Doing some shop clean up and found a box of unbuilt SR kits. I'll never get to these and it's past time to get them to someone that will build them. These go a a bundle, no time to deal with individual shipments, PayPal preferred, Priority mail to US addresses included, $120 for the lot. 3 - SR for IF, 10.7Mhz 1 - v5 20m (14.060 xtal) 1 - v5 40m 1 - v6 40m 1 - v6 80/40m 1 - v6.2 RXTX 80/40 I'm in digest mode, reply direct please otherwise I may not see your post until much later. Thanks Ron K0IDT

Hi All, This is a continuing saga of my getting a Softrock LF operating properly (again). It has been a number of years since I last used one, and the one Tony sent me seems to work quite well (with a few quirks). But one thing I could NOT do was get a 192KCs bandwidth in the NDB band where I listen. About 96k was the best I could get. I had bought a new Creative Soundcard to install in my Tower computer as the soundcard it had seemed a bit "hissy". This is the soundcard I bought, as it said it was 192k. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09R1GWX8W?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 After I finally got into the Win 11 setup for the card , try as I might, I couldn't do any better than 96k, and that is all that HDSDR would let me do. Finally, in desperation, I plugged the Softrock into the soundcard that came with the 'puter, a Realtek that is apparently part of the motherboard. Well, imagine my surprise when I went into HDSDR and it let me set the card up for 192K, and I can see that bandwidth in the display. Seems to work quite well, except that I do get a "clip" indicator. I've NOT figured out a way to lower the gain of the card that works, (Win11 is TERRIBLE about letting you change things). But at least it IS working, but I noticed that I seem to have three very strong bands of IMD or "noise" (not listened to it yet) in the waterfall. Something that isn't "real" as I don't hear them on the Yaesu receivers using the same antenna/ multicoupler, etc. But otherwise the receiver seems to work well, in three nights recording (while it was still only 96k) I logged quite a few NDB's, including several Alaskan ones that I always welcome here. . . -- <>< 73 From "The Beaconeer's Lair" ><> Specializing in DXing NDBs (Longwave Beacons) Phil, KO6BB, http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/ (\__/) (=’.'=) (”)_(”) EQUIPMENT: YAESU: FTDX-101MP Xceiver, Dual SDR Receivers (~2020) YAESU: FTDX-3000 Xceiver, DSP IF, 300Hz Roofing filter (~2019). Portables: Eton Elite 750 (2), AKA Grundig Satelite 750 (2020) Sangean ATS-909X2 (2021), Tecsun PL-990 (2021) SDRs: Airspy Discovery HF+, SDRplay RSPdx, Softrock LF Scanner: Uniden SDS200 ACC: MFJ-993B Auto Antenna Matcher. HOMEBREW 4 Port Antenna Multicoupler, Feeds 4 RX's. HOMEBREW Tunable LF-MF Pre-Amp. Ratzlaff 440Hz, 6.5Hz BW Audio Filter Autec Research QF1 Audio Filter. ANTENNAS: 88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole, ~35 feet AGL for MW/HF. Top Loaded Tee (Dipole fed as single element). Butternut HF-6V 6 Band Vertical, ~12 Feet AGL for 75-10M Ratzlaff Active whip, 5 Foot Long, ~22 Feet AGL For LF/MW/HF. Wellbrook ALA1530LN Loop For LF/MW/HF at ~17 Feet AGL Discone at ~35 Feet AGL For Scanner QTH: Merced, California, 37, 18, 37N 120, 30, 6W CM97rh

