[Premium-Rx] Receivers for MW and 160 meters.

[w3sz]

Hello, All!

It would be a mistake for anyone to dismiss the value of **Linrad**  
because I mentioned that I used it with a simple front end and PTS  
synthesizer for LO and got excellent performance.  I don't think anyone on  
the list would make such a mistake, but I thought I should state this just  
in case I am wrong on this point.

In addition to using that combination [Linrad/simple front end/PTS] for  
the other purposes I mentioned in a previous post, I also used it as my  
144 EME receiver for 2 years and it very much outperformed my combination  
of Elecraft K2/SSB Electronics Transverter, which far exceeded the  
performance of the FT1000MP/SSB Electronics Transverter, of course.  The  
SDR-1000 mentioned by someone else [and the reason for my post] isn't in  
the same league as ANY of these; I tried it and moved on.

But for the past couple of years I have coupled Linrad [written by Leif  
SM5BSZ] with hardware designed by Leif SM5BSZ to use specifically with  
Linrad for 144 MHz EME use.  This hardware is available from  
Antennspecialisten. It has been an even better performer than the simple  
front end that I used before.  Check out Leif's hardware designs, thoughts  
on receivers, etc at:

http://antennspecialisten.se/~sm5bsz/pcdsp/genradio.htm is a general  
discussion by Leif on receiver hardware.

For reasons that he discusses Leif uses a multiple conversion receive  
chain.
http://www.antennspecialisten.se/sm5bsz/linuxdsp/optrx.htm discusses this  
and other aspects of his hardware design

http://www.antennspecialisten.se/en/ham/WSE/WSERX2500_spec.html gives some  
specs of the 2.5 MHz to baseband converter
http://www.antennspecialisten.se/sm5bsz/linuxdsp/rxiq/opt2500.htm gives  
some details and more specs of the hardware design

http://www.antennspecialisten.se/en/ham/WSE/WSERX10700_spec.html gives  
some specs of the 10.7 MHz to 2.5 MHz converter
http://www.antennspecialisten.se/sm5bsz/linuxdsp/rx10700/rx10700.htm gives  
some details and more specs of the hardware design

http://www.antennspecialisten.se/en/ham/WSE/WSERX70_spec.html gives some  
specs of the 70 MHz to 10.7 MHz converter
http://www.antennspecialisten.se/sm5bsz/linuxdsp/rx70/rx70.htm gives some  
details and more specs of the hardware design

http://www.antennspecialisten.se/en/ham/WSE/WSERX144_spec.html gives some  
specs of the 144 MHz to 70 MHz converter
http://www.antennspecialisten.se/sm5bsz/linuxdsp/rx144/rx144.htm gives  
some details and more specs of the hardware design


Antennspecialisten will soon be releasing a module designed by Leif SM5BSZ  
to cover 1.8 to 14 MHz [Ham Bands only], for those of you interested in  
160 meters.  The LO's for all of Leif's hardware are crystal controlled,  
and he is very concerned with LO performance as well as overall system  
performance.  All of this is detailed in the pages listed here.

http://www.antennspecialisten.se/sm5bsz/linuxdsp/rxhfa/rxhfa.htm describes  
Leif's [1.8 to 14 MHz] hamband converter.  I will have one of these as  
soon as they are available.

Leif's homepage is an entry portal into the best set of amateur radio  
webpages in existence.  The URL is:

http://www.sm5bsz.com/index.htm

If you are truly interested in the technical aspects of our hobby, you  
will enjoy his pages tremendously.

He welcomes questions/comments, and his email address is available on his  
homepage.

I put the above together so that those on the list who are interested can  
find the pertinent portions of his webpages easily.

Learn and Enjoy!

73,

Roger Rehr
W3SZ




On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:31:28 -0500, Carcia, Francis A         HS  
<francis.carcia at hs.utc.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
> My spare HP 8640B cavity with a divide by 8 hanging off it looks better
> every day. I have been looking at phase noise in the RA6830 and R3030 and
> the cavity
> beats all. Now to build a tracking preselector off the cavity shaft.
> (don't get excited I'm not that crazy but it sounds cool)
> -75 dB spurs are no better than a fair synthesizer close in. The cavity
> looks about 25 dB better with the 8640 making 45 MHz. Good thing the  
> counter
> in the homebrew RX actually counts the oscillators up and down.
> Might be time to slide these premium receivers aside and pull the  
> homebrew
> back on the bench and stuff the cavity in. Good thing I never mounted the
> opto dial encoder and the synthesizer modules. 96 dB dynamic range is a  
> good
> place to start.
> Still playing with test loop filters but the HP 8640B wins every time
> in the phase noise race. Bit bashing to make an LO is like driving a  
> square
> peg
> into a round hole. fc
>
-- 
Roger Rehr
W3SZ
http://www.qsl.net/w3sz