Expected reception?

[John Nitis]

Hi There,

Just tried out my Ham It Up (mated together with my 820T RTL-SDR dongle) for the first time and I can't even receive local AM radio stations clearly and I'm wondering if this is to be expected.  I've got a set of VHF/UHF rabbit ear (with UHF loop) antennae sitting on my window sill in my top floor apartment.  I can receive the strongest stations with the gain maxed out but they're very distorted and weak.  I tried the radio clock stations and I can't hear a single one (5MHz, 10MHz, etc.).

I can hear the 125MHz tone very clearly if I tune into it directly.  The USB power light is on and everything works well in pass-through mode (ie, I can receive stations above 25MHz just like I could before I connected up the Ham It Up).  I tried re-seating the crystal just in case as well.

Do I need a super fancy HF antenna to get local AM radio stations or is there a chance something's wrong with my Ham It Up?

Thanks!

[opendous]

> I can hear the 125MHz tone very clearly if I tune into it directly ...

> USB power light is on and everything works well in pass-through mode (ie, I can
> receive stations above 25MHz just like I could before I connected up the Ham It Up)

  That implies most of the board is in working order.  Seems no low-frequency signal is getting to the mixer.  It is possible the input low-pass filter is broken but...

> I've got a set of VHF/UHF rabbit ear (with UHF loop) antennae

  MF/HF radio signal reception is highly dependent on the antenna.  I can only receive my closest time station using two 60foot pieces of wire in a dipole configuration (one piece connected to the SMA center pin, other to the GND shell).  Each piece is strung opposite the other along a wall.

  Some people have been successul connecting the SMA connector center pin to a radiator or water pipes.

  Please try such a larger antenna.