Software Defined Radio – Transceiver!
It’s really a fantastic experience!
The radio works flawlessly and I have made already several QSO’s on all possible bands (80 – 6 meters). The set-up currently is Flex-1500 with a Yaesu MH-31 microphone (still waiting for the Heil Handy Mic I won. See this post). The PC is a Compaq D51s. A Pentium 4, 2.00GHz with 1GByte internal memory. A USB-2 connection and a stereo audiocable between PC and Flex-1500 to get the audio from the radio on the PC speaker completes the set-up. The 12Volt power (13.8) is coming from a standard switching power supply. (SPA 8230)
The radio is controlled with PowerSDR V2.0.5 beta. This software is provided by Flexradio and you receive updates frequently. Either by visiting their website or here in the Netherlands we receive an email from our local distributer Parmacom.
I am still in the proces to review and learn all the features. One of the biggest issues is the CW mode. This does not work as it should. The soft- and hardware support Iambic / break-in keying but so far not good. It seems that the USB driver is not good (fast) enough and/ or the audio latency is playing up. Anyhow FlexRadio is working on it. Other issues are FM modulation and shift frequencies on the higher bands. (You know it’s all software…)
To use the radio with my antenna’s (G5RV and Cushcraft R5 ) i needed a small antennatuner.
Easy to use LDG Z-100Plus Autotuner. Low cost and High performance. Does also tune an R5 on 6 meters!
I have no intentions to put this radio online. If you want to see an online Flex-1500 go to onlinereceivers.net/flex1500
NB: I have connected PowerSDR to Logger32 using the comOcom solution. See this post. It all behaves as a real HAM radio transceiver and with the 5 watt ouput QRP is back in the shack.