I just received my kit yesterday. I found that the L1 lead, not the body which goes to gnd, was shorted to the gnd plane on the bottom side of the board. I used an xacto knife to cut the bridge. This was not a solder bridge. I did not use that pad for fear of a solder bridge to gnd. I used the antenna pad instead. Check with an ohm meter before installing L1, the larger pad (antenna input) just above the silk screen that says C21 for no continuity to gnd. I had several wrong installs of the thru hole parts because I was not careful to pay good attention to the silk screen and the small oriention line between the body of the resistor and it's other lead. Good luck, Marsh, NC7V

I read Bill, KD5TFD'S comments in the AMQRP Future directions. I wanted to do something similar. Be careful of the reference designators! They are from a previous version of the PCB/schematic and some have changed. His R18 (from version 3.1) is now R2 which is the LED current limiting resistor. I left it in. I put my 12v input header in place of R1. C2 is shorted to gnd. R1 is the same, but replaced by the input voltage header.. C8 is the same. His R2 is now R3, 5volts to Q2. I haven't finished my soft rock yet. Spent too much time on my L1 gnd short. Marsh, NC7V

Got my unit operational this afternoon! I am using the internal Xtal at this time. Hope to hook the DDS up soon. Now to learn how to use PowerSDR properly. Marsh, NC7V

The 24th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference September 23-25, 2005 Santa Ana, California http://www.tapr.org/dcc Finally, at long last, the 24th Annual ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference is this week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Lunch Time! ------------------------------ Lunches will be served Friday and Saturday noon time. This way you do not waste any time. Once the last talk of the morning is done, lunch will be waiting. Then one hour later you are back listening to the next speaker. The cost is $15.00 each meal. You can sign up for lunch on the DCC web site or pay at the conference. THERE ARE A LIMITED NUMBER OF LUNCHES. Sign up early to be included. Friday Night Social ------------------------------ Join us at the Friday night social gathering. Hors d�oeuvres and sodas are provided. Schedule Posted ------------------------------ An updated schedule has been posted to the DCC web site. The schedule includes all talks, speakers and introductory sessions. Demonstrations Galore! ------------------------------ There will be many projects on display in the demonstration room. Bring yours to show. - GNU Radio and the USRP - Flex-Radio and the SDR-1000 - ICOM - D-Star - AOR's new digital radio modems, the ARD9000 and ARD9800 - and much more... Banquet ------------------------------ Our Banquet speaker is Dan Cregg, KB6ENX, Chief Technology Officer - Smarthome Inc. Dan Cregg began his tenure at Smarthome as director of engineering and product development in 1997 when Smarthome acquired SmartLinc, a company Cregg co-founded. In addition to co-founding SmartLinc, Cregg founded and was president of HomeRun Automation, which was purchased by SmartLinc in 1997. Cregg has also held engineering positions at McDonnell-Douglas, SVG Thermco and Universal Electronics. Cregg holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from California State University, Long Beach and is a member of the engineering schools executive advisory council. Introductory Sessions ------------------------------ - Overview of HF Digital Modes by Steve Ford, WB8IMY - Intro to APRS by Darryl Smith, VK2TDS - Intro to Eagle CAD by Dan Welch, W6DFW - Intro to WSJT Digital Meteor Scatter by Steve Ford, WB8IMY Sunday Seminar - Turning Ideas into Products: TAPR Project Development ------------------------------ This year's Sunday Morning Seminar will focus on the practicalities of turning your back-of-the-napkin design for either hardware or software into a product that other hams can use. It will address the mechanics of converting a hardware design into a kit or finished product, such as selecting parts, using CAD tools, selecting a PC board house, preparing documentation, and preparing for support. It will also address intellectual property issues, and in particular explain how you can use Open Source licenses in your software project. Although the Seminar will focus on the TAPR design philosophy and process, it will be valuable for anyone contemplating a ham radio product or kit, or just wanting to learn how today's tools make it easy to create printed circuit boards. Conference Information and Registration ------------------------------ Conference information and registration can be made online at http://www.tapr.org/dcc/ 73, - The DCC Committee

