Ordered HL2

[Rolandas LY0NAS]

Hi,

After some time of hesitation I just ordered Hermes Lite 2 with all 3 components just before 10 January possible shipping time. I expect to be in this group buy.

Regards

Rolandas LY0NAS

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Rolandas,

Welcome to the group. I am curious, what are your (and others) reasons for hesitation?

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Robert Allbright]

Hi Steve

thanks for all your dedicated work.

What puts me off ordering the HL2 boards is 

will they fit snugly in the Makerfabs enclosure?

without filing etc?

I am quite happy with software issues etc.

Perhaps it is necessary to make one’s own enclosure?

73 and HNY

Rob

G3RCE 

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[Steve Haynal]

Hi Rob,

One reason we switched from the 55mm tall to 40mm tall enclosure was for better fit of the board. I haven't heard of any complaints with the 40mm tall enclosure. It is the only one Makerfabs sells. There still is hole which must be drilled in the enclosure. See: https://github.com/softerhardware/Hermes-Lite2/wiki/Final-Assembly#drill-hole

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Roger David Powers]

> I am curious, what are your (and others) reasons for hesitation?

I would say there is a fear of the unknown.  In my case the cost is a significant part of my hobby budget and it's nerve racking to send money off to China to buy a product that is explicitly telling you that it comes with no support.  It took me some time to get a comfort level that I could get support if I have a problem.  I'm more of a 'software guy' and for me a big help was I asked a friend who is much more hardware savvy than me to support me if I should run into major problems and he agreed. 

It also has taken me some time to come up to speed on SDR technology in general so I could have an appreciation of the technology in this radio.  I have started slowly by buying a Softrock sound card radio and learning the ins and outs of this technology.  Given that I'm enjoying the process, I'm looking forward to taking the next step.

A lot of my comfort level came from reading this email list.  People have a positive and constructive attitude and I am learning about a lot of new things just by reading this list.  Keep up the good work!

Regards,

RDP

[Robert Benedict]

My biggest concern is CW operation. It seems that sending CW and hearing a side tone is not straight forward. It looks like CW is the unacknowledged step child of this transceiver.

  73

   Bob  KD8CGH

[k...@khk.net]

Bob, 

the easiest way to get CW working with a sidetone is by using an external keyer with a sidetone that you connect to the HL2. That's how I do it. I use a K3NG keyer and have both a straight key and paddles connected to it, so I can switch back and forth between the two of them. This works pretty well, and I don't have to deal with MIDI and everything that comes with it. I do have one of the Arduinos that you can use as a MIDI device, but have not gotten around to soldering a 3.5mm connector to it. As long as the external keyer works, I don't have enough incentive to get started on the Arduino :) 

Karl Heinz - K5KHK

[Rolandas LY0NAS]

My hesitation was because it is 12bit only ADC. That makes only 72dB dynamic range.

But somewhere in decimation there is some "gain", that expands dynamic range about to 100dB.

Even 72dB is better than my old Kenwood TS-570D, but 100dB is on level of IC7300.

I started to search how to connect HL2 to my Kenwood to use it as amplifier.

73 Rolandas LY0NAS

P.S. I didn't yet receive any confirmation about shipping, probably I was too late in this group buy.

[radi...@mail.com]

Bob, no need to have any concerns at all about CW sidetone if you use SDR Console (highly recommended for Windows and it's what I personally use) or SparkSDR. Both have excellent sidetone capability with a regular key into the keyer jack on front panel of the HL2. Both very straightforward to operate with excellent online support through their own forums. Other software may too, it's just those are the two I have any experience of.

https://www.sdr-radio.com/

http://www.ihopper.org/radio/

73

Max

[IV3DXW Claudio]

Hi  Rolandas  

[IV3DXW Claudio]

Hi  Rolandas

About dynamic range, I can say you that I have normally -20dBm total power at my HF vertical antenna and I can decode -120dBm ft8 signals without any filter/preselector.

You will impressed testing HL2... no tricks, this is process gain.

I suggest to read ZL3DW's book An introduction to HF Software Defined Radio: SDR for Amateur Radio Operators

73 Claudio iv3dxw

[Rolandas LY0NAS]

Finally got notification from makerfab about shipment :-) via DHL, when I asked and paid for air mail express.

With DHL I would need to pay customs duties and that is not cheap (21% VAT at least + for procedures).

73 Rolandas LY0NAS

[Rolandas LY0NAS]

Hi,

Finally got my HL2, early than expected, because they send via DHL Express (I ordered via AirMail).

I got to pay for duties €82 so everything cost me for ~30% more.

I assembled as RX only (no TX shim installed yet). With some help I got it running with quisk.

Used cheap 12V PSU with unknown noise properties, but at least in 80m band it looks OK.

With full size antenna (80m dipole) i'm very easy on getting clipping so lowered LNA gain.

I have to buy a switch, feet for a box, make a hole for shim to install and test for TX.

73 Rolandas LY0NAS

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Rolandas,

Did you enable the HPF on 80M? We find that most of the noise comes from the AM band. It is very helpful to enable the HPF on all bands except 160M. My HL2 at a remote location can not have the LNA above 0 if the HPF is not on. When the HPF is on, I can go up to +19dB, where I usually like to have it.

73,

Steve

kf7o

[Rolandas LY0NAS]

Hi,

The first step was to enable AM HPF for all bands except 160m.

So far HL2 works OK on receive. I have too little time to play with it,

 but first impressions are good.

I did testing with some very strong amateur radio signals (not so far from me)

 and they didn't cause big problems, with full size antenna, 80m dipole.

BandScope shows where signals are the strongest at my antenna (using unfiltered input),

it is mostly on 40m and AM broadcast signals in evenings.

73 Rolandas LY0NAS

[Roger David Powers]

FYI I received mine, ordered Jan 4, received Jan 15 or so in the US via DHL. 

I want to point out I was waiting on a DHL delivery notification but one was never sent.  I just happened to find the delivery near my front door.  Luckily it was in a sealed plastic bag so the rainy weather did not get to it.  All the boxes arrived without visible damage, but the boxes were loose inside the bag so they IMO were a bit vulnerable to being crushed.

I have some other things going on so I don't think I will play with the unit till the upcoming week end, and even that may not happen.  I want to have the time to do everything step by step and not rush.

I will point out to others monitoring this list that Chinese New Years is in February and many organizations may be taking extended holidays due to the current business conditions so you may want to keep that in mind if you are considering making an order in the near future.

Regards,
RDP

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