a total power radiometer

#6 CCERA Pulsar Display
GNU Radio program to monitor pulsars

#7 Simple RA
Simple Integrated Radio Astronomy receiver in GNU Radio

#8 RTL SDR Software Tools
Windows command line, Link goes to a .doc file explaining usage of the command line tools, links to software at bottom of document. these tools are for collecting FFT bins and averaging them over time

#9 H-Line Tools for Windows and Linux
Link goes to a .doc file explaining usage of the command line tools, links to software at bottom of document.

#10 RTL SDR Pulsar analysis tools
Windows tools, c source code included

#11 Radio Spectrogram with RTL Bridge
Basically a water fall display over an elongated time period

#12 Radio Sky Software
All software from Radio sky publishing, check it out if you haven't seen it. RadioEyes is an invaluable resource for finding radio sources in space and planning your observation.

Well thats it for the software, here are some of the most usefull or neatest ARA web links i have found

Papers and Presentations on RA by David Morgan
Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers
MIT HayStack Radio Astronomy Tutorial
MIT HayStack Radio Observatory Information
RadioSky Articles
Y1PWE RA Site
11Ghz Solar Interferometer with GRC Files
BAA Ragazine
21cm Hydrogen Line Astronomy at International Space Institute
Canadian Center for Experimental Radio Astronomy
SETI League

And finally a little bit about my set up, which is still a work in progress. Right now I have most of what I need ready except antennas!!! I have a 3 meter (10ft) dish, that I hope to start setting up after x-mas. It was given to me with a polar mount and linear actuator, my plan is to buy a cheap stick welder so I can modify the mount. I have already talked to the local place that scraps metal and they told me I can take anything I need for 3 cents a pound, so I am all set on the structural material. Im planning on making the azimuth rotor out of a large enough motor with a high resolution encoder on it and an industrial worm gear of ebay, that can be sourced pretty cheap. If anyone has an idea of what kind of motor I need to rotate a 3 meter dish please let me know, I dont want to buy something under powered. I have already started working on an L-Band horn feed, and have thermo-electric coolers to mount on the low noise amps to keep there gain stable.

I call the whole project my "Citizen Science Center", not only do I intend on monitoring 1.4ghz but throwing up some 21mhz dipoles to monitor Jupiter, am active VLF antenna to monitor solar disturbances and a 20 wrap helix I made to receive solar imaging from goes satellites. Lastly I want to throw in a seismic sensor, I live in southern California where we have a lot of earth quakes and I have done some reading about VLF disturbances and there correlation with earthquakes I want to study a little more.

Pretty Plain Electronics Work Area
<workbench.gif>

The "Citizen Science Control Center", HP 6 digit Meter, HP 100microV Scope,
USB Scope and AWG, Radios, Power Supplies, Voltage Standard, DIY
Ovenized GPS locked 3 channel VFO, HF UpConverters, Microwave DownConverters,
RF Synth, SDRs, Some Robot stuff that needs to find a new home, and finally computer
<CSC.jpg>








--
Dave - WØLEV
Just Let Darwin Work
Re: Airspy HF+ pre-orders are open!

jdow
 

I think I just mentioned some experience with this. Note that NOT chopping off the bitching, pissing, and moaning is the best way to keep the group going. It helps keep people more relaxed and more focused on the group than the (GISP) CENSORSHIP! We're all people. We're all anxious to one degree or another. Unlax, develop a sense of humor, and go with the flow. Life becomes more fun when you can do this. That is what makes mailing lists much nicer than forums. If things get nasty remove the nasty one from the group. Otherwise, let it flow. When it MUST get serious, it will. So sit back and have a nice coke, 4 degrees C. Whose the barkeep here?

{^_^}

On 2017-12-19 05:01, Jonathan Endersby wrote:
Bazz wrote:
> Just like being in the playground, shame the admins can't stop this.
> Time to unsubscribe
I'm going to guess that the admins don't want to be seen as censoring the mailing list with people who are complaining about anything... censorship unfortunately never plays well with customer service. Blame the noise source, not the filter.
When I buy a pre-order item, especially something as niche as SDR kit, I assume that delays are possible. I trust Airspy implicitly. I know I will get my HF+ and it will be awesome.
Ciao,
J.
Re: Airspy HF+ pre-orders are open!

jdow
 

Just when it got serious? Poor guy!

