Anybody else here admit to owning/using these?
If so then perhaps a thread to discuss kit and listeninng experience.
Just dug out and begun using my Lowe HF250 HF/Comms receiver. Currently connected to a long random wire running from study window to pergola at end of garden. Maybe 25 metres. Picking up Oceanic ATC from Shanwick and at night Santa Maria (Azores) and Gander/New York as well as Shannon and Gander/NY Volmet. Briefly in evenings I'm picking up something on another Volmet frequency shared between Sydney, Singapore and a few other places. Spoken in Oz accent but mostly referring to airfields in 'Indo China' etc.
Also got a list of a dozen or so NDB (MF airnav beacons) which give me some practice in listening to morse.
My other sets are an ancient Yupiteru VT225 used mainly for airband and a Sony Wavehawk also airband but covers marine too.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 24 Sep 14 at 12:19
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Still have a Realistic hand held scanner.
Not really used these days as I have moved on to using a cheap USB TV card as a wideband reciever on a pc.
Known as SDR (software defined radio).
Opens up listening to a whole new level as I can see a radio spectrum and not just what I am tuned into.
Still mainly use it only for airband and FM Dxing though.
Everything else has gone digital which I am quite happy about really (so I cant get acused of listening to emergency services etc).
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I've seen SDR demonstrated several years ago at Ham shows but it used WinRadio or similar kit costing £££. No idea it was now available for low cost.
What make of card and what do you use for an aerial?
Desktop or lappy?
A quick Google found reference to a $20 card in the States but I assume yours came from UK?
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laptop with at least pentium 4 (needs horse power to run).
Any USB TV card that has a RTL820 tuner chip inside but here's the one I brought :-
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009VBUYA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Only £10
As for software I use SDR# (SDR Sharp)
sdrsharp.com/
The last thing you would need to do is to put the drivers on for the SDR software to work with the TV card but there are instructions on how to set this up.
With this setup the frequency range is from 28Mhz to 2.3Ghz so quite a coverage of frequencies.
I have spent many an evening tuning around, listening to FM radio and aircraft but there is more out there than just what I mentioned.
My aerial is a j-pole tuned for 2 meters fitted at the apex of my house.
I have also had a little dabble in frequency upconverters to shift the whole shortwave band to 150Mhz so I can use the SDR radio to tune numerous stations.
It kind of works ok for the stronger shortwave stations but not the weaker signals.
So good luck, it's a lot cheaper than it used to be
Last edited by: diddy1234 on Wed 24 Sep 14 at 14:07
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The Amazon link's not working. Is it the August DVB205 (matches the £10 pice point but not clear which chipset it is.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 24 Sep 14 at 14:16
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Ahh found a Keedox now that specifically mentions its SDR capability.
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Ta, were on same hymn sheet now!!
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no probs.
These sorts of gadgets are quite rewarding but you do have to know a few things (like gain AF and RF etc) so get these working well.
After using a SDR radio, conventional radios feel so limiting to use mainly because with SDR you can 'see' the RF spectrum (up to 3.2Mhz) at any time outside of the frequency tuned to.
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Still got my air band scanner, but sold off most of my stuff by 1983 when I relinquished my ham license. (last to go was my Yaesu FT 1000) But it still gets me from time to time, I have urges to get up on the roof and festoon it with wires and co-linears.
But if SDR is that cheap I might dabble again
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 24 Sep 14 at 14:50
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As I'm now deaf, no current recommendations on receivers.
But, quite a lot of kit has a wide open front end and nearness to a legitimate broadcasting station on medium wave can spoil the results well into the short wave bands. An Antenna Tuning Unit will greatly improve matters, I used one made from bits of a T1154 that cost me 50p from a radio rally (I know what I'm looking at with electronic junk - I do hold a full UK amateur transmitting licence).
With the long wire (about 120 feet of wire) tuned to it, I could get 3 volts of Radio 5 in St Albans from the Brookmans Park transmitting station. Sort of illustrates why a receiver with an untuned aerial has a hard job even at that distance.
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Sold my AoR 8000 years ago. I used it all the time when I was 'in the trade'. Phone hacking is nothing new - it just changed in nature after the big switch from analogue to digital.
