Reflections about a remote mediumwave listeners station

Tested on two differently equipped win8.1 systems

■ The short story of a long birth

History

Two shacks, one SDR. I intended to order nearly an RX-888 as second SDR after reading Nils Schiffhauer "32 KHz/16bit, 200 US-$ – pricks up your ears" on Sept 4, 2020. Also the swling post was involved in this hobby-related "marketing". Nils posted the first impressions of the S3 in October 2019 "Looking at Things: Elad FDM-S3 [beta]". But then came concerns about warranty about a exported RX-888 from China. There wouldn't be any support, was my thought, if anything works bad or is not operating at all. I didn't want to wait any more for the S3 either and was undecided until the next day ELAD announced the S3 as ripe for production. Did they think their profit swim away when the RX-888 was announced just before production of the S3 could start? Nevertheless, they acted quick in this situation and brought me to wait even longer for this device. After reading some comments on Nil's site I was convinced to do the right decision with this. The receivers are not the same. My decision was not the sales price but support. The opportunity to run an integrated GPS module was then crucial. It could help further "prick up the ears" for decades. On mediumwave.

After several years of preview on the ELAD website it came to the time the S3 could be preordered. On Oct 12 I placed my pre-order. It took several weeks to get a reply on the order. On Nov 25 2020 came the confirmation and payment request. I should pay immediately because ELAD reserved the pre-order for only 2 days. So, quick money transfer via paypal, and waiting again for the announced tracking number for 5 days. But: problems arose when transferring the purchase amount. A new payment request came. I had to retransfer. It can hardly get more chaotic in this business, isn't it?

As a DXer, ELAD sale strategy looks acceptable. One likes to forgive something for hobby reasons. For a normal consumer it is not. Customer friendliness looks different, but ELAD is sure to know that too. Hopefully later support is better und reliable as I was used to before. Sensitive customers might get confused by this.

In the meantime I found a place for the device that has to be more than two times bigger than the previous model S2 allows. 1.790 kg more technic were built in. He has the size of a slightly shrinked SONY ICF-2100. A transportable radio which I used when travelling Asia backpacked in the eighties of the last century.

Spedizione Ritirata from Trieste announces delivery in just one day. Isn't that a little too fast now, after all the long wait? The S3 came as predicted, in 1 day from Italy, flown by DHL over the alps to Leipzig and Cologne, brrr. Not because of the cold, because of the global heating and dirty emissions I always want to avoid.


■ How compatible is the new hardware?

Test environment

The FDM-S3 is a Direct Sampling Wideband Receiver which features up to 24MHz of bandwidth. It embeds a Reference Clock Manager Module which allows to choose between two reference clocks, a GnssDO (Global navigation satellite system Disciplined Oscillator) or a 10MHz external signal (optional). The recommended minimum configuration is: 5th/6th/7th generation Intel Core i5/i7 (or equivalent) processor and 8GB of RAM. To record 24MHz of bandwidth a SSD with at least 250MB/s write speed is recommended. This matches my test configuration, SSD except. Other than @home I am running a i7 7th generation with 8 GB RAM and SSD in the remote station. The suggested configuration is a 8th generation or higher Intel Core i5/i7 (or equivalent) processor and 16GB of RAM.

(1) Notebook in this environment: CPU Haswell | i5-4210H 2.9 GHz / 3,5 GHz / 3 MB Cache | NVIDIA GeForce 2GB VRAM | DDR3 L 8 GB | USB 3.0 | HDD | ext. HDD |

(2) NUC in this environment:
CPU Haswell | i7 4500U 1.8 / 2.4 GHz | DDR3 L 8GB | USB 3.0 | HDD | ext. HDD |

Antenna: ALA 1530 S+ Imperium
Software: ELAD FDM-SW2 | SDR-Console | GNSS Modul |
Manual:


■ Connect the whole thing and bring it to a common denominator

Installation

(1) Notebook in this environment:

The S3 comes with a GNSS antenna, adhesive pad for it, Allan Deviation Plot, 3 SMA connectors, 1 USB 3.0 cable and a USB stick with FDM-S2_v3_043 software and manual. As with the predecessor S2, the manual is limited to the most necessary knowledge. The S3 requires an external 13.8 V (12V) voltage source. A cable is included for the connection. A power supply is not provided. Some ideas from EladSDR @ groups.io

After the voltage source, USB cable and GNSS antenna are connected, a look at Windows devices and printers is thrown. There are 3 new devices registered: FT230X Basic UART, u-blox GNSS Receiver (COM20) and WestBridge. The 'ELAD FX3 USB BootLoader Device' can be found in the device manager under ELAD Samplers. Maybe it's the same device as Westbridge because both entries are marked with a disfunction (yellow exclamation mark).



This is why the S3 could not be operated.

I contacted ELAD about this issue and waited for a reply. The next morning trouble shooting by ELAD started via @. Vianney suspects an issue with the win8.1 driver. A Teamviewer-Session started the next day. A win7 driver was installed, whereby the device was switched on / off twice. The test with the ELAD-FDM-SW2 software was successful. The device was recognized. The driver seems to be a beta version, the download source at ELAD was removed a little later. It is unacceptable to maintain a non-system driver whose system-wide impact is not foreseeable.

(2) NUC in this environment:

The win7 driver also had to be used on the NUC with the same win8.1 installation. In addition, u-blox driver software and FT230x basic UART had to be installed.