It's a general dynamic for lists and forums. When something has been promised at an indefinite time in the future some people bitch at the delays, some people say "Second Tuesday next week" (some being me at least), some people say they want to wait to get it right, some people turn smartass (me at least), and some bail minutes before delivery. And I watched this for so many years trying to soothe ruffled feathers that I can't always resist contributing to the mess now that it's not my job. The consistent behavior of humans leads me to note that IPIO, Innate Perversity of Inanimate Objects, has a brother, IPAHS, Innate Perversity of Animate Homo Sapiens.

{^_-} IPAHS!

On 2017-12-19 04:31, Bazz wrote:
Just like being in the playground, shame the admins can't stop this.
Time to unsubscribe
On 19 December 2017 at 12:15, SkipF, NT1G <@SkipF <mailto:@SkipF>> wrote:
Wah, wah, wah!
Re: Christmas??

jdow
 

Naw - actually it's mine. I got a $10 discount for the blemish.

{O,o} "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it!" Super Chicken

On 2017-12-18 17:32, John Talbot wrote:
Bull. Thats mine.
On Dec 17, 2017 12:50, "Mark Volstad" <mvolstad@... <mailto:mvolstad@...>> wrote:
The second unit from the right in the upper row is mine!
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

jdow
 

It appears mine shipped, too. Now, who is going to bitch that it was shipped too soon?

{O,o}

On 2017-12-19 08:27, lccolunga@... wrote:
Hi,
I just received an email from Itead letting me know that my unit has shipped.
Be happy!
Re: Official Amateur Radio Astronomy/RF Space Science/SETI Resource List, and Station Pics #waterhole #seti #RTL #radioastronomy #21cm

David Eckhardt
 

Thank you, Robert for all the invaluable information!

I belong to several technical google,io groups other than AirSpy.  They have all migrated from the older yahoo groups which are going away, if they haven't already, to the google forums.  Yes, we have SARA and a few other dispersed resources online and in books and publications, but possibly we might (suggestion) start a moderated google.io group specific to ARA.  RadioJove really sticks to 20.1 MHz, although many spectra are published on that forum which cover above and below 20 MHz with nothing said (myself included).  I have learned an awful lot from the other groups, non ARA, to which I belong.   I'd propose just beginning to think of the possibility of starting a moderated ARA-only google,io group.  There is SO MUCH to be discovered using an SDR re solar and Jupiter emissions than just a single-frequency receiver like the RJ receiver.  I started with the Icom R-7000, but once I purchased my first 8-bit USB dongle, I was hooked on the SDR technology.  I've so far been through two AirSpys one damaged by ESD (USB) and the other by a close-by lightning strike (front end).  I have a third and love it! 

Example:  We recently 'fine tuned' our H1 receiver system and dish feed at LTO in Berthoud, Colorado. We have a 14' off-center fed dish.   I was amazed to actually SEE the H1 line painted down the waterfall of SDR# from one of the Galactic arms.  A single-frequency receiver in no way can visualize the roughly 260 kHz bandwidth of the thermally spread line centered on 1420.405751 MHz!  But, we really need more bandwidth for radially Doppler shifted deep space objects other than the Galactic arm.

Again, thank you for the references.  I need time to digest the list, but I really do believe we should pull everything together in an ARA-only group. 

Dave Eckhardt - WØLEV
Volunteer:  Little Thompson Observatory (LTO)
                 <starkids.org>        

On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 4:34 AM, Robert Gast <robert.w.gast@...> wrote:
Let's face it Amateur Radio Astronomy (ARA from hear on out) isn't the most popular hobby, and is rare among hams even. Secondly I would venture to guess that most people out there beginning experiments in ARA are using simple systems based on hacked Sat Finders or products like the RAL10KIT from Radio Astro Lab, to me these are totally clumsy and inferior solutions that belong back in the 20th century! There isn't a whole lot of people out there using SDR for ARA, although that is changing and SDR will ultimately be the main tool for ARA as more and more people get comfortable with the new paradigm shift in RF thinking.  

I figure it would be nice to start a topic specifically as a place where we can all share are ARA resources like software, web sites, pdf files etc. I have quite a modest amount of info covering lots of different topics that I have scrounged up while doing research on setting up an ARA station. I am hoping that others may have quality resources they have discovered that I have not and and will post them here too. While your at it why not post some pictures of your set up and write a little bit about what your doing with ARA.

