Surprise
The earliest projected delivery date was a week from today, but there it was in my mailbox. It arrived in a plain cardboard box that opened up to reveal:
Contents:
- SDR in a foil pouch
- 28″ telescoping antenna with SMA connector (50 Ohms)
- USB-C charging cable
- Small stylus
- One-page “SDR Quick start guide-1.0“
- Internal 5000 mAh battery (battery arrived 50% charged)
The software defined radio (SDR) covers the frequency range of 100 kHz to 149 MHz, or LW, MW, SW, FM and VHF. The frequency range covers AIR band, but unfortunately not weather. It demodulates AM, WFM, WFM stereo, CW, USB and LSB. The minimum step is 1 Hz.
First Impressions
I bypassed the Quick Start guide (QSG), opting for the quicker start guide — flipping the power switch on the side and noting what happened. I didn’t get any stations. OK, maybe attaching an antenna might help. It did and I picked up a strong local FM station that sounded reasonably good with the speaker built in. I tried SW and didn’t get anything. I guess I’m spoiled to think that the radio would automatically switch from WFM to AM when I switched frequencies. Long story short, I hooked up my WOW (wire out window) antenna and received Brother Stair.
Not Deep
One of the first things I noticed was the complete absence of the word “Deep.” The Banggood product description said: “DeepSDR V6 High Performance DSP Digital Receiver 4.3 Inch IPS Touchscreen 192kHz Spectrum Display Multimode CW AM SSB FM Audio SDR Radio Receiver – Black,” but that’s not what it says on the product or the QSG. There is no hint or suggestion that this came from the Deepelec company.
Other observations
The encoder seemed to run backwards: a clockwise rotation reduced the volume. This problem seems common with similar products that typically have an encoder reversal setting, not found in the QSG.
Pressing the encoder switches between functions:
- Stored channel selection (1-99)
- Frequency
- Speaker volume
- Earphone volume
- Modulation: CW, LSB, USB, AM, WFM, STE (FM Stereo), I/Q. I/Q is the raw baseband output, something like an SDR dongle would provide. I don’t know whether the I/Q output comes through the earphone jack or the USB-A port.
Pressing the encoder while rotating accesses 7 additional functions:
- AGC setting
- Reference Level (calibration for the display)
- Backlight brightness
- IF Gain.
- Spectrum style
- Spectrum bandwidth
- Waterfall area
- It also appears to select the digit to increment when setting the frequency.
Touching the frequency display brings up a touch panel for direct entry of frequencies, and touching the date /time (upper left) prompts for entry of the date and time. I found it necessary to use a stylus for reliable frequency entry.
Supposedly, the SDR can power other devices, something that would seem convenient for an external antenna like an MLA-30+.
The quality looks good; the device has some heft to it (10.3 ounces / 291 g without antenna). The decoder knob feels premium.
Documentation?
There are questions. The half-page QSG answers some but others remain like:
- Are there any bandwidth controls? It appears that the bandwidth is fixed for each demodulation mode.
- Is there any way to decode narrow FM? It appear not.
- Is the firmware upgradable?
- Which connector provides the raw I/Q output?
- Can I/Q be input to any computer and used with other SDR software?
- Can frequency be calibrated?
- How can I set which frequency digit increments when the encoder knob is turned?
- Can the encoder direction be reversed?
- Is there any scanning or ATS functionality? My guess: no.
- How does performance compare with modern portables like the DX-286 and PL-330?
The back has this block diagram:
The Deepelec company produced a device in 2022, the DeepSDR 101. It has a better developed manual. That manual (if it applies to this version) provides additional information, including bandwidth specifications:
- CW: 800 Hz
- SSB: 2.6 kHz
- AM: 9 kHz
- WFM: 192 kHz
- I/Q: 192 kHz
Tips
It’s much more sensitive if the IF gain is increased beyond the default +20 dB. This makes the difference between an SDR that is mostly deaf and one that gets stations. Hold in the decoder knob while turning it until the IF GAIN value turns red. Stop pressing the knob and then turn it to increase the value.