Running Two SDR-IQs On An MSI Wind

The MSI Wind is one of the new generation of "netbooks" - small laptops with Intel Atom processors and 10" or smaller displays. My Wind worked well with the Perseus, running at 800 kHz.

The ultimate portable reception setup would be a Wind and two SDR-IQs, since you don't need external power supplies for the IQs. This evening I tested this setup, and I was pleased (but not very surprised) to see that the Wind copes admirably with two SDR-IQs. The screendump to the left shows two instances of SpectraVue running. The CPU load was 60-75%. Luckily SpectraVue is resizeable, so the two windows can match the small display reasonably well.

Now, the current 3-cell Wind doesn't have much to brag about in terms of battery capacity, so you should either buy the 6-cell Wind or a replacement battery if you plan to spend a few hours on the beach. The two IQs take their toll on battery life.

New Season - New Logs

Time to list what is heard. To the right you will find a link to a Google spreadsheet comprising my 2008-2009 loggings. In the beginning all stations ID'ed will be listed, but the most common ones are likely to disappear, leaving only the better catches.

The log so far is very modest. It will improve in both quantity and quality as the season progress.

Sept 6: A Few La Plata Stations

Not much to hear with A-indices near 30. The last half-hour before sunrise did bring a few La Plata stations though, some with good strength. The strongest being the rather common ARG stations Radio América 1190 and Radio Provincia 1270. Buenos Aires 1350 was weak. I also heard a Spanish-language station on 1450. Morada do Sol (new for me) was strong on 1260, and a few others from Brazil were also heard. Lots of carriers but too weak for audio.  Time: 01:45 - 02:15 UTC. Receiver: Perseus. Antenna: Backlobe of my 600-m Far East beverage.

First Antenna Out - First Transatlantic Signals Heard

The 310-degree beverage directed towards eastern North America was erected Saturday evening, and the first signals this season from the Americas were heard today at 0200Z. I hadn't expected this, after all it's not even properly dark at local midnight on this latitude, but I did hear the stronger La Plata/Brazil stations and there were carriers on most frequencies. Best audio from 870, 930 and 980.

The 310 isn't very good towards this area so a properly directed antenna like the 85-degree backlobe would probably have yielded much better results. The 85 is due up the coming Friday.

We are underway!

Audio from Radio Nacional Brasilia, 980 here.

NHK1 Kushiro, Nemuro Relay Station 1584 Verification

I don't send much reports anymore, so don't expect too many verie posts here. I got one today though, for a written report I sent this winter. The 100 watt Nemuro relay of JOPG Kushiro (531 kHz) was audible several times on 1584 in October 2007, and a letter today confirmed my reception. Cool that 100 watts can travel so far.

New Season Approaching

Every year, when the midnight sun disappears on July 27, I know that another season is only weeks away. So I've started antenna repairs, and purchased various equipment. Nights are still very light, so I don't expect to hear anything interesting until the end of August when Australian MW stations can be heard in the evening. Since we're still in the solar minimum and there is no sign of increased solar activity any time soon, we should look forward to an interesting autumn.

In the mean time, why not take a look at these pictures, shot when I was on a photo shoot mission in July (just about the only clear day this summer). On the first picture, my location is the blue house all by itself on the top of the picture. A close-up is on the second picture. My home town Berlevåg is third.

The MSI Wind Netbook And Perseus

Conventional wisdom says that in order to run Perseus satisfactory, you need a PC as well equipped as possible. Preferably dual-core, lots of RAM and a good graphic board. Well, do you really. I travel a bit, and I wanted to replace the rather heavy Dell Inspiron with a smaller travel companion. After a bit to and from, I decided to settle on the MSI Wind. It uses Intel's new Atom 1.6 GHz processor, has 1 GB RAM and an 80 GB HDD. The display is 1024x600 pixels over 10.1”. It weighs a little over 1 kg with a three-cell battery included. It is really, really small, although somewhat bigger than the Asus eee series. The Wind is available in black, white and white with pink cover.

But the early eee’s use Linux don’t they, and so do the new Acer mini-laptop. I wanted Windows, and the Wind is equipped with XP Home. For more information please do an internet search. Interestingly enough, the keyboard is quite large, and I have little or no problems writing with my touch method, although the speed is a little slower than with a larger keyboard. The keys are responsive and with the ”correct” tactility, at least to my taste. Battery life isn’t out of this world with around 2.5 hours on the three-cell battery, but a six-cell battery is supposed to be available in September.
I was lucky enough to have one of the first four Winds to arrive in Norway. Unfortunately all four were pink but I can live with that.
The MSI Wind is not primarily going to be an SDR PC, but I was curious about how it would perform. After all, an SDR and a mini-laptop look like an ideal pair if one wants to travel light.

The SDR-IQ
I didn’t expect any problems with the SDR-IQ since the IQ’s hardware demands are modest. So the conclusion is simply this: It works.

The Perseus
The Perseus in its current state can demodulate 800 kHz, which is of course quite a bit more than the IQ’s 192 kHz, and with a higher bitrate in addition. Another thing about Perseus is that the display is fixed size, and quite a bit larger than Spectravue (unless you maximise it of course).

