Intro and RSPdx info please.

[HalfwhelkParticipant]

Hi, I’m Matt. This is my first post here and I’m thinking of getting back into radio again with an RSPdx.
I was into HF utility radio and used an AOR3030A with a Hoka Code 3 to read (mainly) military and diplomatic traffic. The decline of Solar Cycle 23 in about 2008 and the increase of RF noise from local household electronics made me decide that the results were not worth the effort involved, so I stopped.
Now I have more time on my hands I was thinking of getting the 3030 out of the loft until I discovered SDR and specifically the RSPdx. So now I’m thinking of going mobile. I can set the kit up in the camper and get out into the hills. Also I can get beyond the frequency range of the 3030 and start to explore the higher frequencies.

So to my questions.
Computer specs. I can’t find anything about minimum PC specs. Are they posted anywhere? How does computer power relate to performance? Does the software work with W7? I have a tough old i5 Samsung with W7 and a rather less ideal Lenovo Powerbook i7 with W10.

Data decoding
I notice the links to Comint software on the SDR website, but theres not a lot of info. Are any forum members using this s/w? Before I ring Comint with a load of dumb questions. Is it available to the casual user? Is it expensive (looks like it probably is (very)). What will it decode?

Thanks
Matt

PS I tried to get onto the Facebook group, but my application has been pending for some time now, how long should I normally have to wait? Not that I’m particularly fussed as I really dislike Facebook.

[G4ABQAdmin]

Here’s a useful video on PC specs: https://youtu.be/TfKdJHI1OAQ

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by . Reason: multiple failures at attempts to post

[G4ABQAdmin]

Lots more links to useful help videos and docs here: https://www.sdrplay.com/apps-catalogue/

Comint software is $1000s and not for casual users.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by .

[HalfwhelkParticipant]

Thanks.
Just what I needed and opened up links to loads of other useful info.

[diysdrParticipant]

Surprisingly it does not take a lot of computer to make it work. I tinkered with 486 xp machine and it kinda worked, not well but it worked. I’m running an amd phenom, 10 years + machine and HDSDR shows I’m using about 20% of the processor.

There seems to be enough sunspot activity to keep my interests up. Just dial into the CB bands and you will hear quite a few stations at times.

I hope more people leave Facebook and come over here. Much better environment over here.

[HalfwhelkParticipant]

Well, I got the RSPdx and hooked it up and I’m very impressed. I get 10MHz bandwidth on the Lenovo, but the less powerful Samsung gets dropouts at 10MHz, but works OK at 8MHz b/w.
My question now is that the Samsung is showing no signs of struggling on performance monitor at 10MHz. CPU and memory are at about 50%. What’s limiting the performance and what can I do to improve it?

[diysdrParticipant]

I suspect that its the performance of your usb connection. Depending on the hardware design, device driver software etc you can get widely varying performance of the USB subsystem. On a pure hardware basis it may be very high capbability but implementation details such as I/O architecture, hardware buffering, latency, can make a big difference. ie not much to do with the processor.

When you run your comint software is it processor intensive? That may not really be a problem as long as the memory/processor/storage is fast enough.

Are you writing this comint software?

[Author]

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