Ham It Up Plus

[SatHunter]

Has anyone had experience with Nooelec Ham It Up Plus and the RTL SDR V3 for HF reception?
Im wondering if it will work as well as the Airspy Discovery or RSP boxes?
I'm looking for a low cost alternative especially if I purchase the barebones HIU unit for about $60.

 

[DS506]

The RTL SDR and Ham It Up have been my first venture below AM Broadcast.
I have been able to monitor;
US HAM on 160, 80, and 40 meters,
US and Canadian Non Directional Beacons as far as 1600 miles,
Worldwide SW including Brazil, Italy, Romania, Greece, Turkey, South Sudan, Oceana,
and Navy ELF in 24 - 40.75 kHz.

I also have the Airspy R2 and Spyverter. I think the RTL/HIU work just a bit better

 

[SatHunter]

The RTL SDR and Ham It Up have been my first venture below AM Broadcast.
I have been able to monitor;
US HAM on 160, 80, and 40 meters,
US and Canadian Non Directional Beacons as far as 1600 miles,
Worldwide SW including Brazil, Italy, Romania, Greece, Turkey, South Sudan, Oceana,
and Navy ELF in 24 - 40.75 kHz.

I also have the Airspy R2 and Spyverter. I think the RTL/HIU work just a bit better

Thanks for your input! It sounds like an awesome setup. I'm definitely interested in VLF/ELF as well so this might be the device to monitor these signals in addition to HF.
I think I can order a HIU+ today & I can have it delivered tomorrow. Did you buy the HIU with the case? Barebones is a lot less $ but the case makes for a nice package.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

HIU+ is a good upconverter, but you'll loose about 10 dB of the input signal with it.
So the whole combination of HIU+ and RTL-SDR stick is less sensitive than the RTL-SDR alone for frequencies > 24 MHz.

 

[dlwtrunked]

The RTL SDR and Ham It Up have been my first venture below AM Broadcast.
I have been able to monitor;
US HAM on 160, 80, and 40 meters,
US and Canadian Non Directional Beacons as far as 1600 miles,
Worldwide SW including Brazil, Italy, Romania, Greece, Turkey, South Sudan, Oceana,
and Navy ELF in 24 - 40.75 kHz.

I also have the Airspy R2 and Spyverter. I think the RTL/HIU work just a bit better

The AirSpy Discovery HF+ works clear down to VLF and is a far superior reciever--essentially as good as an ICOM R8600 or R9500 down there (yes, I own all of them and the World Radio Television Handbook 2002 tests say the same thing "*****" for the Dicsovery HF+ and R95000 with "****" for the R8600. I gave away the Ham It Up that I once had). I grab it first when I want to listen HF and below, particularly when portable.

 

[SatHunter]

The AirSpy Discovery HF+ works clear down to VLF and is a far superior reciever--essentially as good as an ICOM R8600 or R9500 down there (yes, I own all of them and the World Radio Television Handbook 2002 tests say the same thing "*****" for the Dicsovery HF+ and R95000 with "****" for the R8600. I gave away the Ham It Up that I once had). I grab it first when I want to listen HF and below, particularly when portable.

Thanks for pointing out the fantastic performance of the Airspy! I can't afford those impressive Icom receivers but I'm sure I can put aside $300 for a Discovery HF+. I've heard nothing but good things about AirSpy SDR products.

 

[Dirk_SDR]

The AirSpy Discovery HF+ works clear down to VLF and is a far superior reciever--essentially as good as an ICOM R8600 or R9500 down there (yes, I own all of them and the World Radio Television Handbook 2002 tests say the same thing "*****" for the Dicsovery HF+ and R95000 with "****" for the R8600. I gave away the Ham It Up that I once had). I grab it first when I want to listen HF and below, particularly when portable.

Yes, I also use my Airspy HF+ Discovery for VHF, HF and lower. It goes down to ULF (300 Hz), so nearly everything also on VLF (e.g. military VLF transmitters) and LF (e.g. time and weather transmitters) can be received.
And below 300 Hz (ELF, SLF): ok, that's another thing.

 

[SatHunter]

Yes, I also use my Airspy HF+ Discovery for VHF, HF and lower. It goes down to ULF (300 Hz), so nearly everything also on VLF (e.g. military VLF transmitters) and LF (e.g. time and weather transmitters) can be received.
And below 300 Hz (ELF, SLF): ok, that's another thing.

That would be perfect as I never really owned a decent receiver for signals below 150 khz. I've received WWVB before on 60 khz but that's about it. What are you using for an antenna with the Airspy for VLF?

 

[SatHunter]

Does the Airspy HF+ Discovery ever go on sale? I saw some posts on the internet where people got a great deal on them for Black Friday. Right now they are $169 U.S. plus $33 shipping. With the exchange it comes to $258 plus duty and taxes so the total is well over $300. A bit out of my price range at the moment

 

[Dirk_SDR]

That would be perfect as I never really owned a decent receiver for signals below 150 khz. I've received WWVB before on 60 khz but that's about it. What are you using for an antenna with the Airspy for VLF?

I have 3 antennas for VLF:
A Mini Whip (PA0NHC) and 2 DIY antennas:
1. A multiturn loop 40x60 cm with 53 turns, tunable with a 560 pF variable capacitor and 7 parallel capacitors 560p, 1n2, 2n2, 4n7, 8n2, 15n, 33n (switchable) from about 10 kHz to 400 kHz. Coupling loop 4 turns.
2. A shielded cylindric air coil with 713 turns on a 114 mm diameter body. Tuned similar to 1. from 3 kHz to 45 kHz. Coupling coil 45 turns.

