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Re: Some updates on the HF+ Discovery
#announcements
I have had my Airspy + HF since the pre order from when first came out.
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I have never done any updates. I mostly just use as a scope. Any real value of updating for what I use it for. Is there a step by step instructions anywhere? Thanks in advance VA3AQB 🇨🇦 Alan
--
VA3AQB 🇨🇦 Alan
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Some updates on the HF+ Discovery
#announcements
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Re: Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
Brian Gregory <bdgregory@...>
Define 'Golden'. I wouldn't want to use such an antenna with an HF+ Discovery. The HF+ Discovery covers zero to 31MHz and 60 to 260MHz.
On Fri, 14 Jun 2019 11:11 Duke McKay, <hystorm@...> wrote: Greetings,
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Re: Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
When I was young (a few decades ago...) the
guru of the local ham community preached to use as coax cable for
the antennas, also for transmitting, the RG-11 instead of the
RG-8. Granted, it has a characteristic impedance of 75 ohm instead
of the 50 of the RG-8, and this causes some SWR, which can be
taken care of at the transmitter end of the cable with a so-called
"antenna tuner" (misleading name...).
The SWR, at least on the HF bands, causes slightly greater losses in the cable with respect to the 1:1 situation, which are more than compensated by the inherent lower losses of that kind of cable with respect to the RG-8. I, and many other local OMs, did follow his advice with complete satisfaction. The quest for an 1:1 SWR is an illusory one... there are many other factors to be taken into consideration...
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Re: Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
David Eckhardt
A discone that covers down to 10 MHz is mighty large! Possible that should read 100 MHz through 1300 MHz? Dave - WØLEV
On Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 10:11 AM Duke McKay <hystorm@...> wrote: Greetings, -- Dave - WØLEV Just Let Darwin WorkJust Think
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Re: Airspy HF+ (Dual Port) Firmware 2.2.0-BB did not work
This version is already rolled and working in the field. If your flash failed, erase the unit and try again.
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Airspy HF+ (Dual Port) Firmware 2.2.0-BB did not work
When I tried to run the software airspy-fmradion 0.6.10-pre0 at on the Firmware R2.2.0-BB, the software failed to initialize Airspy HF+ (old one aka Dual Port). The serial number is 0xC852A98094393FFC. I had to fall back to the Firmware R2.1.0-BB at airspy-fmradion worked without problem on R1.7.2 and R2.0.0. Any possible workaround on the R2.2.0-BB? Or should I wait for a new firmware update? 73 Kenji Rikitake, JJ1BDX
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Re: Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
hardyhansendk
Hi Are we still talking about hf+ if so just use what ever you have-the noise at hf dominates!!!. Hardy
Fra:
main@airspy.groups.io [mailto:main@airspy.groups.io] På vegne af Kenneth
Sejkora via Groups.Io
Hello Duke,
If possible, get the lowest-loss cable you can, within reason. Cable loss increases with frequency, so if you plan on doing most of your listening in the upper VHF and UHF region, cable loss can be significant, especially for longer runs of cable. However, if you spend most of your time below 100 MHz, cable loss may not be an issue, unless you have a very long cable run. Certainly the 400-series coax has very low loss, but it is thick, can be a bit troublesome to deal with, and is more expensive than other options.
Some of the purists will probably balk at my proposal, but I'll throw it out anyway. Yes, the HF+ series SDRs are designed for 50-ohm impedance, leading many ot believe you have to use 50-ohm cable. You pointed out that since you are just receiving, is may not be necessary to get the thick 400-series coax. Again, you have to consider the cable loss, especially at the higher frequencies. I would suggest you consider using quad-shielded RG-6 coax. It's inexpensive,easy to work with, easy to obtain, and has some very impressive low-loss characteristics, even at the very high frequencies. In fact, it's designed to work with satellite TV dishes, up in the 1000 to 1500 MHz range. However, you must realize that RG-6 is 75-ohm cable, as opposed to 50-ohm. Granted, this represents a "mismatch" as far as impedance goes, but since you are only receiving, I don't think the mismatch represents any real issues. The low-loss characteristics of RG-6 would likely make up for any loss due to the impedance mismatch.