I've still got a Sony Air 8 that works excellently here at 1,000ft on a south-facing slope that gives me most of SW France. I feel a bit guilty that my mint condition Sony ICF2001D is languishing in its original packaging in the attic - where I still have a very good longwire.
I did pick up a mint Panasonic RF-B60 for one euro at a car boot sale back along and that is good for an occasional play session.
Sorry to hear you're now deaf, SlidingPillar. Would you like to buy a very smart diesel Honda?
Last edited by: Mike Hannon on Thu 25 Sep 14 at 11:20
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>>Sold my AoR 8000 years ago
That's got me thinking about a new scanner, either the 8000's successor, 8200, or the equivalent Icom , the IC R20. Reviews suggest both are excellent on airband which is my main interest. The old Yupi 225 was and still is very good in that area but it needs constant TLC and is irreplaceable.
The Sony Wavehawk (ICF SC1) is a bit deaf by comparison. Tried a better aerial but anything with more gain than its original 'rubber duck' aerial overloads it badly. I've got a Moonraker airband aerial in the loft which the Yupi handles OK - can just catch BHX tower - but the Sony is overwhelmed and produces spurii and image signals all over the place.
>> I've still got a Sony Air 8 that works excellently here at 1,000ft on a
>> south-facing slope that gives me most of SW France. I feel a bit guilty that
>> my mint condition Sony ICF2001D is languishing in its original packaging in the attic -
>> where I still have a very good longwire.
The Air 8, or its predecessor the Air 7, was something I lusted after when it first came out. At the time most airband listeners had the near universal analogue Sharp set. A good fit in the pocket but quite difficult to tune accurately and frequencues overlapped 123.75 (Leeds) was interrupted by Shanwich cleaances then on 123.95. Digital and keypad direct entry on the Sony looked like something straight off the flightdeck!
Similarly the 2001, but that was even further from my wallet.
>> I did pick up a mint Panasonic RF-B60 for one euro at a car boot
>> sale back along and that is good for an occasional play session.
That's a nice looking bit of kit too, partiularly as you got it for nothing.
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@Slidingpillar
Thanks for those tips. Actually just bought an ATU. Its a Howes CTU8, an unpowered receive only device. The builder, C M Howes, was actually based just up the road in Eydon. Remember him advertising various kit or ready built stuff in the now defunct Short Wave Mag, think he went out of business in the late nineties.
It's proving a bit of a mixed bag. At first it seemed to provide near 100% attenuation but that turned out to be be my careless wiring of a PL239 plug; short between inner and braid. Trying again last night it certainly removes a lot of mush in the HF aviation band and sharpens up moderate/weak signals but at expense of weak/weak falling out of audibility. Getting Gander/NY Volmet well last night though and some messages from Gander oceanic too.
Below about 3khz its a liability. MW broadcast pretty well inaudible and the MF aviation nav band around 300-420khz is just dead - cannot even hear Westcott, which is just down the road.
Will keep trying.
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I did buy the 2001D new in 1994, when I realised that if I didn't move then I'd never have one. I bought it from somewhere in the Tottenham Court Road and it came with the AN1 active antenna and all the bits and pieces and books.
I bought the Air 8 - mint and boxed - for 15 quid in the UK a few years ago, when I saw it advertised in a parish magazine in West Dorset!
I have others...
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>> Still got my air band scanner,
What are you using for airband Z?
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>> >> Still got my air band scanner,
>>
>> What are you using for airband Z?
Well the one I didn't get rid of was the Signal R535, a highly regarded bit of kit in its time, and now pretty rare (and I don't think its been bettered for RF performance and audio quality)
I later supplemented that with a Uniden bearcat as it was smaller and more mobile, better for shows.
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Nice bit of kit!!
Ken Cothliff used to have one running all opening hours in his 'Air Supply' enthusiasts shop in Yeadon. I think my old LBA spotter friend Dave might still have another as his base unit at home in same neck of woods.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 25 Sep 14 at 23:39
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Z,
Does the R535 cope with 8.33mhz channel separation?
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>> Z,
>>
>> Does the R535 cope with 8.33mhz channel separation?
