It's all about the Software

I am having problems editing a 14 hour recording of the entire medium wave band. I was wondering if the file size (234 GB) is excessive and contributing to the issue.

Later in the year I intend taking the SDR on a DX trip, leaving it to record all night and next morning run the Data File Editor to pick out 5 minutes either side of the top of every hour for station IDs. I am trialling this idea today using the Data File Editor, and chose a random time from a 14 hour recording, with a finish time set at 15 minutes.

Playing back the edited file, ten minutes into the recording I noticed it jumps forward by about 5 hours. The recording started at 2.10 am, and at 2.20.27 am it jumps and the time on air is given as 7.15am (video attached).

The original recording was done in SDRuno in 4GB file sizes. Playing this back in SDR Console results in a smooth transition right through without jumping. Looking at the times on the original files, the Data File Editor has taken data from the 2.06am recording, but has not used the next file in the sequence at 2.20am.

Any ideas on this? I've provided a few screenshots as well as the data editor output file to help track the problem down. Thanks again.

I just noticed in the Data File Editor window that it has a starting time of 13.10 UTC but a finish time of 10.15 despite setting the duration as 15 minutes. Should this not read 13.25 rather than 10.15?

Hi SpE.
This does not answer your question nor solve the problem you see. I am just curious about why you make ONE LONG recording if you are only interested in the ToH period?
I also record the full MW-band and I start a recording say 4 minutes before ToH and stop it say 4 minutes after ToH. And then repeat for each ToH during the night.
By this i get manageable files and still get the time period I am interested in. SDRC's recording functionality is excellent for this and very quick for setting it up.
It has worked as expected for me for a few seasons now.
73 / Ingolf, SM6FHZ

Hi,

I'll look at this, I expect it's a problem working out how the files are chained, also you must not playback a recording while running the editor. Best would be to make the recording with Console.

In the first screenshot click View as Text - let's see the full logfile.

Am on holiday for a few days, playing antennas.

Matrox cracked the play a file back while recording issue. I made a "7 second delay" tool out of it. You record a large series of short files. The file length defines your minimum delay time. Maximum is current time less start time. I started a version that allowed several playbacks on one recording sequence designed for churches so the sermon could be played back when convenient in the various youth classrooms.

{^_^}

Hi Simon,
Full logfile has already been uploaded for you.

Although this doesn't fix the problem, I have found a better system of analysing top of the hour files. I discovered the Navigator feature. What a brilliant system! Much, much quicker than breaking a 14 hour recording into 14 separate 10 minute recordings. It's only taken me 18 months of using SDR Console to discover this. Thanks for creating such great software.

Cheers,
Dave

Hi Ingolf,
The top of the hour recordings will come in handy for quickly identifying stations for a DX trail in the club magazine. As this planned trip will most likely be the last for me from this location I intend going through all the full recordings over several months following the trip and analysing them as much as possible. Sometimes as you know a station doesn't always peak around the hour and many times a new logging will come up for only a few minutes and then disappear again, not to be heard for the rest of the trip. Not only that but Murphy's Law states that a station will fade at the top of the hour ID lol! Imagine your frustration to hear a new station and not get an ID before the recording stops!
73,
Dave

Hi Dave.
Yes, I understand. I've experienced it all I am sure we all have.
The habits differs from station to station, still the greatest possibility remains at ToH. South American stations seem to avoid ToH ID's to a larger extent than NA-stations.
Very frustrating when listening to a TransAtlantic station in the morning here and they just play music and pass ToH without a single word Unattended night transmissions, I gather.
I have problems to find the time to analyse ToH recording of ~8 minutes each as it adds up to quite a long playing time; Number of frequencies * number of ToH recordings * 8 minutes = many hours to analyse....
I always fear that a rare station will fade in and replace a "standard" station at a "50 kW clear channel", as propagation do now and then. So, I check also the "Big signal stations" channels in the recordings.
I concur with your statement about the Navigator in SDRC. Very useful.
Good luck with your trip. I hope you catch some nice DX!
73 / Ingolf, SM6FHZ