SDRplay Community Forum

Greetings!

I'm ordering my SDR in a week or two here but before this I have been listening to HF on my 2002 Grundig Satellit 800. It is a great receiver but I expect when I get my antennas on SDRPlay it is going to show me a few new things!

Any tips or tricks for an old dog out here making the leap are most welcomed!

Best,

Adam Smith
Western Washington, USA

Welcome to the growing band Adam. I've a few more years than you and my first receivers had glass things in them with a red glow inside.
I suspect that, like me, starting on SDR is going to give you a very largish shock of the most pleasant nature. These things are extremely capable but it brings with it new levels of complexity.
My advice is
1/ Don't alter any of the default settings unless you know what it's going to do.
2/ learn how to set frequency and tune up and down. --- then just enjoy it for a bit.
You will just have acquired a spectrum analyser, a very accurate frequency standard, filtering that used to cost ££££££££, and a learning experience that may take months.
There's lots of help available on here and Facebook.
Very best wishes
Roy

I'd agree with Roy. SDRUno is not the simplest SDR software, but it is designed specifically for the RSP receivers and everything (almost) can be customised to your preference. Best thing to do is to work out the basics - setting up your workspace (and storing it so it always starts up as you like it), tuning, band-hopping, gain control and the various filter widths and demodulator modes. Once you're comfortable with the basic operation you can start looking at the more advanced stuff. If you look around this site, there are links to the Facebook page and the SDRPlay/Uno Cookbook, which can be a great help in getting started.
Like Roy, I started with old valve cast-offs from various sources back in the 60's (I think I recall dinosaurs roaming the Earth) and the basic technology hasn't changed since then until modern computer power made SDRs possible. It's a massive change to face, but it's a lot of fun.

Hey fellas! Thanks so much for the info!

Is there anything similiar to Synchronous Detection on these guys or is it just called something else? I remember some rigs that had "Exalted Sideband" or some such acronym?

You're looking for Synchronous AM, that is "SAM" in SDRuno lingo. BTW, the SDRuno manual PDF does not explain much but it can be accessed conveniently via the OPTions button on the SDRuno main window and of course via the SDRPlay entry in your Windows Start Menu (or its equivalent in recent Windows versions).

...and when in SAM mode, you can select which sideband to listen to AND the filter width. I find this technique very handy for hearing weak AM BC stations which are tight against stronger ones. Here in NW England, we have a weak daytime signal from Manx Radio (1368) on the Isle of Man right up against a whopping signal from Asian Sound (1377) from just 2 miles away. Using conventional AM you wouldn't even hear Manx. SAM with LSB selected brings it to listenable quality with no sign of splash from 1377.

Fantastic news and answers! The only thing I really would hate to lose is my AM Sync no matter how much software power, rejection and sensitivity there is. I'm just used to operate with that little option!

I'm getting excited on which one to choose (Probably SDRplay) as I already have antennas ready to go!