Early Saturday morning, Aug. 15, 2020
I ran across an SDR receiver I ran several years ago, and decided to try it out again now that I have a decent antenna up outside the library.
The receiver is a Cross Country SDR 4+ receiver that was built in England a dozen or so years ago. It receives AM thru 70 MHz and uses HDSDR software.
I ran it using a very short wire laid on top of the bookshelves, and it did OK; then I ran into interference issues (it eventually turned out the RF was being generated by my computer desktop replacement power supply!). But the little Cross Country was relegated to a pile of useless junk stuck in the corner behind my chair.
A couple of nights ago, I remembered the little receiver and began hunting for it. I found it and then had to research how to interface it with my computer.
The receiver is pretty neat because it operates off USB. Two USB cables connect to your computer, one for data, the other for power. I also found out that Cross Country has gone out of business! Fortunately, the website is still up and offering information on the receiver and has the drivers to make it work. I fiddled with it but no luck; I decided to uninstall all the SDR software and start back fresh.
I was successful, though I’m not sure it wasn’t just dumb luck that I got all the setting correct. I’m listening on 75 phone right now, and the thing is receiving great! I was listening using my Yaesu FT-100D, but the audio from that speaker just is hard on the ears. The Cross Country audio comes through the computer speakers, and sounds great.
This weekend I hope to get more things ready to go on eBay. I’m not far from having enough money to buy the rig I want; I want to get the matching speaker, so I’ll wait until I sell some more things before I decide to buy the rig.
THE FTDX-3000 WILL RETURN. I’ve definitely decided to bring the Yaesu FTDX-3000 back to the library shack. Right now its up in Studio C and working well. I really like that rig.
One of the estate items I’ve run across is a Bencher RJ-2 CW straight key. The RJ-2 has the chrome base. The key was looking worse for wear when I found it in a box, but it cleaned up beautifully. I’ve used it the last couple of nights to check in to my CW traffic net. My straight key fist leaves a lot to be desired, but I’m working on it.
If I get the FTDX-101D, I have to determine what to do with my FT-2000; I enjoy the radio too much to just put it back in the box. I might put it here in the library, but its a lot of radio. Well, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … SK SK …. (dit dit) ….