Airspy HF+ intermod

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rabid897

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I have massive MW overload on my brand new Airspy HF+ all the way up to 3.5

Is this normal for the HF+? My antenna is a OCFD and I live 10 miles from any MW transmitters.

None of my other radios or devices have this type of intermod.

Does anyone else see this?
Do I have a bad unit?

https://imgur.com/kvhrF38
 

Flatliner

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I just posted about this. Yes, it's certainly ugly down there, though apparently "normal".

Edit: I meant to mention that I, stupidly, bought TWO of them.
 

Airspy-US

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It is not normal. There are many units without that issue. You need to determine the source of the noise. Email us direct for assistance.
 

Flatliner

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It seems that there are plenty that have. The groups.io group seems to have amassed a few disappointed buyers. I wasn't expecting a great improvement from the HF+ (with all of its actually minuses), but I definitely wasn't expecting that the performance would be worse than using a Airspy R2 and a Spyverter - which is what's happened.
 

prcguy

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I don't have an Airspy HF+ but do have a new SDRplay RSP2pro which is kind of similar. If I run it with gain maxed out and my larger antennas (133ft OCFD) it will overload on MW. Backing the gain down fixes things and it works quite well. Does the Airspy have a gain control or attenuation you can engage?

I live between a couple of 50kw stations in LA, KFI at 640KHz and KNX at 1070KHz plus a foreign speaking station just a couple of miles away and they all come in around 60dB over S9.
prcguy
 

mbott

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I just posted about this. Yes, it's certainly ugly down there, though apparently "normal".

Definitely not normal. THe Airspy HF+ cleaned up my LW / MW reception from what I see with my SDRplay RSP2. I'd try a choke or two on the USB cable as my first step.

--
Mike
 

Flatliner

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And I'm willing to bet that a few of the few are the usual "Youssef hurt my feelings, so his hardware sucks" trolls.

M

To attempt to delegitimise the complaints of legitimate purchasers by referring to them as "trolls", seems straight out of the book of Trump with his claims that objections are "fake news".
 

Flatliner

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I don't have an Airspy HF+ but do have a new SDRplay RSP2pro which is kind of similar. If I run it with gain maxed out and my larger antennas (133ft OCFD) it will overload on MW. Backing the gain down fixes things and it works quite well. Does the Airspy have a gain control or attenuation you can engage?

I live between a couple of 50kw stations in LA, KFI at 640KHz and KNX at 1070KHz plus a foreign speaking station just a couple of miles away and they all come in around 60dB over S9.
prcguy

The RSPs and the Airspys will overload on too much signal.

What is to note though was the claim of no need for a gain control on the HF+. I thought that, as did others, that that may be a tad over-confident and a little arrogant. So, no, there is no gain control to back off, for the HF+. Now it seems that there are complaints about signals appearing in places that they shouldn't. The recommendation seems to be to use attenuation on the antenna input. It's good advice, though a ridiculous situation and completely kills the sensitivity.
 
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Flatliner

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Definitely not normal. THe Airspy HF+ cleaned up my LW / MW reception from what I see with my SDRplay RSP2. I'd try a choke or two on the USB cable as my first step.

--
Mike

Hi Mike,

It's already double choked. I got an ebay USB cable marketed towards the Airspy crowd. It did make a surprising improvement on many of the repeating lines and better than the single-choked cable that came in the box.

I saw quite a difference between the RSP2 and the RSP1a too with a twin-choked A/B ebay cable. Though even without chokes, the cheaper RSP1a actually looks better than the older, though more expensive, RSP2. It is damn good value that RSP1a.

It's shame also that the bandwidth on the HF+ isn't wide enough for MW in its entirety. I can't even dedicate it to weather sats as it can't get the whole band in there either. Kinda regretting buying two too as I admit that I got sweeped up on the hype. I'll move one on and see where we are in a few weeks on the other. Right now, there is infinitely more fun with an R2 and Spyvertor or with the RSP1a, than this little brick. Shame.
 

mbott

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Flatliner,

I was pretty much set on the Airspy HF+ before the RSP1A was announced. Figured the HF+ would make a nice upgrade to the RSP1 and I'll keep the RSP2 available. So far, that is still the plan.