It scans in .1 steps, frequencies can be entered and saved in .1 steps. Being AM, the 8.30 is close enough to a 8.33
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>> Well the one I didn't get rid of was the Signal R535, a highly regarded
>> bit of kit in its time, and now pretty rare (and I don't think its
>> been bettered for RF performance and audio quality)
Just seen one of these go on the bay for £162.71. I bailed at £150.00 - bit of a newbie at this e-auction stuff.
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>> Just seen one of these go on the bay for £162.71. I bailed at £150.00
>> - bit of a newbie at this e-auction stuff.
>
Another today made £190 - clearly still a demand for them.
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SDR installed and working.
Getting a weak but audible signal on London Volmet South using the supplied antenna. BNC adapter ordered so I can connect the airband specific jobbie that's sat more or less unused in loft for years.
Took a bit of experimentation to get it going and a lot more needed before I can drive it competently.
One simple question, how does on directly enter a frequency? At the moment I'm tuning by dragging the needle across the scope.
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depending upon the software used, but if your using SDR# you can type this frequency in on the frequency read out at the top. just click on it with the mouse.
The in built Ariel is terrible. I cut the lead and put my own bnc connector on then plugged it up to my j-pole outside.
I did have to change the gain to about 20db and then the sdr works better.
the tuners front end can be overloaded quite easily so sometimes a better result can be obtained by backing off the gain.
also every usb tuner has a different offset for frequency and this may need to be manually changed.
The best way to do this is to tune to something narrow (like a Volmet frequency) and then adjust the offset frequency until the transmitted volmet is listed on the frequency.
you only need to do this once.
The RF gain and offset can be configured by selecting the configure button and this will show the current TV card with its settings underneath
Good luck youll love it
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Thanks for that Diddy. I'll have another play tomorrow after the flylead is delivered.
Need to be careful using en-route ATC or Volmet frx to check the offset as they're often transmitted from multiple sites. This provides wide coverage at lower levels but the transmitters are each offset by a few khz above/below the published frx so they signals recieved by the a/c (slightly out of sync) don't generate a heterodyne wail in the pilots' headsets.
I'll try a broadcast station for that or Birmingham's arrival information if the set is sensitive enough.
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Bumping this thread bak tp life after a year!!
Probably a question for Z but what's the difference performance/spec wise between the Signal R535 and R532?
The last few of the former to cross the Bay have gone for £250-300. Wondering if the 532 would do as good a job.
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the 532 will do a good job, the 535 is more popular because it can be modded to extend frequency coverage.
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>> the 532 will do a good job, the 535 is more popular because it can
>> be modded to extend frequency coverage.
Thanks. My main interest is civil air band so as long as that's covered I'm fine.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Fri 2 Oct 15 at 13:14
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Sherlock's recent question on Aircraft Tracking (www.car4play.com/forum/post/index.htm?f=5&t=27181) brought this thread back to mind. As I'm now looking at receiver tech seemed better to 'bump' this one.
The Realtek dongle I bought a few years ago was played with for a bit and forgotten until above thread re-kindled my interest. Found it and re-acquainted myself with SDR Sharp and had a try with HDSDR as an alternative but still found it pretty limited. Picks up same local channels as my scanners, ie those associated with the 'Daventry Sector' (130.925 and 127.105 plus others that can be separate or bandboxed) but pretty much anything else is a/c only. Just catches Birmingham's ATIS. Can tell what it is from the cadence of the very weak audio but no amount of tweaking with gain and filters gets it comprehensible.
I then came across something called SDR Play (www.sdrplay.com/) and have treated myself to an RSP1A. Only got home around 8 tonight after helping with daughter's move so not progressed much beyond set up and some basic airband listening but initial impression is very favourable. Using the 'bundled' SDRUno software (in practice a free download) I've picked out quite a lot of stuff albeit still no new 'ground' stations but the clarity of audio on anything I've heard is excellent.
Need to sit down with instruction and learn how controls work when I'm not knackered but I'm optimistic that with the manual I can make some progress.
Once I've cut my teeth on VHF airband, where I know what I'm looking for' I'll see what it does on HF/SW with a long wire or try winkling out some MF beacons - LBA on 402.5khz is the Holy Grail :-).
Then there's seeing what I can get locally on ADSB....
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Radio Scanners and Receivers - diddy1234
