Friday, February 19, 2010

PMSDR - a new low cost SDR receiver

Recently I bought a new General Coverage HF receiver the PMSDR.
This professional designed and produced Software Defined Radio product is created by IW3AUT and produced by RF System in Italy.


 

 

Having used the receiver now for a few weeks I must say that the price
/quality ratio is very good.
It is a very sensitive receiver and outperforms my other receivers Racal RA17L and the Icom R71E.
After having read also the very positive comments and tests as described on several German Ham-forums this receiver is a serious competitor of the
SDR-IQ and the bigger ones like Perseus and SDR-14.

 

Above a screenshot during a early morning TA-DX listening session with some weak TA signals on 1290,1300,1310,1320 and 1330.
(= from a recorded file)



About the PMSDR:
The PMSDR is a Software Defined Radio for the entire VLF-LF-HF field.
The principle of this receiver based on QSD as a mixer that mixes the RF
signal to an intermediate frequency signal in the audio field. The
intermediate frequency signals are further processed by the soundcard of
your PC or notebook. The sound card digitizes the signals after they are
further processed by the SDR software. The SDR software filters and
demodulate the signal.

The PMSDR characterized by its high sensitivity that over the entire
frequency (100 kHz - 55 MHz) is almost constant (ca. 0.25 uV/-120 dBm,
switched filter, 2400 Hz bandwidth (S + N) / N = 3dB).
Such sensitivity is achieved without making the entire preamplifier dynamic
area of the sound card is used. Even with a standard 16 bit sound card, as
these are built into the current generation notebooks
and PCs, values around 100 dB are achieved!
All these values are achieved by using low-noise OPA's and a modern
programmable oscillator.
The effect of the PMSDR has 4 band-pass filters to 30 MHz, these filters
can also be disabled.

The band-pass filters work less well below 700 kHz, there are additional
band filters is recommended.

You only have one PC with a soundcard (stereo input) and a USB jack. The
receiver is powered via the USB port.

The ultimate control of the receiver is powered by the
supplied program WinRad "under Windows XP and Vista, but it also works with" PowerSDR-IQ "and the Linux operating" SDR-SHELL ".
Updates through the USB port can easily be uploaded.

The kit is delivered pre-assembled. All SMD components (175 pieces) are
mounted and the microprocessor is preprogrammed.
You only need to assemble the conventional components such as LEDs, strips, connectors, crystal etc.

The size of the entire receiver are only 10 x 8 x 4.6 cm (W x L x H) and
comes complete with software, housing, cables and LCD display.
The various components can also be supplied separately.



As I am not a technician myself my local PMSDR supplier was willing against some small additional costs to build a complete lCD-box as per above picture.

Quick Band Selection

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

WTNI-1640 AM Biloxi, MS - new format

It goes very badly in recent weeks with the TA-DX.
Only the regular East Coast stations are coming in but still weak on a noisy band.
Another very poor morning on MW and the only thing of interest I heard
was WTNI with their new slogan on 1640 Khz at 0715z.
WTNI has changed their talk progamme in Sports ESPN Radio.

They IDed now as Sports Radio 1490/1640 The Team with ESPN.

Clip:

1640 WTNI ESPN 27.1.2010 0715z

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Sporadic E - TV Band 1

Through a ES-warning in the German
UKW-Forum I could experience
my first Sporadic Es-TV Band1 opening in 2010.
This afternoon between 1515 - 1800z, there were a strong Es opening to Latvia and Russia in my location.

This were logged:


Channel R1 - TV7 - Kuldiga/Latvia














Channel R2 - RTR Rossija - Proletary/Russia with new logo

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

13th. January, 2010

It has been several weeks since I've posted my latest logs.
But due to the lack of MW conditions there was nothing of interest to report.
Conditions were again very average this morning the only thing of interest was to receive 2 personal firsts.

1150 CKOC, Hamilton ON - Oldies 0810z
1280 WHTK, Rochester NY - FoxSport 0700z



Saturday, December 26, 2009

26th. December, 2009

Unfortunately not much to report in recent weeks.
The MW conditions were a bit down and only the regulars are heard but still had a few *personal first* logged the past few days:

820 CHAM, Hamilton ON
1310 WLOB, Portland ME
1540 WDCD, Albany NY
1570 CKMW, Winkler MB
1650 KCNZ, Cedar Falls IA
1670 CJEU, Gatineau QC *NEW*

Hopefully MW conditions will improve the coming days so maybe
I am lucky to log some nice TA stations during this xmas-holiday.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

10th. December, 2009

Again some really strong signals this morning with
ie CHQR, never had this one so strong, CHRB and a personal first from 1550 CBE.

770 CHQR, Calgary AB
770 CHQR Calgary 10.12.09 0800.mp3
950 CKNB, Campbellton NB
1020 KDKA, Pittsburgh PA
1120 KMOX, St. Louis MO
1140 CHRB, High River AB
1150 WHBY, Kimberly WI
1250 CJYE, Oakville ON
1540 KXEL, Waterloo IA
1550 CBE Radio One, Windsor ON
1580 CKDO, Oshawa ON
1630 KCJJ, Iowa City IA

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

9th. December, 2009

It was quiet on this page since November 20. This had everything to do with the bad TA conditions of recent weeks. The MW band produced only weak and noisy signals at that time.
But yesterday and today conditions improved and I observed much stronger and stable signals.
Especially this morning was good and among the strong regulars I heard Calgary on 770 and 960 Khz for a short period around 0744z.

Some logs from this morning:

700 WLW, Cincinnati OH
760 WJR, Detroit MI
770 CHQR, Calgary AB
800 CKLW, Windsor ON *FIRST*
800 VOWR, Saint John's NL
890 WLS, Chicago IL
950 CFAM, Altona MB
960 CFAC, Calgary AB *FIRST*
1320 CJMR, Mississauga ON
1620 KOZN, Bellevue NE
1680 WTTM, Lindenwold NJ
1680 WTTM 09.12.09 0700.mp3