Boatanchor
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Wow, this thread went South quickly!
Who is #1 Sdrplay or Airspy? in performance, bang for the buck.
- Thread starter prc117f
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Hmm, yes unfortunately it has. Hopefully amongst all of the noise, people will be able to extract some useful information. As I said, my comments are my own personal observations, which are based upon owning and using both devices. Both are (in my view) good products and both have some short-comings. Which is the best bang for your buck really depends upon what you want to use the device for.
Progs implications that I must be technically incompetent or perhaps too old to understand these things won't prevent me from passing on my own experiences. People can take from them what they will.
Have a good day folks
Er, are you are referring to me with this comment? If so, where have I said anything bad about either unit? I read through what I wrote and repeatedly have said that both are good products that offer different functionality but otherwise similar levels of performance. That really isn't saying anything "bad" you know. I simply questioned your assertion that one has far more dynamic range than the other. You have repeatedly said this and perhaps you are right, but that isn't reflected in my own personal experiences. I will get around at some point to making some comparative measurements of instantaneous dynamic range both units and will post the data.
Now you could have something with a lower sensitivity lets say 1-3db less but a greater dynamic range. ie you stick a LNA in front of the product with the higher Dynamic range and you will pull in more usable signal.
You do that with the lower dynamic range but slightly higher sensitivity and it overloads to crap, goes deaf etc..
A good test is to stick a 20db LNA on both and see which one melts when receiving.
You do that with the lower dynamic range but slightly higher sensitivity and it overloads to crap, goes deaf etc..
A good test is to stick a 20db LNA on both and see which one melts when receiving.
Good idea.
It's a good point. It may or may not make a difference as there are so many factors that affect receiver dynamic range. ADC SFDR is one factor as are IMD performance and synthesizer phase noise and side band spurii. If ADC SFDR is the limiting factor, as long as you have sufficient gain control range, you could add a 20 dB LNA without penalty and lower the overall receiver NF as long as you don't shift the limiting factor to intermodulation, compression or up-converted bias noise. The same is true with synthesizer phase noise and spurious. On the other hand if your dynamic range is already limited by front end intermodulation or compression etc, then adding 20 dB of gain would kill you.
Got the Airspy. Plugged the sucker in, picked Airspy One and its running. Definitely plug and play VS Ettus B200.
Another note. Noise floor is definately significantly lower than the dongles. ITs closer to the B200 noise floor. (B200 costs 675 dollars)
-85dbm VS -95dbm(B200)
Not bad so far.
Dongles are like -60 to -65 dbm.
I am using IF Gain of 5 Mixer Gain of 8 and LNA gain of 6
Decimation of 4. (2.5)
I like to look at about 2.5 because 10mhz is way to wide and its like looking at needles. I ran the B200 around the same as well.
I will be experimenting with it more. Right now I am primarily using it for 450-470mhz.
Also it is dead center on frequency VS B200 which is off by a few 100hz and the Dongle being off and requiring about 65ppm correction.
One feature request, I would like an option to chop off the band edges if possible. Like on the FDM-S2 software, so I dont see the edges that slope down.
Another note. Noise floor is definately significantly lower than the dongles. ITs closer to the B200 noise floor. (B200 costs 675 dollars)
-85dbm VS -95dbm(B200)
Not bad so far.
Dongles are like -60 to -65 dbm.
I am using IF Gain of 5 Mixer Gain of 8 and LNA gain of 6
Decimation of 4. (2.5)
I like to look at about 2.5 because 10mhz is way to wide and its like looking at needles. I ran the B200 around the same as well.
I will be experimenting with it more. Right now I am primarily using it for 450-470mhz.
Also it is dead center on frequency VS B200 which is off by a few 100hz and the Dongle being off and requiring about 65ppm correction.
One feature request, I would like an option to chop off the band edges if possible. Like on the FDM-S2 software, so I dont see the edges that slope down.
Now use the decimation. 1:16 or 1:32 will get you a much lower noise floor. Enjoy!
Nice, Airband at -90 at those decimations. Also It seems to perform better than the Ettus B200 on the Airband. For some reason the B200 gets all kinds of images from FM and UHF.
Not sure why the Airspy is performing better since the B200 in that area so far during my testing. I can push the gains more on the Airspy and grab much more stuff without causing issues compared to the B200 starting to have overload/product issues in the airband.
Not sure why the Airspy is performing better since the B200 in that area so far during my testing. I can push the gains more on the Airspy and grab much more stuff without causing issues compared to the B200 starting to have overload/product issues in the airband.
prc117f,
I too have a Ettus B200 and Airspy. I'm plague by images when using the B200 in 144 - 420 MHz area. I'm using a diamond discone antenna and have it in a case. I'm using Simon's SDR Console software. I sent my B200 back to National Instruments for repair, but was told my B200 board was fine and the tech could not find anything wrong.
The Airspy seems to have some imaging also in those frequency ranges, not as bad as B200. What is the right setup for Airspy as far as LNA, VGA settings?
vince48
I too have a Ettus B200 and Airspy. I'm plague by images when using the B200 in 144 - 420 MHz area. I'm using a diamond discone antenna and have it in a case. I'm using Simon's SDR Console software. I sent my B200 back to National Instruments for repair, but was told my B200 board was fine and the tech could not find anything wrong.