As for the BW of the Airspy HF+, It will take a bit of getting used to 768kHz. When I first ran the RSP1, I used the entire BW. Over time, I slowly backed the BW down to 2meg. SDR Console V3 works with both the HF+ and the RSP2 so I use it for my comparisons. However I am working with the SDR# software, too.

Hope everything gets sorted for you.

--
Mike
 

Flatliner

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Airspy-US

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Lief also said "The HF+ is a significant step forward as I have shown in previous videos, but it is not a step big enough to make external filters unnecessary."

That said, We are sure few will be disappointed that it will not outperform units costing 6 times as much. That still makes the HF+ an excellent value.

The great thing about SDR is that most of the magic happens in software, and the HF+ is brand new. There will be many improvements likely while other units may be many years old and all the limits are pushed as far as they will go.
 

ratboy

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I have a homebrewed BC Band killer filter I built years ago to keep a nearby station from trashing most of my HF radios. Only my NRD-515 seemed immune. It didn't cost much and I was amazed at how it cleaned up the background noise on the affected radios. I see there are now small SMA connector equipped filters being sold now, like the one on this page.

https://www.rtl-sdr.com/buy-rtl-sdr-dvb-t-dongles/
 

Forly192

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I’m not posting to pile on, as it were, but as a soon to be owner of the HF+, what should I look for to check and make sure the unit that I receive has no issues that are outside of the designer’s advertiszed/intended engineering tolerances?

Or simply put, that the unit is not an exception with issues.

Again, I’m looking forward to getting this product and it seems great, but I would like to know what to look for so I know for sure that I’m getting what I’m supposed to be getting in terms of performance.

I have already taken the above exchange into consideration.

Thanks.
 

Flatliner

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Lief also said "The HF+ is a significant step forward as I have shown in previous videos, but it is not a step big enough to make external filters unnecessary."

That said, We are sure few will be disappointed that it will not outperform units costing 6 times as much. That still makes the HF+ an excellent value.

The great thing about SDR is that most of the magic happens in software, and the HF+ is brand new. There will be many improvements likely while other units may be many years old and all the limits are pushed as far as they will go.

To write that "We are sure few will be disappointed that it will not out-perform units costing 6 times as much" is a red herring. Though, as you've brought it up, as it is, in some situations, the HF+ isn't out-performing a $5 TV dongle.

Anyway, the, very legitimate complaints, are about the HF+ not performing as well as the claims in the advertisements - the very adverts that have since been appended - though are still a gross exaggeration of its real-world performance.

Very poor VLF.
A lot of images on HF
Overloading
Spurs
TETRA images on VHF airband.

You're right though. Leif did say "The HF+ is a significant step forward as I have shown in previous videos, but it is not a step big enough to make external filters unnecessary." and thank you Lief for making this very important point. But that isn't what's been said ad-infinitum by Airspy itself.

Youseff, the frontman of the company has made, among others, these claims:

"Sensitivity is unaffected by strong signals".

Since shown to be untrue.

"No external band aid filters are required".

Since shown to be untrue. In fact, everyone is now claiming quite the opposite.That line was actually supplied to all of the resellers and is still present on several of their websites and since removed from others.

With respect (and many know that you are actually an active part of the community and have, in the past, been very helpful to buyers) as you are a reseller, you too are making money from us, Most are more inclined to listen to the Leifs and Adams of the Radio world than those making hard cash from us all.
 
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Flatliner

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Lief also said "The HF+ is a significant step forward as I have shown in previous videos, but it is not a step big enough to make external filters unnecessary."

And, it seems, that you too have the same claims on your site. So, are you going to remove the "No external band aid filters" line from your sale page, noting that you too have acknowledged that external filters ARE unnecessary?

And while you're at it, the "Alias and image free" line is pile of nonsense as well, so that should go too. Seeing TETRA from UHF move in the opposite direction across the screen when viewing VHF, isn't a feature.
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