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Bruce KX4AZ
I decided to pull the trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after coming across an excellent deal from a well known UK amateur radio vendor. The total kit price came to around $240 USD including shipping. Hard to beat a price like that....unless I got tricked and find out it comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!). And hopefully the shipping process won't be as slow as for things I order from Aliexpress.
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KD2OM
That sure sounds like the price of just the radio. Keep us
posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I decided to pull the trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after
coming across an excellent deal from a well known UK amateur radio
vendor. The total kit price came to around $240 USD including
shipping. Hard to beat a price like that....unless I got tricked
and find out it comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!). And
hopefully the shipping process won't be as slow as for things I
order from Aliexpress.
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I would call the vendor and check what you are getting. It is my understanding that the BB are impossible to get, so if it is just the radio you may not be able to build a complete Kiwi radio for some time
On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...> wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the radio. Keep us
posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after
coming across an excellent deal from a well known UK amateur radio
vendor. The total kit price came to around $240 USD including
shipping. Hard to beat a price like that....unless I got tricked
and find out it comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!). And
hopefully the shipping process won't be as slow as for things I
order from Aliexpress.
-- Rob Robinett AI6VN mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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If it was from ML&S that is the full kit. I have purchased from them before.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
From: wsprdaemon@groups.io <wsprdaemon@groups.io> on behalf of Rob Robinett <rob@...>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 10:01 AM
To: wsprdaemon@groups.io <wsprdaemon@groups.io>
Subject: Re: [wsprdaemon] Getting a second KiwiSDR
I would call the vendor and check what you are getting.
It is my understanding that the BB are impossible to get, so if it is just the radio you may not be able to build a complete Kiwi radio for some time
On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...> wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the radio. Keep us posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after coming across an excellent deal from a well known UK amateur radio vendor. The total kit price came to around $240 USD including shipping. Hard to beat a price like that....unless
I got tricked and find out it comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!). And hopefully the shipping process won't be as slow as for things I order from Aliexpress.
--
Rob Robinett
AI6VN
mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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KD2OM
Mouser has 306 BBAI in stock and 251 BB Black.
On Mar 15, 2022, at 10:04, Rob Robinett <rob@...> wrote:
I would call the vendor and check what you are getting. It is my understanding that the BB are impossible to get, so if it is just the radio you may not be able to build a complete Kiwi radio for some time On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...> wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the radio. Keep us
posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after
coming across an excellent deal from a well known UK amateur radio
vendor. The total kit price came to around $240 USD including
shipping. Hard to beat a price like that....unless I got tricked
and find out it comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!). And
hopefully the shipping process won't be as slow as for things I
order from Aliexpress.
-- Rob Robinett AI6VN mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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KD2OM
I found them. A reasonable price. They say they have cases in stock as well. Looks like a full kit, congrats.
On Mar 15, 2022, at 10:17, KD2OM <steve@...> wrote:
Mouser has 306 BBAI in stock and 251 BB Black.
On Mar 15, 2022, at 10:04, Rob Robinett <rob@...> wrote:
I would call the vendor and check what you are getting. It is my understanding that the BB are impossible to get, so if it is just the radio you may not be able to build a complete Kiwi radio for some time On Tue, Mar 15, 2022 at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...> wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the radio. Keep us
posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after
coming across an excellent deal from a well known UK amateur radio
vendor. The total kit price came to around $240 USD including
shipping. Hard to beat a price like that....unless I got tricked
and find out it comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!). And
hopefully the shipping process won't be as slow as for things I
order from Aliexpress.
-- Rob Robinett AI6VN mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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were you going to share the link Steve
On 3/15/22 10:34, KD2OM wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
I found them. A reasonable price. They say they have cases in
stock as well. Looks like a full kit, congrats.
Mouser has 306 BBAI in stock and 251 BB Black.
On Mar 15, 2022, at 10:04, Rob
Robinett <rob@...> wrote:
I
would call the vendor and check what you are
getting.
