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Newbie questions

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 12:20 am
by wd4elg-2
SDR Play arrived today. Here is my status:

SDR Console works with default install.
SDR# does not see SDR Play unit. SDR# worked perfectly with RTL dongle monitoring ADS-B on this computer.
HDSDR does not see SDR Play unit. Suggestions?
I see a ton of birdies, sounds like a strong AM station. How can I eliminate those signals?

Thanks, Mark WD4ELG

Re: Newbie questions

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 4:31 am
by wd4elg-2
OK, I figured it out pretty quick. This message board is terrific!

Option 1 - SDR#, need 1361 or earlier plus a plug in.
Option 2 - HDSDR, downloaded the plug-in, works fine except for the numerous AM images.
Software option 3 - SDR Console. I don't see the birdies with SDR Console, so I will probably stick with it.

But I have the dreaded "center spike" in SDR Console. I am using the latest API (v1.6) and the latest EXTIO plug-in (v 3.5), which should have eliminated that center spike in SDR Console.

I cannot locate where to change the IF from 0 to some other frequency in SDR Console to try the alternate method to eliminate the center spike.

Re: Newbie questions

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 6:54 am
by sdrplay
Hi Mark,

Have you copied the API into the SDR-Console installation? SDR-Console comes with it's own copy of the API so unless you copy in the new one, it won't see it.

Stop SDR-Console

Copy C:\Program Files\MiricsSDR\API\x64\mir_sdr_api.dll to C:\Program Files\SDR-RADIO-PRO.com\mir_sdr_api.dll

Then restart SDR-Console

Best regards,

SDRplay Support

Re: Newbie questions

Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2015 7:10 pm
by wd4elg-2
I copied the API into the SDR-Console installation. No change regarding the center line carrier in SDR Console.

Mark Lunday, WD4ELG

Re: Newbie questions

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 2:11 am
by NN4F
Simon is still working on the sdrplay, and he has only just got the new API, but in my testing, if you can, run the Gain Reduction at 50-55 and up ie lower number, and decrease the visual gain ie -10 etc if thew GR is too high, I normally run my GR at 65-80 but still have the spike at the moment, if I run at 50-55 the spike will go away....

Paul - NN4F

Re: Newbie questions

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 1:30 pm
by DaveB
DC compensation is automatic in SDR Console but takes time to fully compensate.

For example on the FM broadcast band. Load up SDR Console - tune to say 87.0 (outside the band) and set it as the centre frequency. Start SDR console and you will see a huge DC spike in the centre. Watch and wait - over a period the DC spike will drop away and end up completely in the noise. The last few dB reduction comes a bit more slowly but overall it took around 40 seconds. The setting holds well for the whole of the FM band.

I've checked on the MW band on a clear channel (but with much higher noise levels) and the DC compensation can be seen to work there. Just checking through various points in the HF spectrum it looks like the optimum setting for DC compensation doesn't stay the same - it's a lot better than the initial start up spike - but then over a 20-30 seconds the residual spike reduces down to the noise. Biut unless you are hopping all over the spectrum you won't notice any fine adjustmnts being carried out automatically.

Hope that helps you to check things out.

The new API works really well - but just one general observation. In HDSDR you have to go into the option and reset the manual I/Q adjustment back to zero by pressing the reset button - otherwise the manually applied offsets mess up the auto-compensation of the API.

David

Re: Newbie questions

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2015 2:50 pm
by jon
David, you and Paul are the best. Thank you for your relentless efforts in helping make this thing good! Happy Christmas! Jon