Most discone antennas have a Type-N connector, so you'd need a Male-N to Female-F adapter to connect the RG-6 coax to the discone.
Good luck.
Ken,
WBØOCV East Falmouth, MA USA
On Friday, June 14, 2019, 06:11:22 AM EDT, Duke McKay
<hystorm@...> wrote:
Greetings,
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Re: Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
Kenneth Sejkora
Hello Duke, If possible, get the lowest-loss cable you can, within reason. Cable loss increases with frequency, so if you plan on doing most of your listening in the upper VHF and UHF region, cable loss can be significant, especially for longer runs of cable. However, if you spend most of your time below 100 MHz, cable loss may not be an issue, unless you have a very long cable run. Certainly the 400-series coax has very low loss, but it is thick, can be a bit troublesome to deal with, and is more expensive than other options. Some of the purists will probably balk at my proposal, but I'll throw it out anyway. Yes, the HF+ series SDRs are designed for 50-ohm impedance, leading many ot believe you have to use 50-ohm cable. You pointed out that since you are just receiving, is may not be necessary to get the thick 400-series coax. Again, you have to consider the cable loss, especially at the higher frequencies. I would suggest you consider using quad-shielded RG-6 coax. It's inexpensive,easy to work with, easy to obtain, and has some very impressive low-loss characteristics, even at the very high frequencies. In fact, it's designed to work with satellite TV dishes, up in the 1000 to 1500 MHz range. However, you must realize that RG-6 is 75-ohm cable, as opposed to 50-ohm. Granted, this represents a "mismatch" as far as impedance goes, but since you are only receiving, I don't think the mismatch represents any real issues. The low-loss characteristics of RG-6 would likely make up for any loss due to the impedance mismatch. Most discone antennas have a Type-N connector, so you'd need a Male-N to Female-F adapter to connect the RG-6 coax to the discone. Good luck. Ken, WBØOCV East Falmouth, MA USA 41.59967N, 70.56138W FN41ro
On Friday, June 14, 2019, 06:11:22 AM EDT, Duke McKay <hystorm@...> wrote:
Greetings, Purchased the Pre-order HF+Discovery. Went to purchase an Antenna from site and they are back-ordered. Have been looking at the Discone antennas with the wip. Says from 10Mhz ~ 1300. that should be golden should it not? Also, do I need or should I go with the thick 400 series coax or since its just receiving, its overkill? Thanks in advance.
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Re: Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
jdow
Did you read the specifications for the AirSpy HF+ Discovery?
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
{o.o}
On 20190613 16:20:53, Duke McKay wrote:
Greetings,
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Airspy HF+ Discovery Purchased, looking for Ant.
Duke McKay
Greetings,
Purchased the Pre-order HF+Discovery. Went to purchase an Antenna from site and they are back-ordered. Have been looking at the Discone antennas with the wip. Says from 10Mhz ~ 1300. that should be golden should it not? Also, do I need or should I go with the thick 400 series coax or since its just receiving, its overkill? Thanks in advance.
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Re: GQRX Source Hint
I just typed in ./gqrx -e Then changed the Device from Complex Sampled to HF+. Thanks to whoever provided the instructional video.
On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 1:39 AM Stephen Matthias via Groups.Io <smsteve53=gmail.com@groups.io> wrote: I found this statement in GQRX in Linux, when I open Configure I/O devices, I/Q input, Device string:
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Re: Installing AirSpy R1 on Dell E6410 ATG on Wndows Xp ?
Joe M.
That's really pushing the spec limits. Try decimation or a lower MSPS.
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I'm surprised it worked on XP at all. That's not a supported OS anymore. Joe M.
On 6/10/2019 1:12 PM, Ronen Pinchook wrote:
Hi there
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Installing AirSpy R1 on Dell E6410 ATG on Wndows Xp ?
Ronen Pinchook
Hi there
Has AnyOne succeseded to get the AirSpy working on Dell E6410 ATG or any other PC with Intel QM57 Chipset running windows XP ?
