SDR

Software Defined Radio is truly fascinating stuff and after being a lapsed ham for ~20 years it’s one of the things that rekindled my interest in radio several years ago.

After doing enough reading about it I decided that I needed an SDR to experiment with. Being a ham one requirement was that I get one that can transmit as well as receive. That was a must-have. The other must-have was to not break the bank. Anyone who’s looked at SDR’s knows that the sky is the limit price-wise. I wanted something to get started with and if that led to a more expensive SDR at some point then that was fine, too.

HackRF One

For my first SDR I chose the HackRF One. As long-time proponent and advocate for open-source software (the BSD family of Unix-like operating systems, for example) I was very pleased to learn that the HackRF was entirely open source hardware. A person can build their own. I chose to purchase one because my nature is to be impatient.

I love this unit and I encourage anyone who wants to learn about SDR to get one, especially if you want to transmit. If you just want to receive then you have many other options. For me, this represented a great way to get started.

I use the GNU Radio software to make my HackRF do things.

AirSpy Mini

I also bought an AirSpy Mini, for two reasons. One was that is was inexpensive and one was that it has 12-bit ADC’s. Compared to the HackRF’s use of 8-bit ADC’s and DAC’s this gave a nice increase in dynamic range, a key parameter. It’s also super-small. If you just want to receive and want a good starter SDR, this is an excellent choice.

I generally use the SDR# (SDR Sharp) software with this unit which works very well.

Belka-DX

This is an outstanding little radio. I needed a radio for camping. The noise floor on HF in the big city is just bloody awful. We camp in remote area and that is the perfect area for HF listening.

When we were young I always had an HF receiver with us when we camped. Now that we’ve taken camping up again I needed something smaller and lighter and easier on the 12V system that the old Heathkit SW-7800.

I found the Belka-DX. It’s a truly remarkable little unit and I could not be happier with it. Go find some reviews and see what others are saying about it. It is entirely self-contained but I use a Bluetooth speaker plugged into the audio output jack to enhance the audio quality. Earbuds also work good.

It is designed and built by Alex, EU1ME, a ham in Belarus. Let me stop here and state for the record that I deplore the government of Belarus, everything that they are and everything that they do. In particular their support of the Russian regime’s brutal attach on Ukraine.

But I know that the good people of Belarus do not support the actions of their authoritarian and corrupt government. And certainly not the amateur radio community there. Alex is clearly brilliant and dedicated to the hobby. This shows in every aspect of his excellent little SDR HF receiver. His store is here:

belrig.by

Given the sanctions placed on Belarus as a result of their government’s support of the Russian attack on Ukraine I was unsure of the viability of transacting business with a Belarusian company.

I then found that the Belka-DX is available from a ham radio store in Sofia, Bulgaria. The store is run by Boris, LZ2JR, who also happens to be a radio designer and builder and who makes the very well reviewed RGO One HF transceiver. Look that one up.

Boris’ store is here:

mobixmax.bg

Boris accepts PayPal for payment and uses FedEx to ship. It was thus a pleasant transaction and took about a week for my Belka-DX to arrive on my porch. If I ever find myself in Sofia, and I do hope to do just that one day, I will make a point of stopping in at Boris’ shop and saying hello.

Here’s a picture of my Belka-DX that will show you how small it is:

Real ham radio!

It struck me, after doing a lot of research on new, interesting and affordable radios, like the Belka-DX and the great many excellent QRP rigs now out there that a great deal of activity is being done by hams in Europe on this front. Spain, Germany, Bulgaria, Belarus, Sweden, Ukraine and more.

The traditional “big” ham radio manufacturers are gradually abandoning hams. One can’t blame them. It’s a business decision. Their offerings are getting less and less and the prices are going up. What’s a ham to do?

In the true tradition of ham radio, hams are serving the needs of the ham radio community. Hams are designing, building and selling good quality equipment at good prices. It’s true that they are not whiz-bang radios laden with a thousand knobs and switches and with massive colour displays and a bucket-load of bells and whistles. But they are real radios that perform very well and do all the things that radios do. They are also affordable.

I am very pleased to support an industrious ham like Alex or Boris or any of the others that are building and designing radios that I, as a ham radio operator, would want to buy and use. This is, to me, true and proper ham radio. The hobby is returning to it’s roots and that is a truly wonderful thing.

Get your Google out and search out the excellent QRP radios from the countries I mentioned above. Read their reviews. Then look at what the “big three” are offering and at what cost. Who would you rather support, a faceless corporation, or a ham just like you and I who is working their tail off in pursuit of the hobby that they are so very passionate about?

I am not saying the “big three” don’t make good radios. Indeed they make great radios. But there are other alternatives, and good ones, and from our own people, other amateur radio operators.

In this regard I feel like ham radio is undergoing a bit of a renaissance. And that makes me happy.