The Persus’ width fits exactly with the Wind, but the Wind’s display is a little too low for the Perseus to fit vertically. But as long as the task bar is minimised, you get access to all command buttons and there’s really no problem using the software.
So what about demodulation? 100 kHz: No problem. 200 kHz: No problem. 400 kHz: No problem! 800 kHz: Ooops… it does still demodulate, and recording is possible (as well as playback), but I noted that the signals were rather distorted. I had a couple of other programs open at the same time (Messenger and Opera).

Conclusion:
It is indeed possible to use the MSI Wind with SDRs. But when using it with the Perseus, 400 kHz seems to be upper limit.

Update 1:

You can in fact change the display resoluiton from 600 to 768 pixels vertically by going to Display Properties -> Settings -> Advanced -> Monitor, and uncheck "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display". You will need to scroll up and down with your mouse/pad to show the hidden areas, but this may be the way to go if you want to run the Perseus on the Wind.

Update 2:
After downloading the latest Perseus software (version 1.1b), I was actually able to demodulate and record 800 kHz without problems. Typical CPU load in demod mode was 35%; in recording mode 40-50%. This is very good. The MSI PSU is a rather noisy one, however it should be tolerable during nighttime DX when the signal levels are high.

Recent Verifications

KEDO Longview WA 1400 surfaced a couple of times during KONG17, and two recordings, from Oct 16 and Oct 22, were sent to the station. Prompt email reponse on May 29.

Longview/Kelso is a community of approximately 50,000 people located about 45 miles north of Portland, Oregon.  It sits along the banks of the mighty Columbia River.  The main industry is lumber and fishing.

KSHO Lebanon OR 920 was finally heard on Oct 16, 2007 after years of trying. Friendly email from the General Manager came on May 27. My 750th North American (USA, Canada) AM station.

Newstalk ZB Hawke's Bay, NZ 1278 put up a good signal on Oct 16 with local commercials from Napier. Email response on May 26. My 20th Kiwi verie on MW.

Newstalk ZB Hamilton, NZ 1296 was heard several times last October. Email response on May 22.

WBSM Bedford MA 1420 was heard back in 2006 while visiting Rolf Torvik's excellent QTH at Kalvøya. Email confirmation received on May 21.

CHKT Toronto ON 1430 is one of the dominant stations on 1430, but difficult to obtain a verie from. Friendly email on May 21 remedied that situation. My 40th Ontario verie.

KBRF Fergus Falls MN 1250 hasn't been easy to get through CHSM/WSSP/KKDZ/KWSU, but finally I did hear C&W music on the frequency followed by a weather report which ended with a KBRF ID - all this on Oct 17. A friendly email on May 19 confirmed my reception.

WKCU Corinth MS 1350 is my first in-band Mississippi station. Quite surprisingly they faded up to quite good signal levels on the top of the hour at 0500 on Oct 17, 2007. Brief but detailed email response on May 19 confirmed my reception.

Recent Verifications

KVTA Port Hueneme CA 1520 made a surprise visit on Oct 22, 2007, as late as 1100 UTC (on day power?) with a very good signal on the hour. After I found the SDR-IQ recording ID, KVTA's CE was quick to respond to my reception report, just as he did when I heard KKZZ Ventura CA 1590 some years ago. California verie no 40.

KPRZ San Marcos CA 1210 was more difficult than expected to log this season. On Feb 27 I finally managed to pull 1210 free from 1215, and a weak but clear full-hour ID was noted. Email response on May 15. KPRZ, together with the four stations below, was heard on an SDR-IQ.

KSBN Spokane WA 1230 was briefly heard on Oct 15, 2007. Email from the Station Manager on May 12 confirmed my reception. 1230 was the first frequency on the air in Spokane, as long ago as 1921.

KLYQ Hamilton MT 1240 was a first log for me on Oct 22, 2007, briefly fading up as they ended a newscast. Email verie received on May 12. My 100th verified "graveyard" channel station.

KNBR San Francisco CA 680 has been a most wanted station for me. Actually I heard KNBR briefly once during my first season as a MW DX-er, in 1974, but never since. KBRW Barrow is extremely dominant but one morning in early October they were surprisingly weak, allowing KNBR to surface to good signal levels around the top of the hour. Email on May 5 finally brought KNBR home.

CINL Ashcroft BC 1340 was a great surprise on Dec 17, 2007; a good signal for a few minutes. I still haven't managed to hear its "mother" station CHNL 610 which should be a lot easier. Friendly email with a Word attachment from the CE came on May 5. At the same time I heard CIOR Princeton BC 1400, another rare one, so BC was getting out well that day. My 30th British Columbia verie.

Kiwi Verifications

Radio Sport, Blenheim NZ 1539 is my 2nd South Island verie, with the arrival of an email from the GM on Apr 23.

Newstalk ZB, Ohaeawai (Northland) NZ 1215 was a station I only heard briefly, on Oct 17. This station is listed as located in Kaikohe but according to the GM the transmitter is located in Ohaeawai which is east of Kaikohe closer to the Bay of Islands.

Newstalk ZB, Nelson NZ 1341 is my first confirmed NZ from the South Island. Heard Oct 16 - Nelson is the fishing capital of NZ.

Radio Sport, Kapiti Coast NZ 1377 was heard a few times in mid-October. Friendly email received on Apr 17.