I've posted a few updates to the SoftRock updates for PowerSDR. Nothing major, just some bug fixes. Specifically: - Fixed problem using an SDR 1000 in fixed freq mode - Fixed a potential glitch/hang in level calibration with a SoftRock 40 - Fixed smooth panadapter scrolling when in fixed freq mode To get the new code: http://ewjt.com/kd5tfd/sdr1k-notebook/sr40/sw.html Regards, Bill (kd5tfd)

Today was like Christmas. The two SR-40s and a Griffin PowerMate showed up today. No time to build today...that will be for tomorrow, but I did have a chance to set up the PowerMate with the PowerSDR software. Very easy setup using the instructions at www.flex-radio.com under Downloads. In fact all their manuals seem to be first rate so far. I set mine up a little different than the instructions for selecting VFO Step. When you turn the knob, it tunes the VFO. When you click and turn the knob, it changes the VFO step size. Let up and you are back to tuning the VFO at the new step size. A VERY natural feeling action made even better by the very high quality "feel" of the PM. I played with the PowerMate using the *.wav files that Bill made available earlier. It doesn't do anything you can't already do with a wheel mouse. But it SURE does it smoother. What a beautiful piece of equipment. Tuning is like a REAL receiver now. hi. Can't wait to get one of the sr-40s going tomorrow. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

Does anybody have this running on Linux? Thanks / Leigh WA5ZNU

I should have said that the image would appear at 7.070, not 7.060- sorry. -Bruce. --- In softrock40@..., "Bruce Beford" <bruce.beford@v...> wrote: > Eric- I think you may be confused regarding image rejection. What is > meant is when you inject a signal at say, 7.042, which is about > 14Khz BELOW the center freq of 7.056- The image that you are trying > to null will appear at about 7.060, or about 14Khz ABOVE the center > freq. The nulling process will not have any effect on the junk > around 7.056. My understanding is that the stuff you see there are > artifacts created by very low frequency noise within the the sound > card, as well as other factors relating to this low-cost design. A > high-end sound card may reduce this, but I would like to hear from > others using the SR40 with something like the M-Audio delta 44, or > other high-end cards. Hope this explaination helps. > > 73, Bruce N1RX

Has anyone else had a problem getting PowerSDR to run? It loaded fine after I added other software it wanted (like .net framework) but now it won't run. When I start PowerSDR the logo comes up but when it says it's initializing DSP it hangs and never does anything else. the PC is not hung; other applications still work. I have to reboot to clear PowerSDR's logo from the screen. The PC is a 1.8 Ghz Dell running Windows ME. I tried both power SDR 1.4.1 and 1.4.4 and then tried new downloads of each. There must be something missing on my PC but I have no idea what. My SR40 came in the mail today. Any help or ideas would be great. 73 Nick Brown AB0WE

I have received the 40.5Mhz crystals I ordered for use in the SoftRock to allow operation on 30M. It is not going to be strictly plug and play. I built my first Softrock with a socket for the crystal, and have been able to get it to run with several crystals that run at less than the "stock" 28.224 Mhz. Was listening to 80M last night with a 14.318 Mhz xtal in there (Rx center freq abt 3.58 Mhz) signals were slightly down due to the front end filter, but it worked pretty well- Except for some 40M SWBC images. I cannot get the 40.5Mhz crystals to fire in an unmodified SR40. I breadboarded the oscillator cicuit from the SR40, and WAS able to get the crystals to work if I removed C6 and C7 (100pf). When I replaced them with 33pf caps, I could get both the original crystal, and the 40.5Mhz crystal to fire up fine. However, I could not repeat this by replacing C6 and C7 on a SR40 circuit board. I'm not sure yet what the difference is (between my breadboard lash-up and the PC board, maybe other stray capacitances) I do plan to do some additional experimenting. Possibly my stock of 2n3904s are better(?) The ones supplied should work at this freq ok, so I'm not sure. In any event, I am now sure these crystals work on the fundamental freq of 40.5Mhz. It looks like some mods will need to be done to a board to allow operation at that high a freq. I'll keep ya all posted. 73, Bruce N1RX