So I figured I would post all the software I know of related to ARA, especially ARA using SDR along with I consider some of the best ARA web sites in my book marks. I also have a lot of cool radio astronomy based pdf files on all sorts of topics about everything from using helicals instead of dishes for the h-line, to a comparison of an SDR and GNU Radio Set up VS a traditional super pricey radiometer(The USRP wins, and since the AirSpy has even better Rx than USRP....). In the near future I plan to set up a blog about Electronics and ARA, until then I will just upload the PDF files to my main website and post the link here as long as there is sufficient interest in any of this ARA stuff!

Ok lets get to the list already!

Software Resources for, or that work well for ARA and SDR/DSP.

#1 SDR#/AstroSpy/SpectrumSpy 
I don't think this needs any description, but if you did not know AstroSpy has a config file where the bandwidth among other things can be tweaked.

#2 Spectrum Lab 
Windows DSP software like SDR# it is usually used with sound card input but can be adapted to SDRs like AirSpy/RTL via audio piping or directly with a little work (when set up directly for SDR SpecLab isn't limited by audio cards bandwidth). Spectrum is much more complicated than a general SDR program like SDR#/GQRX and allows features like custom band pass filtering etc...

#3 GNU Radio Windows Binary
Everyone knows what GNU Radio is, now there is an easy to use windows installer in case you weren't aware. On Linux just use your package manager to download it obviously.

#4 Pothos SDR
Framework by Josh Blum, like GNU Radio. It also supports GNU Radio code with in it. Pothos is based on soapy SDR which is a cross platform SDR agnostic development environment. Pothos is suppose to be more intuitive than GNU Radio, and there are people jumping on the bandwagon for example there is a team using dishes to track NASAs Stereo A and B space probes for solar research, they are using Pothos as there framework of choice to actually demodulate and decode the probes signals (not just track the Doppler of there carrier like most DSN). As someone who uses Linux as there main OS with a WinVM always running for SDR# SpecLab etc etc, I love the idea of soapy and pothos layer of total hardware and OS abstraction.

For those unfamiliar with GNU Radio Companion, any script/flow chart can easily be opened and it's source block can be changed back and forth between RTL and AirSpy along with the receiver sample rate

#5 CCERA RadioMeter
GNU Radio program to use your SDR as a total power radiometer

#6 CCERA Pulsar Display
GNU Radio program to monitor pulsars

#7 Simple RA
Simple Integrated Radio Astronomy receiver in GNU Radio

#8 RTL SDR Software Tools
Windows command line, Link goes to a .doc file explaining usage of the command line tools, links to software at bottom of document. these tools are for collecting FFT bins and averaging them over time

#9 H-Line Tools for Windows and Linux
Link goes to a .doc file explaining usage of the command line tools, links to software at bottom of document.

#10 RTL SDR Pulsar analysis tools
Windows tools, c source code included

#11 Radio Spectrogram with RTL Bridge
Basically a water fall display over an elongated time period

#12 Radio Sky Software
All software from Radio sky publishing, check it out if you haven't seen it. RadioEyes is an invaluable resource for finding radio sources in space and planning your observation.

Well thats it for the software, here are some of the most usefull or neatest ARA web links i have found

Papers and Presentations on RA by David Morgan
Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers
MIT HayStack Radio Astronomy Tutorial
MIT HayStack Radio Observatory Information
RadioSky Articles
Y1PWE RA Site
11Ghz Solar Interferometer with GRC Files
BAA Ragazine
21cm Hydrogen Line Astronomy at International Space Institute
Canadian Center for Experimental Radio Astronomy
SETI League

And finally a little bit about my set up, which is still a work in progress. Right now I have most of what I need ready except antennas!!! I have a 3 meter (10ft) dish, that I hope to start setting up after x-mas. It was given to me with a polar mount and linear actuator, my plan is to buy a cheap stick welder so I can modify the mount. I have already talked to the local place that scraps metal and they told me I can take anything I need for 3 cents a pound, so I am all set on the structural material. Im planning on making the azimuth rotor out of a large enough motor with a high resolution encoder on it and an industrial worm gear of ebay, that can be sourced pretty cheap. If anyone has an idea of what kind of motor I need to rotate a 3 meter dish please let me know, I dont want to buy something under powered. I have already started working on an L-Band horn feed, and have thermo-electric coolers to mount on the low noise amps to keep there gain stable.

