Tagged: dynamic range

Fenu Radio Reviews the Airspy HF+ Discovery

The Airspy HF+ Discovery is a smaller, lighter and improved version of the Airspy HF+ which is an HF and VHF SDR with very high dynamic range. The Discovery builds on the HF+ by adding low loss preselectors. This increases the dynamic range even further, and allows the Discovery to compete with some very high end (and much more expensive) SDRs.

Currently the Airspy HF+ Discovery is available for preorder for USD$169. There have been a few delays in getting the unit out, but it appears that the Airspy team will begin shipping very soon.

Over on his blog, radio product reviewer Fenu-Radio has received an Airspy HF+ Discovery, and has given it an in depth review and put it through several real world tests. Fenu-Radio notes that while the initial prototype unit that he received had some issues with overload above 19 MHz, the latest production version has completely remedied this, resulting in impressive performance that competes favorably with the high end USD$2000 Winradio G33DDC software defined radio.

In the review Fenu-Radio compares the Discovery against the G33DDC and finds absolutely no difference in performance between the two. In the review he's also uploaded several audio comparison samples so that you can hear for yourself how identical the two radios are.

Fenu-Radio's Airspy HF+ Discovery Review Unit
Fenu-Radio's Airspy HF+ Discovery Review Unit

Mile Kokotov’s SDR Overview and Dynamic Range Explanation

Mile Kokotov (Z33T) has been working on creating an overview page of some of the most popular software defined radios and software applications. In the past we’ve featured Mile’s videos several times on our blog and his page ties all the videos together nicely with text. On his page he briefly reviews the different types of RTL-SDR dongles as well as the Airpsy and SDRplay.

One very useful page he’s put together is his explanation of the “dynamic range” concept, which is probably the most important characteristic when it comes to a radio. According to Miles description dynamic range measures the ability of a radio to “receive very weak and very strong signals at the same time, without overloading”. His page also explains how decimation in software can help improve the dynamic range without needing to improve the hardware.

Mile’s page is not yet 100% finished, so we advise you to keep an eye on it for new information.

Explaining dBFS (decibels relative to full scale)
Explaining dBFS (decibels relative to full scale)