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Monthly Archives: November 2020

World Radio TV Handbook 2021 is out and praises the SDRplay RSPdx

The 2021 edition of the World Radio and Television Handbook is now available for purchase and includes a review of the RSPdx  in which the author comments  ‘This receiver excels at all types of monitoring whether it be broadcast, amateur, utility, L-Band and more. With decent aerials there is not much out there than can escape the SDRplay RSPdx. It impresses with its good overall performance, wide band coverage, small footprint, all mode reception, and powerful free software; it is also so reasonably priced that it’s hard to think what’s not to like about this great little receiver. ‘

Click here to read the review 

To get a copy of the handbook – go to www.wrth.com

 

SDRplay Videos showing new SDRuno Plugins

Here are three new videos showing the capabilities of recently released SDRuno compatible plugins.

The first shows the latest version of FRAN – a FRequency ANnotation programme, developed by Eric Cottrell – it can read SWSKEDS or .s1b memory bank files and display the active stations from the files on the main spectrum window.    This is an example of a Community Plugin

FRAN complements the DX Cluster demo plugin provided by SDRplay. This programme displays DX cluster callsigns on the SDRuno spectrum display. A DX cluster is a network of computers, each running a software package dedicated to gathering, and disseminating, information on amateur radio DX activities. With this plugin you can overlay the DX cluster callsigns as they pop up.   There’s a choice of how long you let them display and you can control the way in which they appear.

Here we show it successfully tuning in to a US station flagged by the cluster. (The receiver was in the UK):

Finally there’s this new video showing the new plugin for interfacing the software suite from Black Cat Systems to SDRuno enabling DXToolbox, HF WEFAX and Slow Scan TV decodes:

Black Cat Systems has a range of software available – more information can be found at: https://blackcatsystems.com/

For more about the SDRuno plugin system for both users and potential developers, go to https://www.sdrplay.com/plugins/

Calling university lecturers wanting to teach radio communications to science undergrads

Updated November 22nd 2020

If you or anyone you know teaches STEM subjects at undergraduate level and wants to inspire a deep interest in radio communications, then the new SDRplay-sponsored teaching materials provide  a great way to do this. It’s a ready-to-teach one term module (11 hours of lectures and engaging lab sessions)  Teachers can register and download free materials (PowerPoint (editable) lecture slides, notes, hand-outs, lab-set-up guides, video materials, tests and so on) and join a forum of like minded teachers to share experiences and support from the authors of the materials.   The official launch webinar took place on Thursday 19th November when the authors talked through the materials and answered questions submitted via live YouTube chat.  Click here to view the event: https://youtu.be/gv664PcDnh0

Full details of the course can be found here: https://www.sdrplay.com/understandingradio/

Download and print the Course brochure: https://www.sdrplay.com/resources/URCInfoSheet.pdf

 

SDRuno V1.40.2 released

SDRuno 1.40.2 has been released. This is to fix the ini file corruption issue we posted about recently, but it also introduces some new features and more plugin functionality. Release notes can be found here:  https://www.sdrplay.com/docs/SDRplay_SDRuno_Release_Notes.pdf
Please note that the SDRplay plugins and community plugin installers that are included in the SDRuno installer are also available on our downloads page and will be updated when needed independently of SDRuno. If you are installing them separately, please make sure you get the right installer for the version of SDRuno you are using.
Added
• Hotkey to start/stop stream – P.
• Support for loading and saving profiles (supports multiple VRXs).
• Profile file area in the memory panel below the memory bank file area.
• Button in the memory panel to store profiles.
• Checkbox in the main panel settings to disable and hide the Bias-T function.
Changed
• LO and VFO for VRX#0 now separate on start-up and when loading a profile.
• ini file is only saved when SDRuno closes cleanly.
• Halved the size of the memory bank file are in the memory panel to accommodate the profile file
area.
• Overhaul of the minimise and restore functionality (now only main panel appears in the taskbar
when minimised).
• Plugin Control panel look/feel now matches the rest of the SDRuno panels.
• The default directory for community plugins is now the same as in the Community Plugins installer
for ease of use.
Fixed
• Memory panel being flagged as modified when it is not.
• Check for new version can sometimes get something other than the version number.
• HDR 630m band was non-functional due to the wrong centre frequency being used.
• If decimation had been set before the 10m band was selected, the decimation value would be
wrong after the band was unset.
• Cancelling wav file open window on start-up allowed SDRuno to continue to open with no input.
• SDRuno could crash on start-up if the memory bank referenced to be open was empty.
• Clicking on the frequency title in the memory panel to sort the frequency list could cause the
current band to be unframed.
• The Plugin Control panel will no longer allow the SDRuno Plugins folder to be selected when
using the right click method as community plugins should be stored elsewhere.
• Manual frequency entry after being band framed did not disable the notch filter.
• Pausing a memory scan could make it impossible to un-pause.
Known Issues
• SP2 CWAFC drift issue (Zoom/window size/freq display)
• IF output mode disabled SP1 spectrum mouse clicks
Plugin information can be found on: https://www.sdrplay.com/plugins/
 