It is
my understanding that the BB are impossible to get,
so if it is just the radio you may not be able to
build a complete Kiwi radio for some time
On Tue, Mar 15, 2022
at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...>
wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the
radio. Keep us posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the
trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after coming
across an excellent deal from a well known UK
amateur radio vendor. The total kit price came
to around $240 USD including shipping. Hard to
beat a price like that....unless I got tricked
and find out it comes without a BB board
(fingers crossed!). And hopefully the shipping
process won't be as slow as for things I order
from Aliexpress.
--
Rob Robinett
AI6VN
mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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|
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KD2OM
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
were you going to share the link Steve
On 3/15/22 10:34, KD2OM wrote:
I found them. A reasonable price. They say they have cases in
stock as well. Looks like a full kit, congrats.
Mouser has 306 BBAI in stock and 251 BB Black.
On Mar 15, 2022, at 10:04, Rob
Robinett <rob@...>
wrote:
I
would call the vendor and check what you are
getting.
It
is my understanding that the BB are impossible to
get, so if it is just the radio you may not be
able to build a complete Kiwi radio for some time
On Tue, Mar 15,
2022 at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...>
wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the
radio. Keep us posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the
trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after
coming across an excellent deal from a well
known UK amateur radio vendor. The total kit
price came to around $240 USD including
shipping. Hard to beat a price like
that....unless I got tricked and find out it
comes without a BB board (fingers crossed!).
And hopefully the shipping process won't be as
slow as for things I order from Aliexpress.
--
Rob Robinett
AI6VN
mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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I bought 2 from them, total cost with freight to US was US$500
They arrive din less than 2 weeks
-Jim
On 3/15/22 14:43, KD2OM wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
https://www.hamradio.co.uk/sdr-seeed-studio/seeedstudio/kiwisdr-10-khz-to-30-mhz-web-interface-pd-13595.php
On 3/15/22 17:40, Jim Lill wrote:
were you going to share the link Steve
On 3/15/22 10:34, KD2OM wrote:
I found them. A reasonable price. They say they have cases in
stock as well. Looks like a full kit, congrats.
Mouser has 306 BBAI in stock and 251 BB Black.
On Mar 15, 2022, at 10:04, Rob
Robinett <rob@...>
wrote:
I
would call the vendor and check what you are
getting.
It
is my understanding that the BB are impossible
to get, so if it is just the radio you may not
be able to build a complete Kiwi radio for
some time
On Tue, Mar 15,
2022 at 6:58 AM KD2OM < steve@...>
wrote:
That sure sounds like the price of just the
radio. Keep us posted.
73
Steve KD2OM
On 3/15/22 13:29, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
I decided to pull the
trigger on getting a second KiwiSDR after
coming across an excellent deal from a well
known UK amateur radio vendor. The total
kit price came to around $240 USD including
shipping. Hard to beat a price like
that....unless I got tricked and find out it
comes without a BB board (fingers
crossed!). And hopefully the shipping
process won't be as slow as for things I
order from Aliexpress.
--
Rob Robinett
AI6VN
mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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|
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Bruce KX4AZ
Very surprised that my order arrived from the UK exactly seven days after I placed the order. Full kit including the BB so it was a great deal. Began setting it up yesterday with my EFHW antenna. While doing that I checked out some of the publicly accessible Kiwis in SE region of the US....so many noise-ridden waterfalls out there.
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you may find that your EFHW is prone to noise pick also
On 3/23/22 18:02, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Very surprised that my order arrived from the UK exactly seven
days after I placed the order. Full kit including the BB so it was
a great deal. Began setting it up yesterday with my EFHW
antenna. While doing that I checked out some of the publicly
accessible Kiwis in SE region of the US....so many noise-ridden
waterfalls out there.
