Airspy HF+discovery

[merlin]

I got my new computer station up and running and will be adding an Airspy HF+discovery to the lot.
Seems there are no OEM drivers, but found 2 , aftermarket. One is winusbcompat. The other is SDR# x86.
I am running SDR#r , so question is what may be the best driver for my setup.

 

[dlwtrunked]

AirSspy under Windows do not require any driver for SDR#. It is one of the thinks nice about them. I guess you mean a program to run the AirSpy (this is not called a driver). SDR# is my favorite but not for some. I take it your machine is an old x86. Note that the SDR# or Airspy website has an extio file that you can put in the folder for HDSDR or other programs to use it with them. Get it working with SDR# first.

 

[merlin]

OK, Just from one of the blogs, there is mention of some incompatibility on windows 10.
What I installed was the airspy sdr# studio. That part works quite well.
Yea, with the EXTIO, it works good with my NOO dongle as well.
I questioned that because for the years, I have never heard VHF and UHF so dead, as in nothing.
This new machine is an HP workstation, Zeon cpu, 64 Gb ram. 1 Tb SSD drive. The machine on the left.
One on the right is an old Dell optiplex, more or less for radio programming, device programming etc.
(photo above)
TNX

 

[dlwtrunked]

I have run it in Win 10 with no problem. I do not know about Win 11.

 

[merlin]

This is windows 10 pro, came with the machine. It doesn't seem complete like missing some features like screenshots.
I have to guess the airspy SDR# will work on win 11 well also.
Nice thing about this sliding up the bands, I get more AM BC, good HF selectivity, FM is excellent. Right next to a very strong station is a weak one that comes in well, no overloading. Air band, I can pick up the local airport. funny though, not a signal to be heard much above that.
I am in a high noise area and radio dead zone, but this impressed me.

 

[dlwtrunked]

This is windows 10 pro, came with the machine. It doesn't seem complete like missing some features like screenshots.
I have to guess the airspy SDR# will work on win 11 well also.
Nice thing about this sliding up the bands, I get more AM BC, good HF selectivity, FM is excellent. Right next to a very strong station is a weak one that comes in well, no overloading. Air band, I can pick up the local airport. funny though, not a signal to be heard much above that.
I am in a high noise area and radio dead zone, but this impressed me.

It is a very nice receiver for HF and below. Works well down into VLF. Even with an ICOM R9500 next to me, I almost always reach for it first. Note that WRTH gave both the AirSpy R2 and the R9500 5 stars for HF. (But for VHF/UHF, I use an AirSPy R2.)

 

[merlin]

I just skated across 155 t0 470 Mhz and not one signal above weather BC. Thats OK, I can just swap to RTL-SDR dongle and get the missing stuff. Got a couple good signals down around 250 Khz though,

 

[dickie757]

I'm guessing you bought the workstation used from an auction or something like that....it may have been locked down feature-wise, for "security." I would reinstall 10 Pro to enable all the things. Nice setup btw.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

I just skated across 155 t0 470 Mhz and not one signal above weather BC. Thats OK, I can just swap to RTL-SDR dongle and get the missing stuff. Got a couple good signals down around 250 Khz though,

The HF+ Discovery goes from 500 Hz to 31 MHz and from 60 to 260 MHz. There is a gap from 31 to 60 MHz.
I like this receiver, because I can also get ULF and VLF (500 Hz to 30 kHz).
Actually I'm just listening to LW and MW with it on holiday (Mallorca).

 

[dlwtrunked]

The HF+ Discovery goes from 500 Hz to 31 MHz and from 60 to 260 MHz. There is a gap from 31 to 60 MHz.
I like this receiver, because I can also get ULF and VLF (500 Hz to 30 kHz).
Actually I'm just listening to LW and MW with it on holiday (Mallorca).

Just a technical nitpick ..Using ITU definitions VLF is 3-30kHz with ULF being 300-3000 Hz (3 kHz) so really the dividing line by the ITU is 300 rather than 500 Hz. If you convert these frequencies to wavelength you will see why these values starting with a "3" were chosen.
With the YouLoop sold by AirSpy does quite well on VLF (but only on this particular radio which has the needed gain.)
Note that the YouLoop on eBay and elsewhere is a little different (transformer) is a tad not as good.

 

[Saint]

Will the Airspy HF+discovery pick up the military band from 225 to 400 MHz ????
Steve

 

[dlwtrunked]

Will the Airspy HF+discovery pick up the military band from 225 to 400 MHz ????
Steve

As someone else replied, it stops at 260 MHz.

• HF coverage between 0.5 kHz .. 31 MHz
• VHF coverage between 60 .. 260 MHz

AirSpy R2 will cover though (and does weel for the 225-400 MHz)
Continuous 24-1700 MHz
The AirSpy Mini has the same coverage as the R2 but will display less bandwidth spectrum and waterfall.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

Just a technical nitpick ..Using ITU definitions VLF is 3-30kHz with ULF being 300-3000 Hz (3 kHz) so really the dividing line by the ITU is 300 rather than 500 Hz. If you convert these frequencies to wavelength you will see why these values starting with a "3" were chosen.
With the YouLoop sold by AirSpy does quite well on VLF (but only on this particular radio which has the needed gain.)
Note that the YouLoop on eBay and elsewhere is a little different (transformer) is a tad not as good.

I know. But 500 Hz to 3 kHz is nearly the whole ULF, isn't it?
Yes, the Youloop works very well nearly over the whole frequency range of the HF+ Discovery, except ULF. I've added 2 coax cables to my Youloop, so it has 1m diameter now.

 

[Saint]

As someone else replied, it stops at 260 MHz.

• HF coverage between 0.5 kHz .. 31 MHz
• VHF coverage between 60 .. 260 MHz

AirSpy R2 will cover though (and does weel for the 225-400 MHz)
Continuous 24-1700 MHz
The AirSpy Mini has the same coverage as the R2 but will display less bandwidth spectrum and waterfall.

Thanks for all the information, I was looking for a dongle to listen to the HF Frequencies and also the Military band.
Saint

 

[merlin]

I yet need to install the extio drivers for my RTL SDR. I was hoping for good coverage from 30 to 65 Mhz.
I do need a better antenna and put a youloop on order.

I know. But 500 Hz to 3 kHz is nearly the whole ULF, isn't it?
Yes, the Youloop works very well nearly over the whole frequency range of the HF+ Discovery, except ULF. I've added 2 coax cables to my Youloop, so it has 1m diameter now.

Did adding the extentions give you the ULF. I was thinking a ferrite antenna but pass if I can get decent reception with the youloop.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

Did adding the extentions give you the ULF. I was thinking a ferrite antenna but pass if I can get decent reception with the youloop.

No, ULF still not possible with the Youloop, also with 1m.
Reason: the transformer in the Youloop isn't suited for these low frequencies.
For ULF a ferrite antenna works, must be a big coil with very many windings. Mine is about 30cm long with 53000 turns and a ferrite core.

 

[merlin]

Great, I'll stick with the ferrite idea. I know youloop boast a high Q balun but haven't determined the low cutoff.

 

[JamesWest]

I just got my HF + Discovery and noticed the squelch setting in SDR# is greyed out in USB/LSB/ and other HF modes. Is there a work around for this?

 

[dlwtrunked]

Squelch is just about useless on HF on those HF modes. No reason to enable it.

 

[JamesWest]

Squelch is just about useless on HF on those HF modes. No reason to enable it.

Thank you for your input but I use squelch all the time on HF. Works great on sideband voice. I can monitor a channel until something breaks the squelch without the constant noise.