See how SDRplay’s RSPs are made

Many thanks to Matt from Tech Minds who has made this video which shows how RSPs are designed and made:

This video had proved very popular and so here’s a bit more about Walkbury Electronics in Peterborough who were our first of our two UK manufacturing partners. Walkbury continue to manufacture the RSPduo for SDRplay.  (Our other partner is TT Electronics in Hartlepool )  We are grateful to both these great companies for managing to build RSPs throughout the Covid-19 pandemic this year.

SDRplay Limited announces a new Radio Communications course for under-graduate teaching as part of its SDRplay Educators Programme

Alton, England; 5th November 2020 – SDRplay Limited announces a new Radio Communications course for under-graduate teaching as part of its SDRplay Educators Programme

“Understanding Radio Communications – using SDRs” includes a rich set of teaching materials and practical exercises to help students understand the key elements of radio communications. This one semester course provides teaching materials and practical workshops that lead students from the first switch-on of a Software Defined Radio (SDR), through to signal reception, demodulation, and finally, successful communications with satellite signals.

As well as guides and set-up instructions for teachers for both the lecture and lab sessions, there are downloadable teaching materials in both PowerPoint and .pdf formats. There are video guides showing the lab activities and there’s a dedicated new forum for teachers to share experiences and to get help from the authors.

The course was created in association with academic partners Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering whose intention was to create a practical course that will inspire Science, Technology and Engineering students to nurture their understanding of radio communications.

The course started life as a 12-hour optional course for third-year bachelor students in Aerospace Engineering and has been broadened to make it suitable for all students that have some basic knowledge of signal theory and signal processing. It can either be run as an additional or optional “module” or adapted to be included as materials within a full year radio communications subject.

Robert Owen, University Programme specialist at Essaimage who guided the academic team, says, “I have spent 26 years in global “University Programmes” and across this time I’ve learned two fundamental principles. The first is that teaching materials must fill an essential need in the curriculum, not just be something that business thinks should be taught. And secondly, that the best teaching materials come from academics not commercial trainers. This course, Understanding Radio Communications, fulfils these principles generously, and I am proud to be associated with it!”

The details of the course structure can be found by going to https://www.sdrplay.com/understandingradio/

Key dates:19th November 2020, 1300 UTC – SDRplay and Course developers, Lorenzo Frezza and Paolo Marzioli from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, (DIMA), Sapienza University of Rome, will host a webinar presenting the programme and taking questions via YouTube chat. Click here for the link: https://youtu.be/gv664PcDnh0

About the SDRplay Educators ProgramThe SDRplay Educators Program provides practical encouragement to teachers around the world so that they can use SDRplay’s SDR receivers in courses and student projects. The focus is on providing the key elements needed to teach a course: a suitable hardware platform at a reasonable price, ready access to SDRplay software, effective technical support, and excellent teaching materials that serve genuine teaching needs. The SDRplay Educators Programme is open to all members of academia, see

https://www.sdrplay.com/educators/

About SDRplaySDRplay limited is a UK registered company and consists of a small group of engineers focusing on affordable SDR receivers for a growing hobbyist, industrial, educational and scientific community. SDRplay announced its first product, the RSP1 in August 2014 and manufactures using exclusively UK subcontract manufacturing facilities.

For more information visit the SDRplay website on www.sdrplay.com

Follow SDRplay on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and Blog.

SDRplay Press Contact:

Jon Hudson               jon.hudson@sdrplay.com                        +44 (0)1223 911044

Above: the downloadable kit for teachers includes set-up guides for practical classes, as well as a full set of powerpoint presentation materials