SDR waterfall for FT-1000?

[Starnes Family]

Hi gang,

I recall we had an SDR-IQ SDR at the 6m station and displayed a waterfall window on the ‘big screen’.

 

I want to add a waterfall display to my FT-1000mp. How do I do this?

 

I have a Pixel receive ant into the RX/IN, and should be able to take the RX/OUT RCA and plug it into ‘something’. It has a controller that cuts off the pre-amp and RX input during TX, so any overload circuit issues is already covered.

 

What would the suggestion(s) be from here?

 

Tnx, 73,

Wayne – KU4V

 

[John Scott]

I'm gonna guess this is right up W3OA's alley since he's been playing around with SDR, Skimmers, I/Q Detection for lo the past 5 or 6 years.  

--John Scott

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[Tim ORourke]

I am away but i know there is a group that puts out a board that takes if signals and coverts to i&q signals with out using sound card. 

Input to pc is thtough usb from there most any sdr software will work.  One freeware is Simon Browns Sdrradio software.

I so entrenched with pwrsdr and my TAPR Hermes i do not play with the sw out there. 

I will find a lint to iq box and post when i get back.

One limitation to all no direct rf down conversion is limited band width.

True rf to digital rx's have very wide spectrum Hermes up to 60mhz.

With 60mhz skimmer can see 160 to 6 meters in one window.

You will not get much more than 20khz with any scheme other than true ddc rx.

Tim W4YN

Tim O'Rourke 
W4...@ARRL.Net
Low Power Amateur Radio Rocks 
Member of Flying Pigs,ARCI,GQRP,RSGB,ARRL Life Member
R/C Pilot (sort of) 
NRA Life Member
NRA Certified Rifle, Pistol, Black Powder Instructor, Range Officer 

[W3OA]

Hi Wayne -

There are a couple of ways to get the waterfall display:

1)  Connect the SDR to the radios IF signal.  At Boone we used an SDRIQ feed by the IF out connector on the FTdx3000.  The SDRIQ only covers up to 30 Mhz so this was the only way to use Paul's (AA4ZZ) spare SDRIQ on Six (the IF on the FTdx3000 is at 9 Mhz).  It looks like the FT-1000mp doesn't have an IF output connector but I see there are some mods on the web which provide one.

2)  Connect the SDR to an antenna.  I did this on my Mk-V so the Mk-V and the SDR were using the same antennas.  Connect the input to a splitter to the FT-1000 RX Ant Out jack.  Connect one of the splitter outputs to the FT-1000 RX Ant In jack. Connect the other splitter output to the SDR antenna connector.  Select the RX antenna on the FT-1000.  For a first try you can use a simple Y cable for the splitter.

For software I'd suggest you look at HDSDR and SDR-Radio.

There are lots of choices for SDR radios.  If I were starting from scratch now I'd consider AIRSPY or SDRplay Paul (W3GQ) has just purchased an SDRplay and seems to be having success with it.  There are some much cheaper alternatives such as SoftRocks and a number using USB TV dongles.  My personal choice is to avoid any solution using sound card inputs because they require too much fiddling with settings.  Make sure the radio you buy is supported by the software you choose.

Hope this helps some.

73 - Dick, W3OA

On 10/4/2015 5:06 PM, Starnes Family wrote:

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