Nooelec Smart v5 SDR Antenna Help

[IrwinMFletcher]

Hello,

I have a NESDR SMART V5 sdr dongle by Nooelec.

I currently have this antenna:

Moonraker 11-533 Moonraker SkyScan VHF/UHF Receive Antennas | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - Moonraker SkyScan VHF/UHF Receive Antennas with qualifying orders of $99. Shop VHF/UHF Mobile Monitor Antennas at DX Engineering.

www.dxengineering.com

I am very new to this. However, no matter what antenna I use I can only seem to locate commercial FM stations.

I can't even tune to a 50,000 watt AM radio station a few miles away. In fact I can't get any AM reception.

I am sure my antenna is the root of the problem.

I grew up an AM fan since I could listen to far away stations.

What do you recommend for a good all around antenna to get the most bands while I'm learning?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

 

[RaleighGuy]

Hello,

I have a NESDR SMART V5 sdr dongle by Nooelec.

I currently have this antenna:

Moonraker 11-533 Moonraker SkyScan VHF/UHF Receive Antennas | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - Moonraker SkyScan VHF/UHF Receive Antennas with qualifying orders of $99. Shop VHF/UHF Mobile Monitor Antennas at DX Engineering.

www.dxengineering.com

I am very new to this. However, no matter what antenna I use I can only seem to locate commercial FM stations.

I can't even tune to a 50,000 watt AM radio station a few miles away. In fact I can't get any AM reception.

I am sure my antenna is the root of the problem.

I grew up an AM fan since I could listen to far away stations.

What do you recommend for a good all around antenna to get the most bands while I'm learning?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

I would bet your problem is more software related than antenna related. What software are you using for the dongle?

 

[maus92]

And how was the driver for the SDR installed? BTW, the antenna is not optimized for AM reception.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

What do you recommend for a good all around antenna to get the most bands while I'm learning?

What's your budget? What other bands besides MW will you be bringing in the most?

 

[kingshootr]

I'm as noob as they come, but if the current antenna is designed to go down to 25MHz, wouldn't that be ineffective for AM frequencies. I believe the OP is wondering if there is an antenna that can go as low as 500kHz and up to XXXMHz?

Or maybe how to add a second antenna without too much $$ and/or signal lost?

EDIT: From the Nooelec website for the v5:

v5 has a frequency capability of 100kHz to 1.75GHz and up to 3.2MHz of instantaneous bandwidth. HF reception below 25MHz is accomplished with direct sampling and requires a suitable antenna. We recommend using a Balun One Nine to make a DIY long wire or dipole antenna (sold separately).

Though the direct sampling implementation of NESDR SMArt v5 is much better than any other RTL-SDR, we still recommend using an upconverter like the Ham It Up for a more fulfilling HF experience (sold separately).

If I'm wrong, I'll swerve back into my lane lol!

 

[jtwalker]

This is definitely a first for me. Never seen anyone use an SDR to catch AM broadcast radio, or even FM broadcast radio.

 

[kingshootr]

I'm running two v5's and FM is quite well received - definitely not hifi though. My antenna is similar to the OP's - AM doesn't throw up a hint of a spike on them.

 

[argonMan]

You could try direct sampling mode (Q mode, if your software supports it) and with a long ariel or even a long coax cable tied to the roof you should be able to pick up some AM broadcasts. Obviously if you have the HamItUp that will help with long wave broadcasts. Electronic interference is a pain so try to position it away from you wifi router etc.

 

[scanfan03]

I'm really new to the SDR game and I have 2 nooelec v5 SDRs. I'm not impressed with them.

I use them for business and public safety (UHF and 7/8). The first one I bought about 3 years ago (I just started using it maybe a month ago when I finally took the time to figure out the SDR stuff...) works ok. It seems to disconnect if I accidentally bump it in the USB port.

The second one I bought about a month ago. I don't think it's right. When I turn on AGC the noise floor goes up and down (the first one I bought doesn't do this). Also it's -3 ppm off (the first one is pretty much right on at 0 ppm correction). Also it shows itself as 2 SDRs (bulk interface 0 and bulk interface 1) which, once again the first one doesn't do.

I sent a message to support and they said it was good.

So I'm in the market for a better SDR device really.

 

[CKnobb]

I have several and I find myself still forgetting to turn up the gain. Occam's Razor.

 

[scanfan03]

I have several and I find myself still forgetting to turn up the gain. Occam's Razor.

What I posted above has been my experience with them. So I don't know. Maybe this last one I bought was just a fluke?

The first one I bought works decent I think? (I really have nothing to compare it to other than a MOT radio 🤣).

 

[sunwave]

Hello,

I have a NESDR SMART V5 sdr dongle by Nooelec.

I currently have this antenna:

Moonraker 11-533 Moonraker SkyScan VHF/UHF Receive Antennas | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - Moonraker SkyScan VHF/UHF Receive Antennas with qualifying orders of $99. Shop VHF/UHF Mobile Monitor Antennas at DX Engineering.

www.dxengineering.com

I am very new to this. However, no matter what antenna I use I can only seem to locate commercial FM stations.

I can't even tune to a 50,000 watt AM radio station a few miles away. In fact I can't get any AM reception.

I am sure my antenna is the root of the problem.

I grew up an AM fan since I could listen to far away stations.

What do you recommend for a good all around antenna to get the most bands while I'm learning?

Thanks in advance.

Joe

This sounds like a high noise floor on Medium Wave. If you are within 20 miles of a 50kw station you should be hearing it. If your hearing it on a conventional radio at the same spot your antenna is then there is computer generated noise and if it's close enough a wireless gateway power supply can really kill MW reception. If this is the case then it sounds like my issue.

My mitigation was 2 things. For long wires I used a 9:1 balun from Nooelec. Strangely it was able to receive MW stations on the wire antenna once the balun was connected. The second RFI mitigation was a MLA 30+ active loop which really made the night time MW dx pile in from 520-1710khz.

There is a third option if you live in a house with a backyard and no HOA. That would be a well made sloper that comes with a balun. all you will need is to add RG-8X or RG-58X for connection between the sdr and antenna. 80 foot wire is enough to receive MW and dx with.

There is one small issue with that. The Nooelec v5 in direct sampling will not have any way to control RF Gain. Those choices will overload it and cause imaging which looks like duplicates of strong signals and it ain't pretty to look at. As a matter of fact some new people thought it was receiving more stations than their nice perfectly functional conventional radio until it was brought to their minds that imaging from overload issue.

That's why I bought the RTL-SDR Blog v4. It has RF Gain control from 100khz to 1.7GHz without direct sampling and has it's own ring mixer upconversion to keep it in quaderature sampling on 100khz to 24MHz.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

This is definitely a first for me. Never seen anyone use an SDR to catch AM broadcast radio, or even FM broadcast radio.

I use my SDRPlays for AM/MW DX. Works pretty well

 

[kingshootr]

I use my SDRPlays for AM/MW DX. Works pretty well

What kind of antenna(s) do you use for the low down stuff like AM?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Nothing fancy. Just a PulseLarsen NMO150/450/758 on my roof. Although not advertised as resonant on anything below 150mhz it brings in MW & HF pretty decently

 

[kingshootr]

Ah, excellent - thank you!

 

[IrwinMFletcher]

Thanks for the help!

 

[dave3825]

PulseLarsen NMO150/450/758

Would love to see a sweep of that antenna from 40 mhz to 1ghz. Any chance you have a vna?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Any chance you have a vna?

Nope, ain't got one