 

[dlwtrunked]

Does the Airspy HF+ Discovery ever go on sale? I saw some posts on the internet where people got a great deal on them for Black Friday. Right now they are $169 U.S. plus $33 shipping. With the exchange it comes to $258 plus duty and taxes so the total is well over $300. A bit out of my price range at the moment

It was on sell during Dayton/Xenia Hamfest period one year.

 

[dlwtrunked]

That would be perfect as I never really owned a decent receiver for signals below 150 khz. I've received WWVB before on 60 khz but that's about it. What are you using for an antenna with the Airspy for VLF?

In my case, I use an E-field probe from LF Engineering (Google them), a long wire, the Youloop from Airspy (note the Chinese copy is not quite as good), and one of these:
For PA0RDT Miniwhip Active Antenna VLF LF HF VHF Antenna Shortwave SDR RX | eBay (yes, it is Chinese made)
(Note other designs of similar on eBay did not work as well).
The short E-field active antennas need to be away from building to eliminate noise--properly mounted their performance will surprise you.

 

[SatHunter]

In my case, I use an E-field probe from LF Engineering (Google them), a long wire, the Youloop from Airspy (note the Chinese copy is not quite as good), and one of these:
For PA0RDT Miniwhip Active Antenna VLF LF HF VHF Antenna Shortwave SDR RX | eBay (yes, it is Chinese made)
(Note other designs of similar on eBay did not work as well).
The short E-field active antennas need to be away from building to eliminate noise--properly mounted their performance will surprise you.

Great assortment of antennas. I will definitely research each of them. My VLF experience so far has just been a lot of noise without having the proper equipment to receive it. I've always been interested in the time signals but have not been able to receive WWVL on 20 KHZ (if it even still exists).

 

[dlwtrunked]

Great assortment of antennas. I will definitely research each of them. My VLF experience so far has just been a lot of noise without having the proper equipment to receive it. I've always been interested in the time signals but have not been able to receive WWVL on 20 KHZ (if it even still exists).

WWVL (20 kHz) has been gone for decades and cannot return as its former antenna is now part of that of WWVB (60kHz).

 

[SatHunter]

WWVL (20 kHz) has been gone for decades and cannot return as its former antenna is now part of that of WWVB (60kHz).

Thanks for the info. It shows how long I have been out of the hobby! It's exciting to jump back into it having tube, transistor, DSP and SDR radios all side by side. Now I have to try to locate my favorite tube equipment that I haven't seen for 15 years or more while I wait for my new AirSpy to arrive...

 

[SatHunter]

As it turns out since I posted here in May I couldn't put the funds together for the AirSpy but did find the Ham It Up plus with the Nooelec dongle from a local ham for $50. It's simple enough to hook up adding the balun 9:1 and a 50' outdoor antenna. I'm not hearing many signals but I am picking up lots of noise. Primarily WWV on 10 mhz. This is the barebones model, I'm wondering if I get the metal case if it will help eliminate some of the noise I'm receiving. I watched lots of videos of youtube and people using this setup are getting more outstanding performance. Suggestions?

 

[PDXh0b0]

Which 9:1 are you using? Perhaps try a dipole configuration with your 9:1

 

[SatHunter]

Which 9:1 are you using? Perhaps try a dipole configuration with your 9:1

It's this guy (in the photo). A dipole is a very good suggestion!

 

[Dirk_SDR]

As it turns out since I posted here in May I couldn't put the funds together for the AirSpy but did find the Ham It Up plus with the Nooelec dongle from a local ham for $50. It's simple enough to hook up adding the balun 9:1 and a 50' outdoor antenna. I'm not hearing many signals but I am picking up lots of noise. Primarily WWV on 10 mhz. This is the barebones model, I'm wondering if I get the metal case if it will help eliminate some of the noise I'm receiving. I watched lots of videos of youtube and people using this setup are getting more outstanding performance. Suggestions?

Suggestions:
1. I would buy the Ham It Up Plus case. It's quite cheap.
2. The long wire antenna should be used with 9:1 UNUN, that means you should cut the R1 connection on the back side of your Nooelec One Nine.
3. In addition to your long wire you should use a RF ground or counterpoise.
4. The Ham It Up Plus is a good upconverter, but has no amplifier built in. The loss in this upconverter is about 10dB, so a wideband HF amplifier with 5..10dB will help a lot.
5. Filter out strong VHF signals e.g. with a LPF 30 MHz for HF

 

[SatHunter]

Suggestions:
1. I would buy the Ham It Up Plus case. It's quite cheap.
2. The long wire antenna should be used with 9:1 UNUN, that means you should cut the R1 connection on the back side of your Nooelec One Nine.
3. In addition to your long wire you should use a RF ground or counterpoise.
4. The Ham It Up Plus is a good upconverter, but has no amplifier built in. The loss in this upconverter is about 10dB, so a wideband HF amplifier with 5..10dB will help a lot.
5. Filter out strong VHF signals e.g. with a LPF 30 MHz for HF

Thank you Dirk for the excellent information. Since I am new to this aspect of the hobby all of this is very helpful. What would you suggest for a wide and HF amp that will work well with the HIU+?