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Bruce KX4AZ
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 01:33 PM, Jim Lill wrote:
you may find that your EFHW is prone to noise pick also
Jim, Yes, that is absolutely the case, given the coax shield serving as the counterpoise. That said, I have two common mode chokes in place, one where the coax meets the house (50 feet downstream from the EFHW transformer), and a second one where the coax meets the receiver, which makes it tolerable for my purposes. Having that full 0-30 MHz spectrum view from the KiwiSDR at this EM83 grid is going to make further antenna/feedline comparisons (such as a non-resonant dipole, active whip, MLA-30 loop, etc etc) so much easier to carry out, and give me the motivation to make it public, and/or get wsprdaemon decoding on a PI4. It just astounds me how many public Kiwis have noise-ridden, ugly waterfalls that render them barely usable. When the antenna at my "KX4AZ/T" site in MI got clobbered in December I added a "broken antenna" disclaimer, to acknowledge the poor, but still partially usable status. Had it looked as bad as some of the other pubic KiwisI wouldn't have left it running. OK, end of rant. Life is good. And long live the KiwiSDR! Bruce
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Neither of my 2 systems are great, but still far better than too
many out there. Mine is a constant battle against living in an RF
swamp such as I do.
73
-Jim
On 3/24/22 14:33, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 01:33 PM, Jim Lill wrote:
you may find that your EFHW is prone to noise pick also
Jim,
Yes, that is absolutely the case, given the coax shield serving as
the counterpoise. That said, I have two common mode chokes in
place, one where the coax meets the house (50 feet downstream from
the EFHW transformer), and a second one where the coax meets the
receiver, which makes it tolerable for my purposes. Having that
full 0-30 MHz spectrum view from the KiwiSDR at this EM83 grid is
going to make further antenna/feedline comparisons (such as a
non-resonant dipole, active whip, MLA-30 loop, etc etc) so much
easier to carry out, and give me the motivation to make it public,
and/or get wsprdaemon decoding on a PI4.
It just astounds me how many public Kiwis have noise-ridden, ugly
waterfalls that render them barely usable. When the antenna at my
"KX4AZ/T" site in MI got clobbered in December I added a "broken
antenna" disclaimer, to acknowledge the poor, but still partially
usable status. Had it looked as bad as some of the other pubic
KiwisI wouldn't have left it running. OK, end of rant. Life is
good. And long live the KiwiSDR!
Bruce
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Glen N6gn has written an application note on improving receive system noise performance which you might find useful:
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 12:45 PM Jim Lill < jim@...> wrote:
Neither of my 2 systems are great, but still far better than too
many out there. Mine is a constant battle against living in an RF
swamp such as I do.
73
-Jim
On 3/24/22 14:33, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 01:33 PM, Jim Lill wrote:
you may find that your EFHW is prone to noise pick also
Jim,
Yes, that is absolutely the case, given the coax shield serving as
the counterpoise. That said, I have two common mode chokes in
place, one where the coax meets the house (50 feet downstream from
the EFHW transformer), and a second one where the coax meets the
receiver, which makes it tolerable for my purposes. Having that
full 0-30 MHz spectrum view from the KiwiSDR at this EM83 grid is
going to make further antenna/feedline comparisons (such as a
non-resonant dipole, active whip, MLA-30 loop, etc etc) so much
easier to carry out, and give me the motivation to make it public,
and/or get wsprdaemon decoding on a PI4.
It just astounds me how many public Kiwis have noise-ridden, ugly
waterfalls that render them barely usable. When the antenna at my
"KX4AZ/T" site in MI got clobbered in December I added a "broken
antenna" disclaimer, to acknowledge the poor, but still partially
usable status. Had it looked as bad as some of the other pubic
KiwisI wouldn't have left it running. OK, end of rant. Life is
good. And long live the KiwiSDR!
Bruce
-- Rob Robinett AI6VN mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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Thanks, I have looked at that. Just waiting for snow to melt (now
gone) and spring to inspect a few things on the antennas
On 3/24/22 16:32, Rob Robinett wrote:
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Glen N6gn has
written an application note on improving receive system noise
performance which you might find useful:
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 12:45
PM Jim Lill < jim@...>
wrote:
Neither of my 2 systems are great, but still far better
than too many out there. Mine is a constant battle
against living in an RF swamp such as I do.