Hi All, I have been using liquid solder (paste) with great success. 5 years ago, I started out with a sample sent to me for free by a vendor. It was sent without an applicator, so using it on really small smt was impossible, couldn't apply small amounts of solder without the special (and pricey) micro-applicator. The stuff was great, I used it with a conventional Weller soldering station and with the pyropen hot air 'iron'. It was supposed to have a 3 month shelf life, but I stored it in the refrigerator and it has lasted 5 years although it has degraded to the point where I wouldn't trust it on smt. So, I need to buy more liquid solder and want a more modest quantity, and something that comes with an inexpensive applicator so it will dispense small amounts needed for smt pads. Any suggestion as to which product to buy and where to buy it??? Please, no Radio Shack recommends, been there, done that...I've got questions, they have blank stares:>: Reputable vendors only please. Thanks, Art -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.3/107 - Release Date: 9/20/2005

The radio went together fairly easily, though I'm at a loss to figure out why an experimenter's radio is jammed onto such a small board. This might be OK for a production rig, but some room would be nice to experiment. That said, the radio works except there is no image rejection and the DSP image rejection controls do nothing. The instructions say, "If the image cannot be nulled at least 50 db, then a problem exists..." Well, some guidance would have been helpful. Especially, given my opening criticism. I am reluctant to tear into this think quite yet as there is not a lot of room to work. I originally thought it may be a transformer mis-wiring on my part. Again, we're talking an experimenter's radio on 40 meters where things are relatively less critical than other bands, so a little larger toroid with more room to make changes would make it a lot easier. I'm hoping when I fix the image problem that all that 7.056 +/- 5 khz energy is going to at least be diminished. 7.056 is S5. 7.051/7.061 are S3. Anyway, I have no doubt the problem is my error. I just want a little direction so that I can minimize stress on the board. Eric KE6US www.ke6us.com

I have a question about DDS performance. I look forward to the day when DDS is not a bad word with regard to receiver LO performance. There has been much discussion in all the email lists that involve DDS vfo's in their operation. At present, the DDS spectral issue is limiting our ability to produce an ultra high performance receiver. I have thought about this 'spur' problem quite a bit, and wonder if it's possible to filter out the spurs in the present generation of DDS chips. I present a possible method for doing so in the following paragraphs and invite comments and discussion. ------------------------------------------------------ If one uses a DDS in a conventional "typical" QSD with software defined radio type software, the bins in the receiver might be 10 Hz wide. By this, I mean the receivers DSP software looks at 10 Hz wide chunks of spectrum and quantifies the energy in each 10 Hz wide chunk of spectrum. If the DDS chip has a small output corresponding to a particular 10 Hz bin, the software cannot distinguish between the desired signal having energy in this chunk of spectrum or whether it's the DDS (LO) that has a spur that falls within that 10 Hz chunk of spectrum....so, the software has to treat the DDS spur as though it was a weak, but desired signal. Hence, the DDS with a spur actually generates 'interference'. According to one QSD/SDR icons comments on another mailing list, it is unlikely that any 10 Hz wide bin escapes the spur problem because they are small but prevalent! So the bins are to large to avoid DDS spurs, the spurs are very widespread (well distributed in the output spectrum of the DDS). I know FlexRadio uses math to look for 'sweet spots' and jogs the LO and the sound card IF frequency to keep the DDS tuned to these spur free zones........ BUT......... What would happen if the bins were (say, for instance) .1 Hz (or even .01 Hz) wide? That's 100 (or 1000) times less spectrum per each bin, and 100 (or 1000) times less chance of having a spur fall within a particular (randomly selected) bin. It's much narrower than we need to receive a cw or ssb signal, except in some specialized weak signal work where we use argo to look for very very weak (but coherent) constant frequency carriers. With .1 Hz wide FFT bins, many of the bins would be spur free..... BUT...... How can our FFT software tell whether the bin that has energy above the baseline level is the result of a weak desired signal or is the result of a DDS spur?? How about (temporarily) shorting the antenna terminals once the user has stopped tuning, and scanning for bins with energy in them? Those bins with energy in them are probably due to the DDS LO generated spurs. Once the bins with energy in them are identified, they can be removed electronically by having the FFT software toss out the energy in that particular bin before recombining the energy in the entire 3 KHz spectrum in order to listen to our desired ssb signal. This can only work if the spurs are coherent or remain on the same frequency (once the user stops tuning). Since the DDS output is digital, presumably these spurs are not random in nature and occur at the same amplitude and frequency all the time. I am software challenged myself. Maybe some of the more DDS savvy hardware people can comment on the coherence, amplitude stability and how often spurs occur when you zoom in on a 3 Khz slice of spectrum with much finer resolution than the typical 10 Hz wide FFT bin. Obviously this method would involve a heavier DSP processing load, but the spurs could be removed to allow for detection of weaker signals that are presently masked by the DDS spurs. Would this scheme allow us to use a 'dirty' DDS output for our LO's without concern for spurs at all (trading processor load for improved weak signal receive capability)? Regards, Art -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.11.5/110 - Release Date: 9/22/2005

