Request : Out of range warning

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bristolpirates
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 2:49 pm

Request : Out of range warning

Post by bristolpirates » Wed Mar 09, 2016 12:04 pm

I am using my SDR Play via SDR# on Global Tuners at times and other users come on and tune the SDR occasionally. Other users don't know what they are doing and I find occasionally somebody tries to tune out of range.

Can the out of range warning window be given a switch so that I can turn it off - but crucially still dis-allow tuning out of range?

If it appears during a GT session, I have to manually click OK to continue tuning or for the other users to continue tuning.

Actually, because I had to request that Global Tuners changes the DC rather than the selector in the SDR# window (it avoids worse problems such as tuning into the ditch at the edge of the display, or onto the DC spike), it can pop up if people try to tune well within range, depending on the position of the selector at the time. The best they can get is 200kHz with the selector just right of center. I tend to leave the selector on the right hand side of DC because I have less problems with images there if people want to listen to LW/MW/SW where the images are very very strong and annoying.
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bristolpirates
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 2:49 pm

Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by bristolpirates » Wed Mar 09, 2016 2:02 pm

A bit more on this....

How come I can still tune down to 0kHz DC and even into the minus kHz as long as the DC isn't moved too close to or beyond the center of the display?

Also, shouldn't the error box appear only when you have moved the selector below 100kHz and not dependent on where DC is in the display?

Am I getting something wrong here?
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Tech_Support
Posts: 499
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:00 pm

Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by Tech_Support » Wed Mar 09, 2016 5:38 pm

Dear Bristolpirates
You can actually tune down to DC with the RSP. In the LW/MW and SW bands, the RSP uses a block converter to up-convert the spectrum using a fixed LO of notionally 120 MHz. The synthesizer is then used to select the wanted signal. To select an input frequency of DC, the synthesizer is programmed to 120 MHz to account for the IF offset. As the block converter produces both upper and lower sidebands, it is therefore equally possible to see negative frequencies within the bandwidth of the receiver.
The RSP is only specified down to 100 KHz because of the coupling caps from the antenna. Of course you will see signals below 100 KHz, but they will be progressively attenuated as they get closer to DC.

Regarding the out of range warning, I will need to check and get back to you.

Sincerely

SDRplay Tech_Support
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sdrplay
Posts: 978
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Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by sdrplay » Wed Mar 09, 2016 6:07 pm

The upper 2GHz limit is the upper limit.

The lower limit of 100kHz can be removed by adding a registry entry (make sure HDSDR isn't running)...

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SDRplay\Settings

Add a key called LowerFqLimit and set a value in kHz as your lower allowable limit. 0 should also work.

Performance isn't guaranteed at very low kHz but it will be functional.

If you need any assistance with adding registry entries, let us know.

Best regards,

SDRplay Support
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Fractal1
Posts: 65
Joined: Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:06 am

Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by Fractal1 » Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:07 am

I'm interested in this also, if you could take us through the required registry steps, i'd be greatful.

Thanks :)
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sdrplay
Posts: 978
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Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by sdrplay » Thu Mar 10, 2016 7:25 am

To set a lower frequency limit...

Make sure the SDR application isn't running.

Extract the lower_freq.reg file from the lower_freq.zip file attached to this post.

Edit the lower_freq.reg file in your favourite text editor and change the following line to your required value...

(NOTE: The value is in HEX - make sure it is 8 digits)

"LowerFqLimit"=dword:00000032

The above example of 0x32 is 50 kHz

Once you have changed the value and saved the lower_freq.reg file, double click on it in Windows Explorer and it will save the setting to the registry. Then restart HDSDR

This will work on any SDR application that supports the ExtIO plugin.

Best regards,

SDRplay Support
Attachments
lower_freq.zip
contains lower_freq.reg registry file
(283 Bytes) Downloaded 779 times
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sdrplay
Posts: 978
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Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by sdrplay » Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:06 am

If you don't want to download the zip file, create a new text file and call it lower_freq.reg (make sure it doesn't have a hidden .txt file extension).

Then copy/paste the contents from here:

Code: Select all

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\SDRplay\Settings]
"LowerFqLimit"=dword:00000032
Modify the value to suit your requirements. Save the .reg file, double click on it in Windows Explorer and you're done.

Best regards,

SDRplay Support
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Fractal1
Posts: 65
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Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by Fractal1 » Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:36 am

Thanks, i will take it for a spin tonight. :)
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bristolpirates
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2015 2:49 pm

Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by bristolpirates » Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:25 am

This has slightly improved the situation.

In order for this to work, I have to have the selector 100kHz right of the display center. At this position, I get lots of images around 6MHz. If I have the selector further to the right I still get the issues with the error box when people want to tune to LW, but the annoying images have shifted to the left part of the display.

Can I set the registry to allow tuning below 0?
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DL2ZBK
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:24 am

Re: Request : Out of range warning

Post by DL2ZBK » Sun Mar 13, 2016 4:12 pm

Hi,
it would be nice to have a tweak for completely disabling out of range warnings. I often get out of range warnings when changing frequencies within the range, eg. from 145.000 Mhz zo 145.500 MHz.

Furthermore i read somewhere else that it is possible to tune to frequencies above 2 GHz with certain software. I know tis is experimental and out of any specification, but i´d like to give it a try. So a switch for disabling the upper limit would be nice, too.

Joerg
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