SDRs vs TS-590sg Performance Analysis and Settings

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Hasan_N0AN
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Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:22 pm

SDRs vs TS-590sg Performance Analysis and Settings

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Unread post by Hasan_N0AN »

Settings for the SDRPlay RSPdx on HF and the AirSpy R2 on 6 Meters for Optimum Digital Decoding (FT8 and MSK144)
Followed by a comparison of Decoding Performance of each SDR vs my Kenwood TS-590sg

The question has been asked, what settings should I use for my "fill in the blank". This info is offered to answer that question for the two SDRs mentioned above.

The second question often asked is "How well do these SDRs work.?" Sample data and conclusions are presented.
This is NOT claimed to be a statistical study...it is merely the observations of some trends over several hours and a few days.

RSPdx No Preamp: Comparison Basis: # of Decodes/Seq

20m/30m/40m 17m 60m 80m

RF Gain: +23 +27 +23 +20
IF Gain: -45 -45 -45 -40
Vis Gain: -35 -35 -35 -35
AGC: OFF OFF OFF FAST
AGC Gain: 70 dB 70 dB 70 dB N/A
Audio: 81% 81% 81% 81%
NR1: 5 dB 5 dB 5 dB 5 dB

Performance: Dec/Seq

Varies by band, but mostly shows more decodes per
sequence on FT8 by the RSPdx/SDRC combo than the Kenwood
TS-590sg. The quantitative differnce was small as you
can see from the small sample below:

RSpdx TS-590sg 20M
32 30
44 43
35 34
50 48
44 42
============================
15 16 40M
17 17
19 17
12 15
17 17
14 14
=============================
8 8 17M
9 9
8 9
8 9
7 8
7 7
==============================
20 16 30M
18 21
10 11
13 13
16 13
17 15
14 14
14 14
12 13
================================


Notes:
17M: RF Gain 27, AGC OFF/100, Band Condx VERY POOR
17M: RF Gain 27, AGC OFF/70, BAND MODERATELY GOOD
AGC On for 17m produces similar results
AGC On for 60m produces similar results

=======================================================

Airspy R2 No Preamp 6 Meters MSK144
WB NB SDRC: Enabled at Threshold 5.2
TS-590sg: NB 1 and 2 on (my best setting for MSK144)

Gain: Sensitive
Gain Set: 15 (Master Slider)
LNA: 21
Mixer: 15
VGA: 17
AGC: OFF
AGC Gain: 75 dB
Audio Leve:81 %
NR1: ON at 5 dB

Performance: (Raw number of decodes per sequence MSK144)

Equal or Better Than TS-590sg (most of time)
73, N0AN
Hasan

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