Hi all, Tony was very kind and sent me his Softrock LF receiver. It seems to be working very well, except for ONE thing. Here is a breakdown of what I've seen on the overnight recordings I made using HDSDR (my program of choice). It's been a few years since I've last used a Softrock, so I might be missing something. 1. On the night of 9 October I made recordings for the full night with an LO frequency of 220KHz. Everything went well, except for a strong spur on the LO frequency. I seem to remember that can be due to not using isolation transformers between the receiver and computer sound card. Like I said, it's been awhile, and that wasn't a great concern at the moment. I logged a number of beacons and all were on the proper frequencies. 2. On the night of 10 October I again did an overnight recording, this time using an LO frequency of 250KHz. Again, everything went well, everything on frequency and I logged a number of beacons (their number is rapidly diminishing). 3. Last night I made an overnight recording using an LO frequency of 380KHz so I could cover the upper range of the NDB band. This time everything is messed up frequency wise. The frequency of all NDB's read exactly 10KHz high, this from well known and stable ones like MOG on 404KHz. NOTE: I DID try using both installs of HDSDR (V2.76 & V2.80) to make sure that wasn't the problem, but both read the same. As I no longer have any NDBs within daytime range I can't check things out until night falls. -- <>< 73 From "The Beaconeer's Lair" ><> Specializing in DXing NDBs (Longwave Beacons) Phil, KO6BB, http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/ (\__/) (=’.'=) (”)_(”) EQUIPMENT: YAESU: FTDX-101MP Xceiver, Dual SDR Receivers (~2020) YAESU: FTDX-3000 Xceiver, DSP IF, 300Hz Roofing filter (~2019). Portables: Eton Elite 750 (2), AKA Grundig Satelite 750 (2020) Sangean ATS-909X2 (2021), Tecsun PL-990 (2021) SDRs: Airspy Discovery HF+, SDRplay RSPdx, Softrock LF Scanner: Uniden SDS200 ACC: MFJ-993B Auto Antenna Matcher. HOMEBREW 4 Port Antenna Multicoupler, Feeds 4 RX's. HOMEBREW Tunable LF-MF Pre-Amp. Ratzlaff 440Hz, 6.5Hz BW Audio Filter Autec Research QF1 Audio Filter. ANTENNAS: 88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole, ~35 feet AGL for MW/HF. Top Loaded Tee (Dipole fed as single element). Butternut HF-6V 6 Band Vertical, ~12 Feet AGL for 75-10M Ratzlaff Active whip, 5 Foot Long, ~22 Feet AGL For LF/MW/HF. Wellbrook ALA1530LN Loop For LF/MW/HF at ~17 Feet AGL Discone at ~35 Feet AGL For Scanner QTH: Merced, California, 37, 18, 37N 120, 30, 6W CM97rh

I have had an Ensemble II HF and also an Ensemble iI VHF (2M) for many years. I haven't run them in over ten years. When I did run them, I used a Mac Mini computer with Parallels and ran Windows 7 with HDSDR . Both units ran very well on this set up. Now I have a new Mac Mini M1 with Parallels and Windows 11 ARM on it. I have a couple of other software packages running on it with no problems. But, HDSDR won't install and run. Looking around with Google, I see lots of folks making similar complaints. Do any of you on this list run HDSDR on Windows 11 ARM? If so, I need your help to get my setup running. Thanks, Dave, K4TO