■ Anomalies and standards during operation

USB3

After successful installation, restart the system and check functionality. Again problems arose. S3 only runs on one of the two USB3 ports. The external HDD is not recognized at the other port. I attribute this to the win7 driver. Plug & Play is not possible when changing ports. The S3 must be switched off for this.

The problem appeared after installing the win7 driver. Sometimes both ports work. Sometimes the data transfer from the S3 to the software is interrupted when the HD is connected. To verify that it really is the driver, I deactivated the S3 and then checked the functionality of both ports. It turned out that the HD is still only recognized irregularly at the USB3 port. It remains undetected, especially after a system restart. So the problem is not with the win7 driver. A hub on the functioning USB3 port could help here.


Bandwidth

(1) Notebook in this environment:

Operating the S3 with the console at a bandwidth of 24576 or 12288 MHz overloads the test system. Changes in bandwidth during operation can result in no signal being forwarded from the S3. Console and SW2 are running but receiving nothing. If you switch S3 off for up to three minutes, everything works again. No problems arose during operation with bandwidths below 12 MHz. Operation with bandwidths above 12 MHz therefore requires hardware in accordance with the FDM-S3 specifications in the manual.


Reception

(1) Notebook in this environment:

FDM-SW2: stutters @ 24 MHz | ok @ 12 MHz | ok @ 6 MHz |
SDR-Console v3.0.25: stutters @ 24 MHz | stutters @ 12 MHz |
Reception with 2 different receivers (S2/S3) and programs on lower bandwidth work.

(2) NUC in this environment:

FDM-SW2: ok @ 24 MHz | ok @ 12 MHz | ok @ 6 MHz |
SDR-Console v3.0.23: 24 MHz | 12 MHz | | not working


Recording

(1) Notebook in this environment:

So far I have not discovered any irregularities when recording within the recommended bandwidth.

To record with the S3 you need a total of 2 USB 3.0 ports with individual controllers! Only one internal Hub cannot handle the speed. The operation of an HD on the USB 2.0 port as a recording medium is possible, but not on the USB 3.0 port!

FDM-SW2: stutters @ 24 MHz | stutters @ 12 MHz | stutters @ 6 MHz |
SDR-Console v3.0.25: stutters @ 24 MHz | stutters @ 12 MHz |

Files recorded with FDM-SW2 can be played with SDR-Console v.3.0.25.
It is not possible to run both programs in parallel.

(2) NUC in this environment:

FDM-SW2: ok @ 24 MHz | ok @ 12 MHz | ok @ 6 MHz |
SDR-Console v3.0.23: 24 MHz | 12 MHz || not working



Time-controlled start of the OS and the software

I use WOSB for time-controlled management of the notebook.

A simple start of the WOSB software works. The external HD on the USB3 port is not initialized. The automatic start of the recording with the SDR Console v3.0.25 went smoothly. The recording was set up for the internal HD.


OCXO | GPS

Works perfectly. No more readjustment as with the S2, briefly warmed up and stable until the end. The GPS antenna is operated inside.

to be continued

Latest new QSLs:
Radio Elohim, San Salvador 1630 kHz [22 Nov 2020]

Die Andenstimme, Quito 6050 kHz [5 Jun 2020]
Radio Nacional de Colombia, 680 kHz [13 Feb 2020]

Confirmed countries in Americas: 12 [incl. Bonaire]

This section displays the status of my logged USA & Canada states. It will be updated.



List of abbreviations for states

Pin board at Google Maps

Status 27 October 2020

Heard states/green (USA): 27
Confirmed states/red: 5
Latest heard or confirmed:

Heard states/green (Canada): 6
Confirmed states/red: 2
Latest heard or confirmed:

1140 CHRB High River (AB)


840 CFCW Camrose (AB)


1060 CKMX Calgary (AB)


960 CFAC Calgary (AB)


Map source: Free Software Foundation. The source has been changed.

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The Antarctic was previously "no man's land" in my BC area. With the QSL from LRA36, a new, the 7th and last continent, has appeared in my statistics.
Base Esperanza, the location of LRA36, is Argentinian owned in Antarctica. According to the EDXC country list from August 2020, Base Esperanza belongs to the Antarctic Mainland (ATA).

(Map source)

Guyana is a small country on the northern flank of South America, on the Atlantic Ocean. The studios are located near the city of Georgetown, in Vreed en Hoop, at the mouth of the Demerara River. NCN runs three government controlled radio services: Fresh 100.1 FM, Voice of Guyana 560 AM and an 102.1 FM, and Hot FM, 98.1 FM.

On September 26, 2020, the BBC Worldservice was broadcast between 0500z and 0530z via VoG. IDs were heard at the beginning and end of the period.



A Screenshot from SDR Console V.3.0.23. To the left on 558 kHz is RNE from Spain which dominantes the frequency, and most of the time the area around. So, Guyana was a good catch on this September morning. The station was audible up from 0400z first under heavy QRM from Spain .

Antenna was the 78 m Double Delta Loop pointing 325°. Receiver ELAD FDM-S2. And booster RPA-2 from DX-Engineering.

The DT 770 replaces Sennheiser's HD 465. @home I'm still using the old Staxx Flat membrane headphone.

Two new modules - all solar module units can be rotated - and a new 15 Ah charge controller now ensure that two batteries are charged in parallel. The total output of all modules amounts to 385 Wp. The capacities of the batteries remain unchanged at 120 Ah and 100 Ah. In winter, all modules can be switched to one battery. Another novelty: both batteries can now be selected with an I-0-II switch. So the fullest can be used without having to pull cables.