The Airspy seems to have some imaging also in those frequency ranges, not as bad as B200. What is the right setup for Airspy as far as LNA, VGA settings?
vince48
The problem with the B200 is I do not think there are any kind of tracking filters involved. The B200 is really more as a TX/RX experimentation board for Gnu Radio, it is not supported whatsoever for anything other than GnuRadio and some other software. For best use of B200 you want a preselector in front of the RF and use GnuRadio
Notice how Elad's FDM-s2 has filtering in-front of the ADC chain, It was specifically designed as a purpose built turnkey solution for RF on HF and some VHF bands (FM, etc) with software developed for the unit.
Airspy is another purpose built turnkey product HW specifically designed for RF reception tied to sdrsharp. I would say so far the Airspy is the best bang for the buck solution right now if you want 25-1800 reception
and the FDM-S2 for HF use.
I don't like using converters etc.. for HF I would rather have a dedicated device designed for HF right off the bat.
For the Airspy, the best settings pretty much depends on your RF environment and range you are currently monitoring. ie: if you have a good discone antenna, then you want to run much lower numbers.
I am using IF 4, Mixer 6 and LNA 6 for 450-475mhz band I am monitoring with my high band discone which sucks in signals nicely.
Your gonna want to experiment with different settings/bands/antenna and write down your best settings.
prc117f,
Thank for the reply. you might be right, any suggestions to a preselector? I really liked and love the
bandwidth and it does have good performance, but for teh price, AirSpy might be a better choice?
vince48
I would say Airspy is the better choice if you do not need the big FFT bandwidth or the higher frequencies ie for 2.5 Wifi etc..
If your just interested in monitoring the typical frequency ranges ie 25-1800 and dont need more than 9-10mhz FFT the Airspy is better.
you can get 3 airspys for the price of 1 B200 and keep 70 bucks change for an antenna.
I am now messing with FM reception, wow its sensitive as heck, I am picking up this hood pirate station nestled between two super stations. That I did not pick up on the FDM-S2 or B200 with the same antenna. The funny thing is when I initially went to FM I thought it was full of images, due to seeing all these bumps on the band and never seeing them on the FDM-S2 or B200. Turns out all those bumps are real stations, far away as well. LOL
Now I am not using a FM LNA, so The FDM-S2 is probably better if you use a 20db amplifier. But I cannot say for sure.
With the discone no amp though Airspy is #1 in FM dxing compared to B200 or FDM-s2
So far I say the Airspy is the best SDR right now for your general monitoring in the typical bands (ie air, VHF, UHF-T, FM)
I will probably be buying another for my laptop. so I can keep one fixed to the PC.
About preselector, you could build one or buy one but they are quite expensive or use inline filters/bandpass devices if you primarily monitor one band or to notch out an offending band (ie FM trap etc..)
If your just interested in monitoring the typical frequency ranges ie 25-1800 and dont need more than 9-10mhz FFT the Airspy is better.
you can get 3 airspys for the price of 1 B200 and keep 70 bucks change for an antenna.
I am now messing with FM reception, wow its sensitive as heck, I am picking up this hood pirate station nestled between two super stations. That I did not pick up on the FDM-S2 or B200 with the same antenna. The funny thing is when I initially went to FM I thought it was full of images, due to seeing all these bumps on the band and never seeing them on the FDM-S2 or B200. Turns out all those bumps are real stations, far away as well. LOL
Now I am not using a FM LNA, so The FDM-S2 is probably better if you use a 20db amplifier. But I cannot say for sure.
With the discone no amp though Airspy is #1 in FM dxing compared to B200 or FDM-s2
So far I say the Airspy is the best SDR right now for your general monitoring in the typical bands (ie air, VHF, UHF-T, FM)
I will probably be buying another for my laptop. so I can keep one fixed to the PC.
About preselector, you could build one or buy one but they are quite expensive or use inline filters/bandpass devices if you primarily monitor one band or to notch out an offending band (ie FM trap etc..)
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prc117f
Thanks for sharing the knowledge. I will play with the Airspy today.
vince48
Thanks for sharing the knowledge. I will play with the Airspy today.
vince48
For FM listening no decimation IF 3, and auto auto work nice if you are not decimating.
anyhow here is an air-band intercept. General aviation, one rude pilot told the pilots communicating to shut up and then proceeded to key up and jam them.
Using Airspy, 10 MSPS, decimation of 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3X51_qUqf8
jonohudson
Member
SDRplay is shipping again
We were overwhelmed with orders in early April, and ended up having some delays getting the new black casings but are happy to say we are shipping again. The website has a real photo 73 from the SDRplay team. Jon www.sdrplay.com
We were overwhelmed with orders in early April, and ended up having some delays getting the new black casings but are happy to say we are shipping again. The website has a real photo
73 from the SDRplay team. Jon www.sdrplay.com
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smason
Member
We were overwhelmed with orders in early April, and ended up having some delays getting the new black casings but are happy to say we are shipping again. The website has a real photo
Good to hear! Got my ship notice yesterday, looking forward to getting it.
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