They sent out that update yesterday to all the Lime backers with the info about removing the inductor to restore HF.
Here is a
link to a long thread discussing modification of the Lime, including multiple different modification approaches. It provides 2 "easy fixes" that consist of removing either one inductor or one inductor and one capacitor, and a third modification consisting of changing the value of four components (3 capacitors and two inductors), which provides "broadband (100KHz - 400MHz)".
In their update / email, they offered to do the "easyfix1" modification to existing or to be shipped boards for a limited time. The user must fill out a form prior to Feb 21, 2017 to be eligible. This is not a long term offer, i.e. after Feb 21, no further modification requests will be accepted (this according to their blog / email). They also offered (again) to refund the purchase for those who desired it.
The post also contains graphs of performance for unmodified and each of the modifications. My interpretation of the graph is that "easyfix2" gives the best results with minimal effort (removing 2 components). It has a slight performance dip at around 300KHz compared to the nroadband approach. However, the rest of the curve shows better performance than the other approaches. This is the modification I will do to my board.
I would also look at the "Return Loss and VSWR for Broadband Match" graph. It clearly shows that there is a relatively high loss with the Broadband Match (-12db) at frequencies up to about 500MHz.
Even with the easyfixes, the signal is at -80db at 1MHz with a 45dbFS test input. At 100Khz it's -100dbFS. So, you must realize that if your ambient noise level is above -100dbFS to -80db, you still won't hear anything. My advice: measure your ambient noise level with another radio (SDR or otherwise) to check your noise level. If it's higher than -100dbFS to -80dbFS, and you want good HF performance, look elsewhere. If you don't have an HF radio, get a friend to bring one over to your shack to measure. IMHO, it's a worthwhile simple test to perform to avoid disappointment.
73 - David, AG4F