73
-Jim
On 3/24/22 14:33, Bruce KX4AZ wrote:
On Thu, Mar 24, 2022 at 01:33 PM,
Jim Lill wrote:
you may find that your EFHW is prone to noise pick
also
Jim,
Yes, that is absolutely the case, given the coax shield
serving as the counterpoise. That said, I have two common
mode chokes in place, one where the coax meets the house
(50 feet downstream from the EFHW transformer), and a
second one where the coax meets the receiver, which makes
it tolerable for my purposes. Having that full 0-30 MHz
spectrum view from the KiwiSDR at this EM83 grid is going
to make further antenna/feedline comparisons (such as a
non-resonant dipole, active whip, MLA-30 loop, etc etc) so
much easier to carry out, and give me the motivation to
make it public, and/or get wsprdaemon decoding on a PI4.
It just astounds me how many public Kiwis have
noise-ridden, ugly waterfalls that render them barely
usable. When the antenna at my "KX4AZ/T" site in MI got
clobbered in December I added a "broken antenna"
disclaimer, to acknowledge the poor, but still partially
usable status. Had it looked as bad as some of the other
pubic KiwisI wouldn't have left it running. OK, end of
rant. Life is good. And long live the KiwiSDR!
Bruce
--
Rob Robinett
AI6VN
mobile: +1 650 218 8896
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It seems the price on the link is above $300 USD now.
in general, is the kiwiSDR still worth getting if someone wants to set up a simple SDR on a single board computer, capable of WSPR RX etc., or are there more logical options now?
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Depends on what you want to do. Multiband wspr normally when using a KiwiSDR, with wsprdaemon doing wspr and FST4W modes on 8 bands in parallel. It is a great radio getting software updates/improvements frequently.
Alternatives are probably the Red Pitaya, at least the 14 bit STEMlab (8 bands) or the 16 bit SDRlab (more expensive this last one, but 16 bands).
Or the Hermes Lite V2 when running the 10 RX firmware and SparkSDR for the control of it. Doing all kinds of parallel digital modes. Cheaper but hard to get when there are no production rounds.
Or a SDRplay RSP1a running all bands fitting in a 10 MHz slice controlled by SparkSDR. This is 3 on high HF and 5 on low HF (or 7 if you count the different 60/80 EU or non-EU bands separately).
Or all of these in parallel, if you are so inclined
Oh not to forget the QRP Labs QDX, doing one band at a time from 80-20m including 60 and controlled by WSJTx, a very affordable kit transmitter with max 5 Watt TX. But only digi modes!
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One input from a 2X Kiwi owner.
The ongoing support and evolution of the Kiwi capabilities is really impressive. There's an active online forum and John Seamonds is really involved and active in keeping the radio growing. The wsprdaemon and kiwirecorder tools open up a bunch of new capabilities that are pretty straightforward to take advantage of, even for a Linux moron like me.
I've had my Kiwis running pretty much 24/7 for 3 or 4 yrs now with zero problems. I'd certainly have no reservations buying another.
John K5MO
Depends on what you want to do. Multiband wspr normally when using a KiwiSDR, with wsprdaemon doing wspr and FST4W modes on 8 bands in parallel. It is a great radio getting software updates/improvements frequently.
Alternatives are probably the Red Pitaya, at least the 14 bit STEMlab (8 bands) or the 16 bit SDRlab (more expensive this last one, but 16 bands).
Or the Hermes Lite V2 when running the 10 RX firmware and SparkSDR for the control of it. Doing all kinds of parallel digital modes. Cheaper but hard to get when there are no production rounds.
Or a SDRplay RSP1a running all bands fitting in a 10 MHz slice controlled by SparkSDR. This is 3 on high HF and 5 on low HF (or 7 if you count the different 60/80 EU or non-EU bands separately).
Or all of these in parallel, if you are so inclined
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