Airspy SDR by SDR# author

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shortwaver

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Anyone else hear about the new SDR coming down the pike, called Airspy? Looks to be a similar type stick as the Funcube, but with a lower projected cost.

Very interested......

airspy Archives - rtl-sdr.com
 

KC1UA

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I'm waiting for both it and HackRF to become available. It will be nice to be able to see 10 MHz and 20 MHz of spectrum at a time with more robust devices. All of these devices are game changers and are definitely a large part of the future of this hobby.
 

shortwaver

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It looks like Airspy will have a 12 bit adc, and HackRF will have an 8 bit adc; I wonder how much difference it will make in the selectivity and dynamic range. I'm mainly interested in a device that can receive 150khz to 2+ ghz and is similar in operation to the Commradio CR-1, with a lower cost; perhaps around $250. That has been the FunCube Pro dongle so far though I haven't had a chance to try one yet.


Looks like 2014 will be a good year for SDR!
 

Boatanchor

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Sign me up baby!

It looks like Airspy will have a 12 bit adc, and HackRF will have an 8 bit adc; I wonder how much difference it will make in the selectivity and dynamic range. I'm mainly interested in a device that can receive 150khz to 2+ ghz and is similar in operation to the Commradio CR-1, with a lower cost; perhaps around $250. That has been the FunCube Pro dongle so far though I haven't had a chance to try one yet.


Looks like 2014 will be a good year for SDR!

Sure does :)

The Airspy dynamic range pic on the Yahoo site shows roughly -120dBm to +20dBm. Looks very promising!

My main interest is in weak signal stuff, in both analogue and digital voice so raw V/UHF sensitivity
and low receiver noise are important issues for me. Hopefully, in this respect Airspy will be as good, if not better than the FCDPro+.

IMHO, I'd rather spend a few hundred $'s on a flash new SDR front end than a new $600 Uniden scanner that won't decode a lot of what I want to listen to :)
 

shortwaver

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The Airspy web page has a bit more information on it. There is also a registration so they can gauge interest.
 

BM82557

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The AirSpy website has been updated since I last visited it. Some screenshots have been added showing it being used by SDRSharp.
 

shortwaver

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Not having any insider info, and only going on some forum chat, it sounds like the Airspy may be available in 6-8 weeks. I will be buying one for sure.
 

SCPD

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Still not available and strangest messages from the developer:

"As a hobby project, I could also keep it unpublished and only share with the inner circle of friends and save myself all the communication headaches." (Yahoo)

I always thought running a business is all about "communication headaches" :)

73
Paul
PD0PSB
 
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Boatanchor

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Missed the Boat?

The longer this drags on, the higher the likelihood that some obscure Chinese manufacturer is going to release exactly the same thing for US$40 with free shipping.

If Airspy doesn't get it's act together soon, it will miss the boat and all that development and prototype work will be for naught!

After all, the proposed tuner chip-set is not exactly hard to come by in China and presumably the other necessary hardware is not that difficult to obtain either.

If there is a market for a product, someone, somewhere will produce it..
 

Forts

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Yeah... for someone that is (I assume) looking to make a few $$ off his project, he doesn't seem to be too friendly with potential customers. And hey, that's fine... It's his project and he can do with it as he sees fit. But personally I've already lost interest in this and I'll stick to my cheap dongles that work just fine. If he's this stand-offish at the design/prototype phase I'm a little concerned what support might be like down the road.
 

vince48

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Greetings,
I received a similar response as pd0psb did about month and half ago. I stayed tuned after the email insinuated that something was coming "shortly". I'm not convinced the project now will ever materialize. I'm losing enthusiasm rather quickly now. Too bad, project appeared to be very promising.

vince48
 

SCPD

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This one seems also pretty interesting:
SDRplay

At least these guys have a proper company website and don't say they'd rather offer it to friends only ;-)
(after asking you to send in all your personal data to an anonymous website, in case of Airspy)

73
Paul
PD0PSB
 
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SCPD

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SDRPlay does not support Windows 8. The AirSpy host drivers appear to work on XP, Vista, W7 and W8.
 

shortwaver

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I'll be waiting to hear some reports from any of the first in line. It sounds like it will be an interesting device to watch.
 

jdobbs2001

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This one seems also pretty interesting:
SDRplay

At least these guys have a proper company website and don't say they'd rather offer it to friends only ;-)
(after asking you to send in all your personal data to an anonymous website, in case of Airspy)

73
Paul
PD0PSB

website sucks, difficult to navigate and get info. Why not follow the KISS principle when it comes to designing a website to market a product.

If it takes more than 15 seconds to figure out WTF is going on, you are doing it wrong.

At first glance the website should quickly provide the following info.

What it is, what it costs, how to buy it.

On one page. A picture of the product, a picture of the software in action. and a link to it in action.
 
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