SDR radios have an incredible W I D E front end. Therefore, put a pre-selector before your coax gets to the radio. They don't do well for field day where close proximity RF fields abound. Too bad the Peaberry went away.
Just purchased one of these (used but like new) from fellow ham and am VERY interested in the device mentioned at the end of the video (which I am guessing is a Raspberry Pi pre-programmed to turn the SDR into a complete rig). More info? Also interested in knowing which amplifiers can work with a rig with such low power output and bring it up to, say, 100W. (Due to the FCC's silly 15dB limit, most amps seem to need a lot more than 5W.) I understand that HobbyRF makes one but am also interested in alternatives such as Xiegu.
It only takes 13 dB to go from 5W to 100W. The lack of sufficient gain in any given amplifier is the limiting factor here, not "the FCC's silly 15dB limit".
Only for a Windows-Platform? Not really worth to get one. When the software gets more compatible to other solutions maybe. Here is the Kiwi SDR a got example for, how it should work.
Agreed. Are there any decent SDR DSP software programs that can run on other platforms than Windows? I am considering trying out an SDR rig and would like to know. Run only Linux here. 73 W3PX
The device mentioned towards the end of the video is PiSDR by Christos SV1EIA https://www.pi-sdr.com/ . It is an interface that converts older style USB or parallel port controlled SDR rigs to OpenHPSDR (like ?) protocol which connects through an Ethernet interface - the network port of Raspberry Pi (OpenHPSDR protocol is supported by a large number of mature SDR software like OpenHPSDR Thetis, OpenHPSDR mRXps, SparkSDR and others). The interface works really well ! (I have used it with FlexRadio SDR-1000 and Christos's own version of PowerSDR mRX).
Not so. It's easy to give an amplifier more gain; only the FCC rule prevents it. What's more, many amps - especially ones with maximum PEP of more than 100W - won't accept 5W on the input at all. That's why I am interested in hearing about ones that will. I'm specifically interested in the Xiegu X125B, because it is meant to accept input from QRP rigs and would get close to that silly limit. (I understand that the X125B has a manual band switch, but it'd be nice if the SDR were capable of providing bandswitching signals using the Icom voltage level convention.)
Nonsense. If a manufacturer offered an amplifier with 13 dB gain you could get 100 W with 5W drive and it would be perfectly legal according to the FCC requirement. Do the math and don't blame the FCC for the lack of amplifiers that will give you the required 13 dB gain.