I finished my SoftRock-40 and it worked first time on Windows with SDRadio. Thanks! I tried installing jDttsp and its many pre-reqs (python-2.4, jack, GNU SDL-1.6) on FC3 but I couldn't find any documentation on their site about what it does or how it does it, or even what keys to press, but it did appear to start up. So I tried SDRadio under WINE and it ran. I had to kick ALSA by clickign on the volume control buttons a few times in the mixer (for some reason this seems to happen after reboots). The bottom part of the buttons and the right edge are cut off, but at least it receives CW! I'm using a Griffin iMic as the sound device. If you have a laptop with mono sound, you might try one of these. They're cheap and will get you up and running. 73, Leigh / WA5ZNU

The install of the PowerSDR v1.4.4 seems to be OK. I can select the installed shortcut, see the screen and manipulate the controls. When I run the PowerSDR.exe SoftRock 40 Editon, I see the loading screen and the thermometer open up and almost immediately a Fatal Error message: File or assembly name Interop.ADOX, or one of its dependencies, was not found. Then there are 4 file names listed as -- at PowerSDR.<ext> The thermometer continues but stops at 9 seconds. What's up? Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es <oo> 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

Not thinking about what was really supposed to happen... My mind isn't working -- as usual -- the install direcdtory/folder is not the temp directory/folder...[g] I checked the Program Files folder, found Flex Radio Systems, went back to the folder where I had opened the SR 40 stuff and copied the two files to the Flex Radio System folder. Voila... What a dunce... going to blame it on CRS... Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es <oo> 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

SR-40 Folks, The things I learned by doing the installation incorrectly may be of help to others. Especially those of us who are not software/hardware technicians and engineers. If your computer is running with a current acceptable operating system, utilities and associated hardware, then here's what worked with my XP Pro system. You will need to know how to create folders, extract (unzip), locate and run the software much like any other application you would install. (I use MS Explorer to create folders and move files.) The following are two install options -- Indirect Extraction Method: 1. Download the PowerSDR v1.4.4 software into temp folder 1 as described in the SR-40 manual or AmQRP SR-40 website. Extract the files into the same folder/directory. You should see three files. 2. Download the SD-40 overlay software into a separate temp folder 2 and extract it into the same folder. You should see two files -- . 3. From temp folder 1 where PowerSDR was extracted, run Setup.exe. This will install all of the files for PowerSDR v1.4.4. You should see a shortcut icon on your desktop. The files are installed into the "C:&#92;Program Files&#92;Flex Radio&#92;PowerSDR v1.4.4" folder. 4. Locate and open the above PowerSDR folder. 5. Copy the two files from temp folder 2 into this folder. The SD-40 version will replace or overwrite the PowerSDR.exe file previously installed. You should now be able to run the software from the PowerSDR icon on your desktop. Direct Extraction Method: 1. Download the PowerSDR v1.4.4 software into temp folder 1 as described in the SR-40 manual. Extract the files into the same folder/directory. You should see three files. 2. Download the SD-40 overlay software into a separate temp folder 2. 3. From temp folder 1 where PowerSDR was extracted, run Setup.exe. This will install all of the files for PowerSDR v1.4.4. You should see a shortcut icon on your desktop. The files are installed into the "C:&#92;Program Files&#92;Flex Radio&#92;PowerSDR v1.4.4" folder. 4. Open temp folder 2 and extract the files directly to the path shown above. You should be able to browse to this path from your extraction program. This step will overwrite the PowerSDR.exe file and add a .dll file to the folder (total of 15 files now.) You should now be able to run the software from the PowerSDR v1.4.4 icon on your desktop. Refer to the SD-40 manual to continue. Worked for me -- hope it does for you too. Chuck Carpenter, W5USJ, Point, TX -|- Rains Co. -|- EM22cv -|- 72 es <oo> 50 years -|- 19 - K2OFN and 31 - W5USJ -|- Most fun = QRP since 1984. www.w5usj.com hosted by Hamnutz.com -|- NeTxQRP www.netxqrp.com

