HFU HF Underground
Technical Topics => Software => Topic started by: Charlie_Dont_Surf on November 18, 2022, 0448 UTC
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I got a HF+ Discovery over a year ago and I have been using SDRSharp with it. SDR Sharp is not exactly my favorite. I still haven't got used to the tuning controls and I never seem to be able to predict ahead of time if I have the tuning controls set the way I need to execute the tuning action that I want.
However my biggest pet peeve is that it defaults to a mode where it makes receiving mode choices (AM/USB/LSB/NBFM) for you based upon frequency. Perhaps this is acceptable for VHF/UHF or exclusively HF ham frequencies but it is super annoying for HF if you jump around listening to a variety of different things as I do. You can disable this feature but it seems like that disable setting is not saved in NVM and when you power it on again, you have to disable it again. You can save the GUI layout for future recall but that setting is not saved or recalled as part of that save.
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Have you tried SDRangel? I reguarly use it with my Airspy HF+D on Linux. The various modes are represented as separate "channel" decoders, and you can use multiple channels simultaneously with whatever bandwidth is provided by the selected receiver.
I build my own architecture-specific optimized builds, but there are general release builds provided for Linux, Mac, and Windows.
https://github.com/f4exb/sdrangel
Quick start guide here:
https://github.com/f4exb/sdrangel/wiki/Quick-start
I sometimes use SDRSharp (under Wine) for its noise filtering options, but otherwise I often just pass the audio through a software DSP chain like EasyEffects.
If you are on Windows, I also suggest taking a look at SDR Console. Just be careful about the download links. Scroll down to the "Microsoft Dropbox Webhost" links versus the various ads.
https://www.sdr-radio.com/download
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Whoa. I forgot that I even posted about this.
While I am grateful for the filtering in SDRSharp, the guy spends/spent a lot of time on the filtering and not enough on the GUI, IMO. Thanks for the suggestions. I will try them when I get some time.
Also, I think it is fairly telling that nobody on here is replying with a resounding defense of SDRSharp, i.e., not many people using it for HF.
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FWIW, I use SDR Sharp with my Discovery. I use a variety of SDR programs, as I often have several SDRs running at the same time. SdrDx, SDR Sharp, Elad FDM-SW2, SDRuno, even SDR Console now and then.
I played around with SDRangel several years ago when I got a HackRF, but have not used it since then.
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I use HDSDR almost exclusively with my HF+. Imho, it has better noise blanking, uses far less cpu... in comparison to SDR#, and has a very "intuitive" interface... well designed.
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I got sick of the lockups and general glitchiness sdr# had in my instance. Others seem to have flawless performance from the app.
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Josh wrote:
"I got sick of the lockups and general glitchiness sdr# had in my instance."
You're right Josh. That's another negative about SDR# I forgot to mention in my post.
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I agree with Josh. SDR# just too glitchie and mine locks up too much too.
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Don't get me wrong I think it's a great app, just wish it was more stable, but for now I use hdsdr or sdr console rather than sdr#. I only ever used it with an rtl and rsp2 so it may be more stable with its own brand of sdr and I'd never know.
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I have SDR#, but it is glitchy as others mentioned and generally not great. It often freezes if I stop playback and start it a few times (not rapidly, I mean a few minutes apart) then I have to restart the computer to close the program. You also can't fast forward through spectrum recordings, which is inconvenient.
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I get an occasional SDR# glitch, but I run it under Wine with Mono on Linux, so I tend to expect a few issues. It is usually connected to my Airspy HF+D via a Spy Server instance running locally on the same system.
I like SDRangel, though admittedly it would be nice to have some noise DSP filtering options integrated into the software like SDR#. I can filter the audio through an external software DSP chain if truly needed, but that is not always ideal for certain types of interference and noise.
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In addition to what you wrote, I never liked that the settings always seemed to reset when you upgraded, and they do very frequent upgrades to SDR#. There are some very lovely things with it, but in general I use good ol' reliable HDSDR with my Discovery HF+. I set up a lot of scheduled recordings and HDSDR is far and away the greatest piece of SDR software for that. Just my 2¢.
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In addition to what you wrote, I never liked that the settings always seemed to reset when you upgraded, and they do very frequent upgrades to SDR#.
Yes. I agree on your observation. They do frequent updates (often several times per week) but most of the updates have little relevance to me. I have not observed that much freezing up - perhaps twice in 12-18 hours of use. Though I think that both times it froze was on one of my laptops which is definitely slower and "underequiped" than my desktop computer.
Speaking of updates, in case anybody cares, SDR Chile always has the latest SDR# update along with a whole mess of the plugins, all in one download package. https://sdrchile.cl/en/ (https://sdrchile.cl/en/)
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<snip>
However my biggest pet peeve is that it defaults to a mode where it makes receiving mode choices (AM/USB/LSB/NBFM) for you based upon frequency. Perhaps this is acceptable for VHF/UHF or exclusively HF ham frequencies but it is super annoying for HF if you jump around listening to a variety of different things as I do. You can disable this feature but it seems like that disable setting is not saved in NVM and when you power it on again, you have to disable it again. You can save the GUI layout for future recall but that setting is not saved or recalled as part of that save.
Easy fix. Go to Band Plan and uncheck Auto update radio settings.
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Mike
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<snip>
However my biggest pet peeve is that it defaults to a mode where it makes receiving mode choices (AM/USB/LSB/NBFM) for you based upon frequency. Perhaps this is acceptable for VHF/UHF or exclusively HF ham frequencies but it is super annoying for HF if you jump around listening to a variety of different things as I do. You can disable this feature but it seems like that disable setting is not saved in NVM and when you power it on again, you have to disable it again. You can save the GUI layout for future recall but that setting is not saved or recalled as part of that save.
Easy fix. Go to Band Plan and uncheck Auto update radio settings.
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Mike
as I wrote above, (and highlighted in bold) that setting is not saved in NVM and you have to do that every time you run the the software. I don't have SDR# running constantly and since it does crash from time to time, it's not really my favorite feature.
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as I wrote above, (and highlighted in bold) that setting is not saved in NVM and you have to do that every time you run the the software. I don't have SDR# running constantly and since it does crash from time to time, it's not really my favorite feature.
Interesting, that is one setting I change every time I unzip a new version of SDR# and I never have to go back to it ... until the next version is released.
Just for grins, where do you have the sdrsharp-x86 directory located?
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Mike
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Interesting, that is one setting I change every time I unzip a new version of SDR# and I never have to go back to it ... until the next version is released.
Which is annoying in itself. If it can't avoid wiping this out during an upgrade, that's pretty bad, IMO.
Just for grins, where do you have the sdrsharp-x86 directory located?
I don't have a sdrsharp-x86 directory. I have mine in C:\SDRSharp