When I test the AirSpy with the AirSpy_rx Util i get 5MSPS and not 10 as it should be and the audio was intermittent in 2 times a second
rate
when I tested it in Windows7 i got 10msps and it worked OK
If someone succeded to do so I would like to get the Chipset Driver maybe it will work better then what I have
any info is welcome
Regards
Ronen - 4Z4ZQ
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GQRX Source Hint
I found this statement in GQRX in Linux, when I open Configure I/O devices, I/Q input, Device string:
file=/path/to/your/file,freq=100e6,rate=1e6,repeat=true,throttle=true /path/to/your/file: No such file or directory FATAL: can't open file Any help would be appreciated.
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Re: AstroSpy
#1420mhz
#21cm
#radioastronomy
Marcus D. Leech
On 06/09/2019 01:55 PM, David Eckhardt
wrote:
I'm very confused by your bandwidth comments here. I don't know much about SDR#, but if it shows a couple of MHz around the notional line frequency of 1420.40575MHz, and allows deep integration, then you've covered essentially ALL of the hydrogen line doppler range within the galaxy. The next reasonable "target" for an amateur setup is the emissions from our sister galaxy, Andromeda, which are up-shifted to around 1422.5MHz or so due to blue shift (Andromeda is hurtling towards us). Very long integration times would be required, due to having to deal with inter-galactic, rather than inter-stellar, distances. Here at CCERA, we operate a 21cm spectrometer, using AirSpy receivers on a 1.8m dish. Our final bandwidth is about 2MHz, which allows us to "see" features at +/- 170km/sec from the rest frequency. Our software is Gnu Radio based, rather than based on AstroSpy or SDR#. I'll likely do a write-up sometime soon.
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Re: AstroSpy
#1420mhz
#21cm
#radioastronomy
Marcus D. Leech
On 06/09/2019 02:42 AM,
erbe.joshua@... wrote:
I have the Airspy Mini and I have built a horn antenna, I'm using 2 LNA4ALLs and a 1420-1470 MHz bandpass filter in between them. I think I have picked up the hydrogen emission signal. I would like to know more about Astro Spy software. Specifically, what is it doing? What does the the integration time do? Does the program average the signal strength over the time indicated by the Integration time box?That hump is likely the hydrogen line signal. What size is your horn antenna? NRAO has a fairly full collection of tutorials on basic radio astronomy, including discussions of integration time. Also, www.radio-astronomy.org. https://science.nrao.edu/opportunities/courses/era https://www.cv.nrao.edu/course/astr534/Radiometers.html But integration of noisy signals is not a strictly-radio-astronomy thing. Used all over the place in science and communications. Based on the statistical distribution of random noise, the SNR improves roughly with the square-root of the number of samples taken, which equates directly to how long you are integrating for, and the bandwidth you're integrating over. Tmin ~= sqrt(Bw*Tau) Where Tmin is the minimal change in noise temperature you can detect, Bw is the observing bandwidth, in Hz, and Tau is the integration time, in seconds. What this means is that for weaker spectral components, you have to integrate for a longer time period to "expose" them than for stronger/brighter spectral components.