Hi All, Awhile back I posted a message saying that I was looking to purchase a Softrock LF receiver, were they still available and where? This is a rather long message, as I'm going into obtaining, the arrival and installation of my 'new-old' receiver. OK, here goes. 1. Thanks to the folks on this list I discovered where I could order the set, and proceeded to do so, even though with the severe rheumatoid (sp?) arthritis in my hands I knew it would be very difficult to handle the small parts. Some days I can hardly close my fingers to make a fist. That's something that didn't bother me years ago when I built my previous sets. 2. THEN, I received an email from Tony Casorso offering to give me his Softrock LF that he apparently hadn't used in years. Thank you Tony! For me this was a big case of Deja-Vue (nobody ever gave me an 'A' for spelling) as Tony had loaned me that very same receiver many, many years ago and it got me started on the trip down the SDR trail. With it I learned how to do overnight recordings of the NDB beacon band. 3. But to make it ready to install a Softrock I really needed to do some upgrades to my computer. It is a high performance "tower computer" with Win11 on it. In addition to my radio hobbies, I collect old time radio shows, old TV, old Movies, old comic books etc. Mostly public domain, I share about 112.7TB of files on various sharing hubs. So, I have a total of 15 hard drives running 24/7, they vary in size from 10-18TB each. 13 of the drives are "internal" drives that are mounted in two drive storage bays (5 bay & 8 bay). With other peripherals installed all my USB ports were in use, and I had a couple external USB hubs installed too. Problem is, if I was downloading or uploading files, with all those drives are churning away, it caused frequent data collisions and other problems. So, I decided to install a new PCIe card in the 'puter along with a new Sound-blaster Audigy FX PCIe card just for the Softrock. The next paragraphs explain the problems I had with both of those cards , it may help somebody in the future troubleshoot card installation problems. NOTE: I'd installed similar cards in previous 'puters with NO problems. 4. Installed the FrescoLogic"USB3.0 Super Speed PCI Express Host Card" (7 USB ports). Reading the (tiny) instruction sheet I installed the drivers for it from the provided CD (THANKS!) Rebooted the 'puter and tested the ports, nothing, DEAD ports! In checking the devices in the list of installed devices there was a yellow ! indicating that device wasn't working (I knew that). After a couple of hours working on installing, rebooting and so forth I finally went to their web site and looked for their help section. Found it, the FIRST problem covered was "card not working" after install (or words to that effect). The gist of the story was that the install CD is ONLY to be used on machines running Win8 and earlier. Win 10 (it didn't mention 11) is to NOT use the CD, but during installation have windows look for the best driver which is part of Windows (again I have Win11). After uninstalling it and then reinstalling and letting Windows do it's thing the card works perfectly! Gee, thanks, all it would have cost would have been the price of a small piece of paper a few inches square with "DO NOT USE CD ON Win10 and LATER"! 5. Installation of the Sound-Blaster PCIe card. Should be fairly straight forward, I've done it before. So after installing the card everything looked good, the 'puter saw the card as a valid sound card. Plugged the Softrock into the Line In port and fired up HDSDR (V.2.76) which I prefer. I kept getting an error to the effect that the Soundcard didn't recognize that particular file format. After going around in circles for awhile I decided to try HDSDR V.2.80. Imagine my pleasant surprise when the Softrock took right off and I was getting the expected waterfall and everything seems OK now. Just for grins I retried HDSDR (V.2.76) and it too worked just fine. So I'm really NOT sure what the problem was at the start, but all is good at "The Beaconeer's Lair" (w

Hi, Sorry, I've been out of touch with this group for a long time. But I have a question. Is the Softrock LF (Longwave) receiver still available and if so where do I go to order it, and how much. Built a couple or so in years past. . . -- <>< 73 From "The Beaconeer's Lair" ><> Specializing in DXing NDBs (Longwave Beacons) Phil, KO6BB, http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/ (\__/) (=’.'=) (”)_(”) EQUIPMENT: YAESU: FTDX-101MP Xceiver, Dual SDR Receivers (~2020) YAESU: FTDX-3000 Xceiver, DSP IF, 300Hz Roofing filter (~2019). Portables: Eton Elite 750 (2), AKA Grundig Satelite 750 (2020) Sangean ATS-909X2 (2021), Tecsun PL-990 (2021) SDRs: Airspy Discover HF+, SDRplay RSPdx Scanner: Uniden SDS200 ACC: MFJ-993B Auto Antenna Matcher. HOMEBREW 4 Port Antenna Multicoupler, Feeds 4 RX's. HOMEBREW Tunable LF-MF Pre-Amp. Ratzlaff 440Hz, 6.5Hz BW Audio Filter Autec Research QF1 Audio Filter. ANTENNAS: 88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole, ~35 feet AGL for MW/HF. Top Loaded Tee (Dipole fed as single element). Butternut HF-6V 6 Band Vertical, ~12 Feet AGL for 75-10M Ratzlaff Active whip, 5 Foot Long, ~22 Feet AGL For LF/MW/HF. Wellbrook ALA1530LN Loop For LF/MW/HF at ~17 Feet AGL Discone at ~35 Feet AGL For Scanner QTH: Merced, California, 37, 18, 37N 120, 30, 6W CM97rh

