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S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 6:04 pm
by G0OFE
Well, it's finally arrived!

3 years after it was first announced, then redesigned, then the old Billy Ray got in the way delaying things further, but IMHO well worth the wait.

Mine arrived today, had no problems getting it going on the test version of Console.
First impressions (from a Band 2 point of view, as that was the prime reason for me getting it..) is that it's just as sensitive as the Airspy HF+,. which itself is the most sensitive SDR I've used on Band 2. It is considerably more sensitive than the S2 when used without a Fringe preamplifier.
Despite 5x250kw transmitters 35km away line of sight from here, not a hint of overload anywhere, though I have yet to test this with the mast raised to full height.

Uses about 12% CPU running full width, this on an i7-9970 and GTX1650 Super graphics card.

I also tried recording full width onto an HDD (an SSD is recommended..) but this worked fine on the Hitachi 12TB HDD I have, both on record and playback.

Had a quick look on HF, looking good there too.. will have a nose later on MW, and LF NDBs.

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 1:05 pm
by Simon G4ELI
Would be interesting to see a screenshot with the antenna pointing at the los transmitter.

Maybe a 30 second IQ so i can see the dynamic range? Would be 3GB...

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 2:10 pm
by G0OFE
I'll do that tomorrow if the wind drops. Too windy to raise the ants at the moment - but a quick look suggests Radio 3 is peaking 85db above noise with the antennas lowered.....

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 4:20 pm
by Simon G4ELI
G0OFE wrote: Sun Nov 15, 2020 2:10 pm I'll do that tomorrow if the wind drops. Too windy to raise the ants at the moment - but a quick look suggests Radio 3 is peaking 85db above noise with the antennas lowered.....
Nice - will be a good test. The S3 should handle much more than that.

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 7:29 pm
by G0OFE
One thing I did find when I tested it with a variable gain preamp is that too much gain and the S3 just stopped. Turn the gain down, and it automatically resumed.
With the S2, I have a small hint of overload around 87.6-87.8 when I raised the antennas and the signal levels from the blowtorches increased.

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:08 pm
by Simon G4ELI
I doubt a pre-amp is needed, I expect it's overloaded.

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2020 8:23 pm
by G0OFE
Yes, overloaded without a doubt.

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:24 am
by G0OFE
Uploaded to Dropbox and share message sent (hopefully)

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 10:39 am
by Simon G4ELI
G0OFE wrote: Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:24 am Uploaded to Dropbox and share message sent (hopefully)
Thanks, downloading now.

Re: S3 is here at last !! First thoughts....

Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2020 10:50 am
by Simon G4ELI
I see 88 dB SNR so should be fine with at least another 10dB...