Time for me to enjoy the RSPduo dual channel receiver, especially with wideband loop antennas and diversity reception here in western Canada. Let my journey begin!

I have always been amazed at how much performance SDRplay derives from the Mirics chip set. Two years ago, I wrote about how they configured these devices to create RSPduo dual channel receiver. Now, I will actually take a serious look at this wonderful SDR.

Yes, all the past and present SDRplay radio signal processors give you serious DC-to-daylight performance at a good price. But only one provides coherent reception with two synchronized tuners. My main interest is using coherent receivers for spatial interference filtering. In addition, I want to compare performance with other gear, particularly my Afedri two-channel that I obtained three years ago.

Short and sweet, my SDRplay RSPduo dual channel receiver works great for normal and diversity reception. It performs on par with the Afedri on HF, but adds the bonus of reception up to 2 GHz at a much lower price point and stronger software support. Jon Hudson was kind enough to provide me with a loaner which arrived last week.

After a few days of playing around – after all it’s called SDRplay – I can definitely give this radio a preliminary thumbs-up. Over the next few months I will dig deeper into performance and also provide some videos focused on diversity reception and noise filtering. Based on my experience so far, I think you will be amazed.

Yesterday morning, I spent an hour listening to All India Radio from Bangalore on 11,560 kHz, nearly 13 thousand kilometres to Calgary. Normally, its signal is swamped by my neighbor’s faulty kitchen halogen lights installation. By phasing two antennas together, the RFI was suppressed and reception near perfect. Video to follow, definitely.

RSPduo Dual Channel Receiver Learning Curve

With my RSP2 previously, I spent a lot of time using SDR Console. With the RSPduo, my focus will be entirely on SDRuno software. Two reasons for this. First, only SDRuno provides proper support for diversity reception with this receiver. Second, and something I neglected previously, you need to really dig down into SDRuno to get best results. It’s a very powerful and complex program that can be a bit intimidating at first. But the more you use it, the more you are impressed by the performance.

Also, since I first started playing with diversity reception, I have done a lot of work on wideband active loop antennas. I suspect I have a lot to learn about using wideband amplified antennas with wideband receivers. More on that soon.