Hi everyone, I recently pulled out the old RXTX and connected it up. RX is fine, but it would seem my TX is not. Any suggestions for troubleshooting? I figure I could put a dummy load on it and work backwards from the antenna output. Cheers,Phil N3YHF

Hi folks, It has been ages and ages since I posted due to recovering from second stroke 10/2021. I am much much better! I have a LOT of existing softrock stufff.. some built some not.. but I have plans to use what I have! This picture from an album I created from a now retired installation by NR5NN https://www.qrz.com/db/NR5NN https://photos.app.goo.gl/UwdBFqXdkQgU1VdDA Wow.. Anyway I have gotten further inspiration from an article by W6IBC about a Multi-Band HF Phasing Receiver Using Softrock Ensemble II and Arduino Uno.. and the audio processor in EMRFD from NN7B.. See July/August issue of QEX 8/2022 from W6IBC (must be ARRL member). So why not use what I have on hand and start conversations here. I have always loved phasing receivers and xceivers.. I did not really want to have a computer attached to use the RXTX using Rocky or Quisk.. there are cables everywhere! I also love CW and wanted to get this working as well as I possibly can.. I know this has been discussed a lot here before. Some here have set many CW records using this little rig and a nice antenna. So.. I am starting. I will try to create a folder and not re-invent the wheel.. should be fun! (I like the idea of building your own! I don't have to.. I have an FTdx10 to play with.. although at only 5 watts.. ;-). But.. building and using are two vastly differnent things! Best to all! Guy N1GMM (trying to get my old original call back KA1MWV.. strokes will teach you quickly what is important and love what you have) guy (at) eastroad (dot) org -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.. . \|%|/// | ~ ~ | ^( @ @ )^ ---------o000o--_/-o000o--------- N1GMM Have a good day!

Hello to all, I have an RX/TX Ensemble that I got from Five Dash some years ago. It is still boxed with the hard case. I am quite keen to get started using this little radio. Is there a starting point or users guide that I should have a look at? I want to run the machine under Linux but if it is vitally necessary I can use Windows. I am really in the dark with this, any help gratefully accepted. 73, Tryg --

Ben Cherry <satman39@...> added folder */3d printer files for cases*

Sorry, the softrockrx.com and softrock40.com website is temporarily down. it came up for annual renewal and the price more than doubled. I am in the process of transfering the domains to a new provider, but it could take 7 days. We will have them back online as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience, we will be back online as quickly as possible. Ben Cherry Softrockrx.com 73

I have 3 Tony Parks SDR's with cases FS. I built the rcvrs and got the transceiver at a hamfest. RXII receiver built for LF $40 RXIII receiver, HF $40 Transceiver, suspected to be the 40/30/20 $50 $100 for all 3, + shipping.

The following files and folders have been uploaded to the Files area of the softrock40@groups.io group. * /Installing and using usbsoftrock on Ubuntu.pdf ( https://groups.io/g/softrock40/files/Installing%20and%20using%20usbsoftrock%20on%20Ubuntu.pdf ) *By:* G8DQX list <list@...> *Description:* Installation of Ubuntu GNU/Linux Si570 usbsoftrock drivers and configuration of udev rules. Originally written & tested with Ubuntu 12.04 (2012), but should be applicable to later versions. Now notes archive code sources. Provides inspiration for other Linux distros.

found this group and am looking for the rx/tx assemble that has multiple bands. used,or unbuilt. Hopefully the new owner will combine some of this to make an all in one transceiver with a display possibly? and a raspberry pi or alternative similar inside a case with display? wishfull thinking? 73 David ac9xh

Gents, I bought them to fix up and build but have never gotten around to it. In this lot of 3 is a partially completed 30/20/17m, a completed and unknown 15/12/10 and another in kit form that is missing a 3904 that I will add. They were purchased like this, I have done nothing with them past adding them to the pile of "to do's". Perfect for parts or a good project for someone. I am looking for 175$ shipped for the lot. Willing to trade for other qrp kits? Contact me off list please at my qrz listed e-mail dherron at live dot com 73 David N8DAH