I have a couple of simple questions to the group. I'm awaiting a SR-40 radio to come in, in the meantime I have setup several PC's to hook up the the radio, and I have installed the software. I noticed something funny last night, my other four PC's do the same thing. While listening to a IQ recording there is practically no noise at all, this a particular recording is of a 40 meter CW contest. Even when I tune in-between signals there is no noise. I played with the squelch settings, no change, the filters are off. My question is, when someone with a SDR1000 radio makes a recording does it record the raw band data, or does it record it after whatever filters the user has applied? I have several recordings and they are all the same, no noise. The funny thing is on the scope you can see noise and sometimes weak signals that rise about 4 to 7 db above the noise level and when you tune them you get nothing, no audio out, even when you can see a weak signal there. I'm using the version 1.4.4 with the Soft-Rock modifications, is there a bug where the squelch is on all the time? Setup; Dell Precision 220 2X Pentium III 512 Meg Ram Win2K SP4 .Net V1.1 SP1 DirectX 9 MDAC 2.8 SP1 Flex software with Soft-Rock patch V1.4.4 ASIO4All V1.8 (Latest), I tried ASIO and MME drivers, do difference. SB Live 24 (Pci), SB Live, SB Audigy 2 Zs, Built in SoundMax Digital Audio, I tried all these cards. The System is patched up with all the latest security patches from Microsoft. -- Cecil Bayona KD5NWA <www.qrpradio.com> I fail to see why doing the same thing over and over and getting the same results every time is insanity: I've almost proved it isn't; only a few more tests now and I'm sure results will differ this time ...

Message Hello all. I have successfully converted a SoftRock40 for use on 30M. Two capacitors need to be changed from their original values, and a new oscillator crystal installed. Capacitors C6 and C7 are changed from their original 100pF to 33pF. The crystal is changed from its original 28.224 to 40.500 Mhz. The original crystal still works with the new capacitor values (in two units here). (I had tried this before, and didn't think it worked, but my experiment was flawed. It is working now.) By using a machined-pin socket (or similar) for the crystal, band change is as easy as swapping the crystal. A switch could also be wired in to select different crystals. The receiver input band pass filter is wide enough to allow good operation on 30M. When using the PowerSDR software, just go to Setup, and select the SoftRock tab. Uncheck "Fixed HW Osc" and enter 10.125 in the Freq box. Then, recheck the "Fixed HW Osc" box. That's it. PowerSDR will now display the correct frequencies. Please note that these crystals are fundamental mode, HC-49 size crystals, 100 ppm. The actual center freq on 30M will be +/- 1Khz or so. A slight tweaking of the image reject settings may be needed for best performance when changing bands. I have available a quantity of the 40.500 Mhz crystals required. These allow nearly full coverage of the Amateur 30M band with the SoftRock receiver. As I announced earlier, I am making these available to all. The price for US delivery is $2.00 for one crystal, $1.50 each for quantities of two or more. For foreign addresses (including Canada) the price is $2.50 for one, $2.00 each for two and up. You may send payment via PayPal to bruce.beford@... I will fill orders on a first-come, first served basis. Any questions? Email me direct, and I'll answer as best I can. 73, Bruce N1RX