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| 25th anniversary : "Dave's Radio Receiver Page" |
| PLEASE NOTE : This "news" page is subject to frequent changes and updates (without notice). NEW or updated entires are NOT necessarily moved to the top of the page or section. *** NEWS PAGE CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS BELOW *** WEB PAGE UPDATES / ADDITIONS NEWS ITEMS and LINKS SMALL STANDALONE SDR NEWS and LINKS RANTS and REVELATIONS |
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The "Eton Elite Satellit" - What a Disappointing Overpriced Disaster !
Uses si473x DSP receiver / filtering in it's architecture. Quick Manual and Spec Sheet are available for download on the manufactures web site. User reports have indicated that the ONLY issue they fixed with updated version 1.0.5 firmware was with the lockup issue on HD radio reception. The rest continues to be the same disaster (below) as we type this ! PLEASE NOTE : We have NOT tested a sample ourselves. Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware) ! "Passport To World Band Radio" is a reference on the posted online owners manual. This publication and web site have both been gone since 2009 and of course the address is defunct. The WRTH info given is also outdated (which has changed once again for the 2023 edition with the new publisher). Selected comments via "the SWLing post" / Noel Ramos, W1NCR : I must say so far I am not at all impressed. Here are the issues that bother me right out of the box: - It mutes while tuning across the bands, including when using SSB.
- The telescopic antenna is loose. It will not hold its position when the radio is at an angle on its tilt stand. - The lower left menus don’t line up with the hardware pushbuttons. Looks like unfinished firmware! Oh, and there are a few misspelled words in the menu system “Lossss”. - I don’t find the audio to be all that great. My Satellit 700 is so much better. - I’ve experienced two lockups which using the FM band…wouldn’t switch bands or power off. I had to pull the plug. (Noel also reported hearing MW signals in the 40 meter band and FM / HD radio lockups. Appears there is no proper front end filtering ? Additional note : "It is DSP based. I opened it up; it’s does have a small ferrite loop (unlike what was believed) and everything is on two small PCBs. Most of the cabinet is empty. To be honest, the ats-909×2 is miles ahead of this one. Such a disappointment". Wow...and we felt the ATS-909X2 was a disappointment. Noel's internal photos can be seen here ("where's the beef !" comes to mind). UPDATES (May 12, 2023) - Dan Robinson's "You Tube" Page - Amazon Reviews #1 - Amazon Reviews #2 - You Tube Video : "Etón Elite Satellit HD is Junk! Mutes while manual tuning via knob....". Reported Bugs :
- Unacceptable tuning muting (chuffing) - Very limited dynamic range. - No proper front end filtering ! - HAS the dreaded AGC clipping distortion bug on SSB. Even the Tecsun PL-330 does MUCH better with near zero SSB clipping and good dynamic range. - No REAL AGC adjustments. - PBT tuning is ONLY a Fine Tune / RIT (even in SSB and Sync modes). - Limited Bandwidths AM / Sync modes. - Appears bandwidths are about double to what they are shown at (but as most know I near require nice WIDE IF filters available on a SW receiver, so that part I like). - Microprocessor noises abound using internal / whip antenna's. - Low quality whip antenna. With so many bugs and limited hardware it has, it is highly doubtful that Eton be able to fix the radios MANY ills to EVER warrant it's steep price ? |
| "DEEPSDR 101" is DEEP in Issues ! |
| Craig Menning N7TQM tests out a DEEPSDR 101.
