Tagged: elad

New Elad FDM-S3 Specifications and Photos

The Elad FDM-S3 is an upcoming high performance Hf speciality SDR that is expected to be released this year with a price of 949.90 € ($1040 USD). Over on the swling.com blog, and the Elad website we've seen some recently released information about the new specs.

--- WIDEBAND DIRECT SAMPLING RECEIVER ----

 JAN 2020 SPECIFICATIONS

  • 2 switchable HF Antenna inputs direct sampling
  • 1 VHF Antenna input direct sampling
  • Works with FDM-SW2 ELAD Software & SDR Console
  • Optional: Antenna RF input  downconversion (50MHz - 2GHz preview)
  • Real Time I/Q Stream Bandwidth 192khz, 384KHz, 1536KHz, 12880KHz, 24576KHz
  • 122.88 MSPS - 98.304 MSPS 16bit A/D converter
  • Clock synchronized to GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System or 10MHz Ext Ref
  • GNSS works with GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BEIDOU
  • Auxiliary USB used to monitor GPS status or for clock firmware updates
  • 10MHz Clock reference Output
  • 10MHz internal standart TCXO 100ppb referenced, optional 3ppb OCXO referenced

Compared to the FDM-S2 the FDM-S3 looks to have significantly increased bandwidth, meaning now that almost the entire HF spectrum could be monitored. ALso the optional built in downconverter would allow tuning up to 2 GHz, where it was previously limited to only 160 MHz on the FDM-S2. The new GNSS referenced clock and improved TCXO/OCXO is also going to mean significantly improved frequency stability.

The Elad FDM-S3
The Elad FDM-S3

A Guide to Using SDR-Console V3 for Accessing and Creating Remote Servers

Jon Hudson, head of marketing at SDRplay has recently released a helpful tutorial that shows how to access remote servers in SDR-Console V3, and also how to set up your own server too. As you may already know, SDR-Console V3 provides a remote server platform which allows you to access all sorts of SDR hardware remotely over a network connection or over the internet. Some SDR hardware owners even opt to share their radio hardware publicly over the internet for anyone to access. The video description reads:

This video is a screen-by-screen guide to both accessing, and setting up your own, remote SDR radio using the new (Feb 2018) SDR Console V3 software from SDR-Radio. Although the guide uses an RSP2 from SDRplay, this will work with all the popular SDRs

Please note - you need to have a good internet connection since (unlike in V2), the entire I/Q data is being sent over the internet. This also limits how much visual bandwidth you are can see at any one time.

Links referenced in this video:
www.sdr-radio.com
http://www.sdr-radio.com/Software/Version3/Server
www.sdrplay.com
More videos on https://www.youtube.com/c/SDRplayRSP

SOME IMPORTANT WARNINGS IF YOU ARE ADDING YOUR OWN SDR!
Be careful not to plug multiple SDRs into a single USB2 socket - for multiple SDRs, you may need a powered hub ( like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Adapt... )

Once you are up and running - please go to http://www.sdr-radio.com/Software/Ver... and view your listing - if there is a yellow triangle, then you are not accessible outside your own firewall - attention is needed! Just because you can access it on your own LAN doesn't mean it's accessible via the internet!!!

The RSP family of SDRs from SDRplay cover 1kHz to 2 GHz with no gaps and give up to 10MHz spectrum visibility.

Jon's video first shows how to use SDR-Console V3 to access those publicly shared SDR radios over the internet. The second part of the video demonstrates how to set up your own server that you can use remotely for personal use, or to share over the internet.

The SDR-Console V3 server accepts various kinds of SDR hardware including RTL-SDR, Airspy, SDRplay, HackRF, Elad, LimeSDR and many more SDR units so this is a good way to explore various types of hardware, or simply to explore signals from different areas around the world.

SDR-Console remote access for SDR Radios

HamRadioScience Reviews the Elad FDM-DUO Software Defined Transceiver

The Elad FDM-DUO is a high end $1149 USD Italian made software defined radio transceiver (transmit and receiver) with a frequency range of 10 kHz – 54 MHz, a 16-bit ADC, a bandwidth of up to 6 MHz and can transmit with up to 5 – 8 watts. It is a product targeted at ham radio enthusiasts who want a gradual transition into software defined radios. It can work in two modes: either as a standalone computer-less radio just like a regular hardware radio, or as a fully functional computer based SDR.

The front of the FDM-DUO.
The front of the FDM-DUO.

Recently the admin of hamradioscience.com rather comprehensively reviewed the Elad FDM-DUO. His thoughts are that it is the perfect radio for those wanting to be slowly eased into the SDR world due to it’s dual mode operation. He writes:

The Italian made FDM-DUO has to be the most versatile, well designed, and well thought out SDR system currently on the market.

The review by hamradioscience goes over several points such as explaining what all the connectors on the radio are for, reviewing the ergonomics, reviewing the radio in standalone mode and in PC based SDR mode and he also reviews the companion software package. The reviewer is especially impressed with the included software, basically making the point that this system is a full SDR transceiver package (all you need in terms of hardware AND software).

Generally we recommend more general purpose and lower cost wideband VHF/UHF SDR’s like the Airspy, SDRplay RSP or HackRF (see our review on those SDRs here), but if you are not limited by budget and want to use an SDR mostly for HF amateur radio purposes then the Elad FDM-DUO looks like a winner. The author concludes with the following comment.

Elad got so many things right with the FDM-DUO that it is hard find much to criticize. Unlike so many SDR systems available today, the FDM-DUO SDR system feels like less of a “science project” and more of a finished consumer product. For those who wants a SDR radio system that “just works” and easy to use, the FDM-DUO is a great choice. Also, kudos to Elad for providing such a well done SDR program. The program was very stable over the review period. No, crashing at just the wrong time say during a contest. Heck even if it did, it wouldn’t matter much since you could just continue on using the FDM-DUO as a standalone rig. With some of the larger radio manufacturers dipping their toes in the SDR area, they should take note of what Elad has done with the FDM-DUO. Elad has truly created a very flexible multi-use system with the FDM-DUO and a darn fine SDR radio system at a very good value.

FDMDuo_SW
The Elad FDM software package.