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Re: AstroSpy
#1420mhz
#21cm
#radioastronomy
David Eckhardt
1) What is the aperture of your horn? 2) How much gain do you have after the two LNA4ALL preamps? 3) What is the loss of your BPF for 1420? 4) What is you detection bandwidth? 5) What is the loss of your coaxial cable(s)? The reason for all the questions is based on our experience with a 14-foot off-boresite fed dish reflector as an antenna, a full-wave loop antenna element placed 1/4-wavelength in front of a splash plate. That is fed to (all Minicircuits) a 0.5 dB NF 23 dB gain preamp. That feeds a 1 GHz HPF to eliminate (mostly, but not completely) a near-by cell tower installation (grrrr....). The HPF feeds another preamp of the same ilk. Then some 70-feet of low loss rigid coaxial cable into the 'warm room' where we have installed roughly another 40 dB of gain. Inside, we have also installed 3 dB attenuators between active stages for impedance stabilization and gain vs. SWR stabilization. That finally feeds an AirSpy SDR. The system operates under SDR#. Our noise temperature is nominally 100 to 120 K, established (somewhat painstakingly) by several different and independent methods (not all 'calibrated' noise sources exhibit consistency in the third decimal place!!). Installation of the 1 GHz filter to get rid of a very dirty cell tower installation is responsible for half the noise temperature...... As you are aware, the H1 emission can be up to 500 to 750 kHz wide. You are detecting only a small amount of the power of the H1 emission with the SDR#-limited available max bandwidth. With this system, we are easily able to detect the H1 line with the antenna drift scanned across SDR-A* or the center of the galaxy on the SDR# RF display with no additional processing. We are also able to detect some structure in the target rather than just a 'blob'. However, until recent installation of a hack from Russian SW, we were limited to the bandwidths allowable with SDR#. That had severely limited our detection threshold of the H1 emission as most of the power from the target emission was not being gathered for analysis. With 15 or 30 kHz bandwidths under SDR#, it took post-detection processing to bring out the H1 line. With the hack which allows roughly 0.5 MHz of bandwidth the H1 line is easily visible on both the spectrum and waterfall display under SDR#. Another check of your system is that you should 'see' the LO roughly 10 MHz below (in our case) the H1 emission. We do not use AstroSpy, but, rather, the full 10 MHz (to view the LO), and 2 MHz to yield display of the H1 line on the spectrum and waterfall. The reason for that is AstroSpy does not allow for AirSpy parameter adjustments as does the 'normal' operation of the SDR under SDR#. Your trace looks much like you have detected the H1 emission, but many variables need to be considered before one can nail it. I've given you our experiences gained over some three years operation of our H1 'scope. Hopefully, it bounds you detection threshold. A good 1420 MHz low-level signal source is highly usable. I'll attach a write-up of a source I did and is published in the SARA Journal (Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers) a couple of years ago. The comb generator output in the attachment should not be connected to any efficient antenna it is highly likely to cause interference, but is a highly useful tool in setting up an H1 radio telescope. See the attachment. This installation is part of the offerings at the Little Thompson Observatory on the high school grounds in Berthoud, Colorado. It is offered as an educational tool for the school, the community along the Front Range, and physics department and is totally supported technically by us volunteers and is a completely volunteer organization. You can access us at <starkids.org>. We also annually work with a small group of STEM students on projects associated with radio astronomy. The observatory also offers 18" and 24" optical telescopes for the school and once a month to the public on "Public Star Nights". We also offer at no charge 'special events' of scientific interest to the community on a request basis. Dave - WØLEV Volunteer: Little Thompson Observatory
On Sun, Jun 9, 2019 at 10:34 AM <erbe.joshua@...> wrote: I have the Airspy Mini and I have built a horn antenna, I'm using 2 LNA4ALLs and a 1420-1470 MHz bandpass filter in between them. I think I have picked up the hydrogen emission signal. I would like to know more about Astro Spy software. Specifically, what is it doing? What does the the integration time do? Does the program average the signal strength over the time indicated by the Integration time box? -- Dave - WØLEV Just Let Darwin WorkJust Think
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AstroSpy
#1420mhz
#21cm
#radioastronomy
erbe.joshua@...
I have the Airspy Mini and I have built a horn antenna, I'm using 2 LNA4ALLs and a 1420-1470 MHz bandpass filter in between them. I think I have picked up the hydrogen emission signal. I would like to know more about Astro Spy software. Specifically, what is it doing? What does the the integration time do? Does the program average the signal strength over the time indicated by the Integration time box?
I went to the Airspy website to see if I could email them directly but it seems like this is the place to contact Airspy so I would like to hear from the company directly but if anyone else has experience with this program or knows what it does, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
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Re: Astrospy
erbe.joshua@...
I realize you posted this over 2 years ago but I'm doing some radio astronomy with Astro Spy and a small homebuilt horn antenna. I would love to compare your screen shots with mine if you still have them somewhere!
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