HL2 as a Shortwave Broadcast Receiver

[Michael Lewis]

Hi,

I am a newbie to the group, and apologies if I am asking something that has been answered - my searches did not seem to truly address these questions.

While I am a licensed Amateur Radio operator, my primary attraction to the HL2 is to use it for shortwave broadcast band DXing. I particularly like what I have seen from the Thetis software and this seems like the inexpensive way to get a number of those amazing features, like the NR2 for instance. So some questions:

1) Will the HL2 perform well as a general coverage receiver? Are there any issues with the N2ADR filter board installed that affect receive sensitivities in the areas outside of the ham radio bands?

2) What is the low frequency receive limit for the HL2 (I am sure this is shown somewhere but not finding it atm...) Is the HL2 capable of receiving MW or LW in addition to HF?

3) Is there a dedicated receive antenna port option, perhaps with the optional IO board add-in?

4) Probably more of a Thetis question, but does the HL2 using Thetis support selectable sideband SAM mode?

5) are there any other tradeoffs or considerations that should be taken into account as far as using the HL2 as a general coverage receiver?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Best Regards,

Mike L. (ML)

KE0MF

Longmont, CO, USA

[Ed Grafton]

1/2. I believe that 100KHz is the lower limit. When using as general coverage, you can in tick the boxes for the LPFs to the OFF position.There is also a Hi pass filter to attenuate the AM BCB transmissions (You can tick this off if needed.

3:With the IO board, you can have a dedicated receive port (And a port for Pure Signal).

4:Yes.

5: Yes. It will make for an excellent general coverage receiver. You will also find that (Minus the RF power out) it will transmit as good, if not better than most radios that are up to 10X the cost.

If you have an old HF rig with a working PA & LPFs, you can drive it with the HL-2 & get 100W out.

Ed

[Michael Lewis]

Ed,

Thanks for the prompt and informative reply. Sounds like a Hermes Lite 2 may have to be in my future :) It sure does look like a really nicely performing little rig especially for the money. Two other things I forgot to ask:

1)  This is another Thetis question. I am confused, is there a separate download/version for the Thetis for the HL2 or does the latest download  support both the ANAN radios and the HL2?

2) I have seen references to versions of the Hermes (or other named small SDRs from the same people) that had 14bit or even 16 bit ADC chains. It seems like those are all no longer available anywhere - is that true to your knowledge?

Thanks bunches,

ML

[Ed Grafton]

1: With the latest releases, it has the HL-2 built in. You can also have 2 instances, so an Anan radio can be used too. You will find it here on the group page.

2: You may find the "Hermes", but only used. I doubt you will find anything with HF TX/RX, PA & LPFs for double the money. I also have compared it to other more advanced SDRs, but found no advantage, except for wider bandwidth. 

Ed

[Michael Lewis]

Ok very good, appreciate all the good info, thanks!

ML

[Ron Lewkowicz]

There is someone making and selling a 14bit Hermes Lite 1.8-50Mhz 20W out of Ukraine on ebay.  They are over double the price of the HL2 and have no affiliation with the Hermes Lite 2 project that I am aware of.  I have no idea if they are any good so do not consider this an endorsement.

[Michael Lewis]

Ron, I DID see that myself, but did not know if it was worth pursuing, without any knowledge of the way it is built. It would seem to me that the HL2 is a better bet in any case as it does seem to have a great support community as evidenced by this group here, which is something that is not to be taken for granted with these type of products I would say. Been very impressed so far with all the help I have found here.

[Steve Haynal]

Hi Mike,

For the lowest RX frequency, I don't think there is any hard lower limit except for DC, but performance does get worse as RX frequencies become very low. People do use the HL2 successfully on VLF amateur radio bands. To improve performance at very low frequencies, people will replace and rewind the RX transformer on a larger core. You can search this groups for more details. 

73,

Steve

kf7o