He does not recommend it to anyone ! So appears is just ANOTHER Chinese
disaster SDR ? Thanks Craig for letting us know ! Will update / add to this
information as required (please see updates below). Dave N9EWO (Updated Jun 16, 2023) Dave, When a product description starts with "This product is neither an instrument nor a professional radio", it probably means something. Issues : 1) A strong antenna overloads the radio badly. A preselector might help the HF mands, but AM/LW would still be a problem. 2) The spectrum display is full of image products, more noticeable on strong signals. Using the display to assist tuning is a challenge. 3) Occasionally, tuning 'misses' a station. The frequency display is right, but the spectrum display indicates not on the signal. Tuning off one step and back resolves the issue. 4) Lacks an input attenuator. 5) No FM narrow mode. It makes this useless for the 2M band as well as the VHF low band. 6) Changing the width of the spectrum display is interesting. The wider two widths appear to be before IF filtering, while the narrow seems to be after the IF filtering. 7) Does not cover the 162 MHz weather band. While known when I ordered the radio, it is disappointing. Lacking FM narrow makes this a moot point. 8) This radio could be used as a spectrum display for another radio, via an IF output, but the images limit its usefulness. 9) When changing stations in the AM band, while using the supplied whip antenna, lots of digital noises can be heard for the following few seconds. These eventually do stop. There are other anomalies, but they are minor compared to the above. Positive points : 1) FM broadcast band seems good. Sensitivity is average, selectivity is good. Audio quality from the tiny speaker, while not hifi, is good. 2) Aircraft band works. 3) Shipping from China was fast. Ordered Aug 22, arrived on Sep 02 (North Western Wisconsin). Further testing reveals that this radio really needs some sort of preselector and attenuator to limit signals into the radio. If just using the supplied whip, you don't pick up much signal, but you also don't see any overload issues. A better antenna is just too much for the radio to handle. All in all, this radio shows the potential of some technologies. A Taylor mixer has some interesting broadband capabilities. As implemented here, it can be used from 100 kHz to 149 MHz. When presented with a proper signal, it can be reasonably sensitive. Using an M4 processor to do all the DSP work and the display management is also impressive. The display is quite responsive and its content is presented in a way to show lots of useful information. I hope the supplier can come out with a firmware update to add the narrow band FM mode and possibly increase the top end to 163 MHz. On the other hand, releasing the source code as an open source project, might allow someone else to make some enhancements. With some front end signal handling, this could be a much more interesting radio. My antenna is a 150-200 foot wire in my backyard. (About 80 paces long.) It overloads most radios in the AM band during the day. For VHF/UHF I have a discone in the attic. Even the discone presents too much signal to avoid overload issues. Gilles VE2ZZI tests the DEEPSDR 101 and comes up with the same ills that Craig did above and more. Like nightmare ergonomics, the lack of a REAL AGC and limited FIXED non adjustable bandwidths (like AM only having ONE lone 9 kHz bandwidth available). You Tube Video : Gilles VE2ZZI Complete Review "DeepSDR 101" SDR Receiver UPDATES (Jun 16, 2023) : New 1.0.1 firmware was released on April 17, 2023. Firmware 1.0.1 has the following feature additions and improvements:
-
Attenuation can be set for ADC input, with three gears of 0dB, -6dB,
and -12dB. When the input signal is strong, you can turn on ATT to
prevent ADC from overloading;
- Touch screen quick operation: volume increase, volume decrease, frequency increase, frequency decrease, see the picture below for details. - Changed hardware AGC to software AGC to solve the problem of inconsistent IQ gain; - Expanded volume adjustment range; - Long press on the encoder can clear the saved channel information; - Other improvements and more. Hopefully this 1.0.1 firmware cures the excessive SSB
clipping distortion on strong signals I can clearly hear it has from watching you tube videos.
But appears that 9 kHz is still the only bandwidth you get on AM mode
and also no Narrow band FM filter for the 2 meter band ?
Keep in mind that the original V1 hardware (as tested above by Craig and Gills) has been discontinued and being
updated to V2 (release date unknown). They talk about a knock off version
on the bottom of this page that you also see reviews on You Tube now.
Lets hope that they add a second encoder for volume adjustment with V2 ? At our direction, Gilles VE2ZZI tests the DEEPSDR 101 "1.0.1" firmware and notes some improvements. But it still does not turn the receiver into a gem either. It appears that the very annoying SSB clipping distortion has been improved ? Dave N9EWO |
| Information on the Chinese Malachite / Malahit SDR's - "Caveat Emptor" NOTE : Original posted information page is still available via "The Way Back Machine - Internet Archives" ....CLICK HERE |
| ***** RANTS and REVELATIONS ***** |
