SdrDx 2.09 adds the ability to fine-tune the AGC metering to match the sample rate and other varible SDR factors so that the AGC metering is better correlated with the S-meter. DNR metering is now active, but indicates red, when disabled. Auto Noise Floor tracking has been added; this keeps the RF waveform cleanly on the graph even when the noise floor rises significantly. Smooth Noise Floor has been added; this reduces the amplitude of the noise in the RF waveform (does not affect demodulation.) The ability to live-edit the waterfall palette has been added. You can now change colors and adjust the relative distance of one color from another while watching the results on the waterfall. You can save and reload the results, and control which palette is the default waterfall palette. To go along with this, the ranges of the I and C sliders have been extended. An independent high pass filter has been added to complement the low pass filter, and this has been added to the memory system as a memorized setting. The ability to determine the distance of a nearby lightning impulse has been added, along with documentation on how to use the feature. The UI has been changed slightly to accomodate a few new controls.
There have also been significant improvements and additions to the documentation. Some bugs have been squashed, none of them serious.
My sincere thanks to those who helped me test and who took the time to report my errors to me so I could fix them.
Screen shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fyngyrz/7852335518/
Downloads: http://fyngyrz.com/?p=915
Documentation: http://fyngyrz.com/sdrdxdoc/sitemap.html
Changes: http://fyngyrz.com/sdrdxdoc/changes209.html
Recordings now store and retrieve dB offset for more accurate playback. Right-clicking DNR now turns it on and off without changing the intensity. DNR algorithm altered somewhat. CAR mode gets carrier shift capability. Right mouse button now moves backwards through meter models. AGC intercept is now 120 dB (default.) TDM filter improved, dedicated. Method for detecting FUNcube Dongle Pro altered to match Windows version, which had to change to work around a Win7 bug. Works fine either way under OSX. Fix for waterfall saves. Last, certainly not least, move to online documentation. New HLP button takes you right to the docs.
Please see this post for details on SdrDx 2.00.
No Mac support as yet, but… install VMWARE and XP, and it works great. I’m listening to Radio Havana on 6050 KHz right now on a three foot piece of wire. Tomorrow, when I can buy a length of coax, I’ll hook it up to my shortwave antenna, which is out of reach of my computer desktop right now. I expect to have a lot of fun.
I tried it with Parallels 2, but Parallels screws up the USB connection and it just won’t fly. It was less expensive to “cross-grade” to VMWARE than it was to buy a Parallels “support incident”, so Parallels just lost a paying customer. Funny how that works. VMWARE imported my Parallels XP VM without comment, and the only catch was that XP bitched at me about having to be re-registered because “my hardware had changed significantly.” Oops. Turns out that wasn’t a problem… re-registration went smoothly, just a couple clicks and it was done. One of the benefits of having a legal copy, I presume.
Anyway, just thought it’d be worth noting for Mac users that you too can have an SDR instrument on your desktop. You do have to run it inside a Windows VM, but that doesn’t seem to be much of an inconvenience.
On the left, you see WinRadio; it has a lot fewer features than SpectraVue, but on the other hand, it acts a good deal more like a radio than a spectrum analysis tool. It doesn’t seem to have any system for managing memories, but that may just be new-user unfamiliarity. I confess to not (yet) having RTFM. I will update this post if I learn otherwise.
Some benefits WinRadio brings to the desktop are ECSS reception for standard SW and AM signals, and DRM (Digital Radio Mondial), a digital reception mode. ECSS works very well indeed; DRM is… well, it’s interesting. Haven’t got that figured out yet. I downloaded the DReaM decoder, and tuned in to some DRM broadcasts, but haven’t got anything to report other than no success.
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