On 3/3/23 21:28, Shirley Dulcey KE1L wrote: > The Softrock uses a crystal that is approximately four times the frequency > you want to receive. It has to be a fundamental mode crystal; the > oscillator circuit is not designed for overtone crystals. That is divided > by four by the divider circuit that generates the quadrature signals. The > 30 and 20 meter versions, and some of the IF versions, use 1/3 subharmonic > sampling because fundamental mode crystals for the necessary frequencies > were not readily available at the time. Is there a write-up somewhere describing how this works? So far as I can tell it would only work if the sampling interval were in the 17 ns range[1], which neither the quadrature mixer nor any sound card would appear to be capable of. Further, Softrock Lite II Home - Softrock Lite II RX <http://www.wb5rvz.org/softrock_lite_ii/index?projectId=8> contains by way of explanation: > The two quadrature signals from the Divider stage are fed into the > mixer stage. The 4.6825 MHz quadrature signals from the divider in the > 20m option are rich in harmonics. The third harmonic (14.0475) is what > is actually used in the mixer stage. which would appear not to be subharmonic sampling at all, but the normal operation of the quadrature mixer taking advantage of there being enough power in the crystal's third harmonic to operate as usual with a 14.0475 MHz clock. Have I missed something? - Roland 9V1RT 1: At 30 MHz, the Nyquist rate is 60 MHz or ~1/(17 ns).

Hello Group, I have 2 SoftRocks RXTX V6.2 one for 160m and one for 80/40 built and in boxes and working 50 bucks each you ship. Contact me via my qrz email and send your phone number. 73's Mike WA3O

question : Are there any components that can be burned out or degraded by RFI that would affect the quadrature output? background-- I built this ensemble II years ago and it's has worked perfectly in the radio shack. A year or two ago it seems to have developed a mirror image problem including on a not so new Win10 I3 machine that used to work fine with it that I still use. It shows mirror images on my macbook, a win10 laptop, another Win10 workstation, or a new Win11 desktop. Realizing that some new computers and my own in particular, do not support a stereo mic input and/or are extremely vague in their techinical spec for the internal sound cards, I tried several USB cards, the latest, a Behringer UCA202 USB unit that definitely supports stereo inputs. No joy on any computer. All that circumstantially isolates the problem to the Ensemble II itself. The ensemble II still receives and tunes fine but I cannot eliminate the mirror image on the display. Both left and right outputs work. (one alone would produce a mirror image). But combined, the quad phase difference should remove the mirror image. Finally - before giving up, I consulted http://www.wb5rvz.org/ensemble_rx_ii/ (I probably used that doc to assemble it - the websites have changed in that time ... ) ... checked voltages, etc. I inspected the traces with magnification for shorts, found nothing, but reflowed anything suspicious. I don't have a scope which would probably nail the problem down. Q: what next? Q: which components can malfunction (.e.g. burned out or degraded by RFI ) and affect the quadrature output? thanks all, Peter KH6DK

Looking to sell my HF RX II in a silkscreened KM5H case $85 delivered. HF RXTX built for 40/30/20 in in a silkscreened KM5H case $105 delivered. E-MU 0204 in the original box with original documents, CD & cable. $115 delivered. Non-smoking home. I built both Softrock’s from kits and they performed as expected. As a precaution before offering them for sale here they were both sent to Tony in August for his once over blessing. He complimented me on my workmanship and both tested fine. I don’t often check my old yahoo email, the best is KK4HP@.... I can accept pretty much all forms of electronic, PP, Venmo, Zelle. Or conventional payment. Email me and I’ll be glad to follow up with photos outside & inside. -Charles

I think I am going to try this. I've learned the AVR toolchain, played with the Si5351 library by NT7S. The change looks doable so far - just rip out the PLL parameter calculation for Si570 and replace with different ones for Si5351A. But I am sure there are gotchas on the way. One thing I don't want to learn is Windows programming for the control software (cfgsr-setup). But it would be nice to have at least some functionality of it, like burning the initial frequency to EEPROM. Maybe somebody did this conversion already, or at least tried? Any tips? 73, Mike AF7KR