I call the whole project my "Citizen Science Center", not only do I intend on monitoring 1.4ghz but throwing up some 21mhz dipoles to monitor Jupiter, am active VLF antenna to monitor solar disturbances and a 20 wrap helix I made to receive solar imaging from goes satellites. Lastly I want to throw in a seismic sensor, I live in southern California where we have a lot of earth quakes and I have done some reading about VLF disturbances and there correlation with earthquakes I want to study a little more.

Pretty Plain Electronics Work Area


The "Citizen Science Control Center", HP 6 digit Meter, HP 100microV Scope,
USB Scope and AWG, Radios, Power Supplies, Voltage Standard, DIY
Ovenized GPS locked 3 channel VFO, HF UpConverters, Microwave DownConverters,
RF Synth, SDRs, Some Robot stuff that needs to find a new home, and finally computer





--
Dave - WØLEV
Just Let Darwin Work
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

John Talbot
 

Anyone hear anything about shipping to USA addresses from airspy.us yet?
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

dx@...
 

Orders #691 and #791 shipped for me too. 

DHL has impressed me before; hopefully they are consistent... LOTS of packages flying around the world at this time.
Re: Any planned AirSpy support for Android devices?

Meduzi Jellyfish <iain@...>
 

They've missed a trick by ignoring Android.
Re: Airspy mini very hot?

Meduzi Jellyfish <iain@...>
 

That seems normal. They do indeed roast along. In fact I've thought about building one into a round base and selling them as the "Airspy Cup Warmer".
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

Meduzi Jellyfish <iain@...>
 

Just going to check now!!!!!!!

Right... so, mine's going from Processing tooooo.... awww.... Processing 

;o(
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

ww6rb
 

Here's what happiness looks like.  Lol!



via cell


-------- Original message --------
From: offsite <offsite@...>
Date: 12/19/17 8:58 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: main@airspy.groups.io
Subject: Re: [airspy] My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

WoooHoo! Same here... and my order number was at least 200 higher than Joanne's... so they must really be cranking!



via cell


-------- Original message --------
From: Tudor Vedeanu <tmvedeanu@...>
Date: 12/19/17 8:44 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: main@airspy.groups.io
Subject: Re: [airspy] My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

It looks like mine has been shipped too! Now let's see how fast DHL is.

-Tudor
Re: Airspy HF+ pre-orders are open!

Robert Lonn <roblonn@...>
 

Us Hams waited 14 months for our Icom IC-7610 radios, now shipping… So these delays for this unit is not a big deal.. J

 

Robert

 

From: main@airspy.groups.io [mailto:main@airspy.groups.io] On Behalf Of Greg Whynott
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2017 9:39 AM
To: main@airspy.groups.io
Subject: Re: [airspy] Airspy HF+ pre-orders are open!

 

Amazing the amount of people who don't get or understand "pre order" and the lay of land.  It's not built yet,  there will likely be delay,  it's a small run.  I think they just want to be seen complaining.   E-ragers.  :)


On Dec 19, 2017, at 11:27, Chuck Conner <cconnerinfield@...> wrote:

Just got my shipment email from Itead!   Super awesome!

Chuck Conner

 

On Tue, Dec 19, 2017 at 7:01 AM, Jonathan Endersby <arbitraryuser@...> wrote:

Bazz wrote:
> Just like being in the playground, shame the admins can't stop this.

> Time to unsubscribe

I'm going to guess that the admins don't want to be seen as censoring the mailing list with people who are complaining about anything... censorship unfortunately never plays well with customer service. Blame the noise source, not the filter.

When I buy a pre-order item, especially something as niche as SDR kit, I assume that delays are possible. I trust Airspy implicitly. I know I will get my HF+ and it will be awesome. 

Ciao, 
J.

 
Re: My HF+ production unit just shipped #airspyhfplus

Ruben Navarro Huedo (EA5BZ)
 

Order 100129632 still processing
Airspy mini very hot?

Andrew Sutcliffe
 

I have had my unit running for longer periods lately and it gets really hot - almost too hot to touch.

Firstly is this normal?

Secondly, if yes above, what is causing this heat? An overclocked chip? Linear regulator? If that latter, could I swap for a 662k 3.3v 500mA switching regulator? I have used these on a lot of things lately and they run nice and cool and stable.

Any other thoughts or ideas I might need to know or could try?

Thanks. :)