RX888MKII SDRConsolev3.4 Win11Pro PC mickey mouse voices and stutt white noise

[Steef]

Hi Im not sure what happened.
Earlier I installed SDR Console v3.4 (SDR-Radio V3.4, 64-bit, 2026-02-11_1214.exe) and Cypress FX3 Win10 in combination with my RX888 MKII on a NuBox M6 24GB RAM Win11Pro 64bit, which used to work very well. I didn't do much. Didn't use my PC for a while (actually installed some new fans).
Now when I start SDR Console it takes quite a while to start up and once done the sound of white noise is somewhat stumbling, stuttering. When there is a signal eg AM received the voices sound like mickey mouse voices. And also the waterfall looks mirrored like 200kHz to both sides, lot of times.
I recorded a short audio and video. Not sure where or how to post this? Ah did it. Anyone knows what happens or better how to solve? Has my RX888 MKII suddenly a defect? It hasn't been moved...

PS: Almost forgot to mention: I re-installed several times program and driver: via: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/46d ... 0Win10.zip

[Simon G4ELI]

Hi,

The video is hard to read! My first guess is that this is USB related. If you can get a least a few screenshots and/or a video that's viewable I'll maybe be able to help further.

[jdow]

There are a LOT if sub-par knockoffs out there. I think I got one. On both HDSDR and SDRConsole the audio stutters due to sampling dropouts unless I drop the sample rate down from the theoretical maximum.
{^_^}

[Steef]

thanks jdow and Simon for replying.
I am aware of the mirror of upsidedown view of the video. I do not know why that happens as well. Just used the record button in SDRC. Is that not normal? Any idea why that would have happened? I presume that is what you mean by not-viewable? I thought a video would be more of use than a screenshot.
@jdow: 'sampling dropouts', the processor nearly moves a bit, I do not experience any difference using 1 to 32 MHz bandwidth. One would think the less bandwidth the less sampling dropouts?
Are there any variables I can change in my search for solutions?
And why all of a sudden this VERY strange behaviour? Could the RX888 be broken? I could try other software to investigate. Any suggestions are welcome.

[Steef]

If there is any more I can do let me know pls

[Steef]

Seems like HDSDR as well has abnormal behaviour on the RX888MKII, see screenshot.
I'm coming to believe that there might be something wrong with the RX888MKII ? But what could have happened. Maybe anyone has any similar experience with these symptoms?

[KA1GJU]

When I play the videos, they are upside down and backwards!

[Max]

Seems like HDSDR as well has abnormal behaviour on the RX888MKII, see screenshot.
I'm coming to believe that there might be something wrong with the RX888MKII ? But what could have happened. Maybe anyone has any similar experience with these symptoms?

Firstly, no a mirror/upside down of video recording from SDRC is not normal. Got no idea why this is happening. Are you posting the raw video as recorded by SDRC or have you processed it in some way? Never recall seeing this behaviour mentioned previously.

So turning to the other "mirroring" i.e. the signal mirroring, this behaviour on an SDR is usually caused by either a large imbalance or a total loss of either the I or the Q signal. If you see the same behaviour on HDSDR then my guess is that it's more likely a hardware issue. Have you checked/substituted cables (and also see comments below about USB ports)? Although to be fair I doubt that this could be caused by that, but anything is worth a check. A poor quality cable or USB hub/card may not deliver enough power for the RX888 (again, see below).

The only thing I would add is what I see from your screen grabs does not look like mirroring. If you look closely you can see the signals are not an exact mirror either side of the tuned signal. If it was mirroring I'd expect it to be a perfect mirror.

As it has been previously working I'd say the likeliest answer is hardware failure of some sort. I do know the RX888 is prone to overheating especially when used at high sampling bandwidths and it's not unkown for the to fail accordingly.

Regarding the very brief garbled audio, it sounds very much like speeded up audio and this usually points to sampling rate conflicts. For SDRC all audio inputs and outputs (i.e. PC soundcard/chip for the selected ins/outs on SDRC) need to be set to 48kHz sampling rate.

Also take a look at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rapmewZA20

Right at the start he makes the point that the connection to the RX888 is USB3 and that connecting the PC end to a USB2 port will result in stutters. Are you 100% sure that the PC end is a USB3 port (often but not always marked by a blue "toungue" in the socket)? Many PCs have mixed USB2 and USB3 ports, and also my understanding from Joanne on here (jdow) is that if you have mixed USB3 and USB2 devices connected to the same USB3 card, unless that card has separated and dedicated USB3 outputs (many do not) then the USB3 port can be slowed down by the other devices connected to the same hub/card. So for the RX888 it's important to make sure that it is allocated its own dedicated USB3 port on the PC end.

And one more thing about the USB port..... it has to be capable of providing the considerable power needs of the RX888, so either a direct connection to the PC USB3 port or a powered USB3 hub (itseld connected to dedicated USB3 port on the PC.

Max

[Steef]

Thanks Max for your extensive reply.
First of all, its a raw video, its saved and immediately uploaded it. Dont know what happened.
Secondly i indeed am aware of the usb importance. But as nothing has changed for the hardware part, same pc, same rx888, same cble, same connection/ plug/ entrance/ port, i just cannot imagine what happened. Ans as well btw for the software part as well, i didnt change any of the settings that worked just fine earlier.
The only thing i can think of is that the rx888 fails. But why and what and how exactly? Is there a way to reset this device? Other than unplug, let it get cold and turn it back on again?
I will try the other usb port, but i think this nucbox m6 (see specs in my orignal posting above) has usb3 connections only.

[jdow]

Very definitely RX888's want their own USB3 controller all by itself. Images of the settings for the RX888 driver for both SDRC and HDSDR might be interesting to see. What else is running concurrently?

If it used to work, somewhere you got a setting wrong or a connection wrong. The video problem makes no sense to me. The RF problems MIGHT be a damaged RX888 or (quite likely) it is either connected to a USB 2 port or with a USB 2 cable.
{^_^}