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1. E bE la ig ps pmm E PAD E H h A B Beverage ne WET Bam ag Pikse Fima Ers E Lins MPSS h a ee Tias F Bimi at ik i i Bpa ii Figure 9 MFJ 2910 160 meter SWR performance is shown at A and the 80 meter SWR performance is shown at B 12 V dc to the analyzer s RF port You must connect the MFJ 4118 RF DC OUT IN connector to the MFJ 2910 RF input The antenna analyzer connects to the MFJ 4118 RF IN OUT connector There are four inductor taps that must be set for proper operation One tap sets the 160 meter center frequency one tap sets the 80 meter center frequency one tap sets the 160 meter SWR and one tap sets the 80 meter SWR I have done a lot of experimenting with my own 160 80 meter matching unit and I ve found that the input SWR tap points are quite consistent from unit to unit antenna to antenna and installation to installation With the MEFJ 2910 connect the 80 meter input tap the closest tap to ground to the 8th wire from the ground end of the coil the count should include the bottom wire Then connect the 160 meter input tap point the next tap point above the 80 meter tap to the 13th wire from the ground end of the coil five wires above the 80 meter tap I believe that if you start with these input tap settings they will require little or no further adjustment The resonant frequencies will change a bit when the MFJ 2910 cover is re ins2. W E Maren eT thal LAT bY ects fi r j ri ee ively Pp TV OT TCT GTR LAA bi kwh Lee HAEG liane PELL eC on Figure 8 Inside the MFJ 2910 The unun relays and coils are visible The black material on some of the relays is a silicone sealant type material that helps support the inductor ratings of 5000 Vpys Six sets of relay con tacts in series protect against arcing on 160 meters up to 8500 Vpx And to improve the contact to coil breakdown voltage the affected relay coils are disconnected from RF and dc ground on 160 meters Further a 4 inch arc gap built into the MFJ 2910 printed circuit board may provide some additional protection but it will probably not arc before the relays are damaged Note that the relay voltage break down ratings will be exceeded at 1500 W if your ground loss is lower than about 10 Q and you have negligible tuner and feed line losses In all fairness however achieving 10 Q ground loss can be quite a challenge On 160 meters all relays are de energized thus selecting the maximum loading coil inductance and the correct shunt tap for lowest SWR On 80 meters 12 V en ergizes relays that bypass much of the 160 meter loading coil and change the shunt tap for best SWR For 60 to 10 meters 12 V energizes other relays to bypass the 160 80 meter matching components and revert the antenna to its normal 60 to 10 meter configuration All dc power is provided through the in terconn
3. you can use the ANAN 100D with Fidigi WSJT x and similar software The convenient way to op erate with these sound card modes is to in ternally connect the digimode software with PowerSDR using Virtual Audio Cables VAC operation requires no sound cards but you will need to obtain some additional soft ware The PowerSDR Fidigi writeup also gives some clues about the 100D CAT in terface which is not otherwise documented apart from the FLEX 5000 guide For 2 meters and higher frequencies you can set up the ANAN 100D to work with external transverters The 100D has dedi cated transverter input and output connec 50 October 2015 tions The output level is fairly low about 10 dBm PowerSDR provides a flexible antenna switching matrix and transverter setup dialog that lets you specify the fre quency and gain relationships for up to 13 different transverters You can also make use of programmable band select outputs to control transverters antenna relays or other gear Diversity Reception With the VFO SYNC button you can force VFOs A and B to the same frequency The two receiver channels RX1 and RX2 can then be used with separate antennas in two different diversity modes You can receive RX1 in one ear and RX2 in the other using the PAN adjustments Signals then seem to come from different directions and that may help you dig the desired signal out of the noise and QRM When the signal fades out in one
4. 20 kHz offset 5 2 kHz offset 3 5 MHz 124 dB 124 122 dB 14 MHz 124 dB 124 122 dB 50 MHz 116 dB 116 116 dB 14 MHz 20 5 2 kHz offset 117 110 105 dB ARRL Lab Two Tone IMD Testing 500 Hz DSP bandwidth Measured Band Spacing IMD Level 3 5 MHz 20 kHz 135 dBm 97 dBm 14 MHz 20 kHz 135 dBm 97 dBm 14 MHz 5 kHz 135 dBm 97 dBm 14 MHz 2 kHz 135 dBm 97 dBm 50 MHz 20 kHz 144 dBm 97 dBm Second order intercept point Not specified FM two tone third order dynamic range Not specified FM adjacent channel rejection Not specified Squelch sensitivity Not specified DSP noise reduction Not specified Notch filter depth Not specified Input Level 39 dBm 19 dBm 38 dBm 18 dBm 39 dBm 18 dBm 39 dBm 18 dBm 53 dBm 35 dBm Measured IMD DR 96 dB 97 dB 96 dB 96 dB 91 dB Calculated IP3 9 dBm 20 dBm 11 dBm 22 dBm 9 dBm 22 dBm 9 dBm 22 dBm 7 dBm 4 dBm 14 MHz 65 dBm 21 MHz 51 dBm 50 MHz 83 dBm 20 kHz spacing 29 MHz 58 dB 52 MHz 45 dB 10 MHz spacing 29 MHz 82 dB 52 MHz 89 dB 29 MHz 84 dB 52 MHz 81 dB 29 MHz 0 18 uV 52 MHz 0 09 uV 10 dB Auto notch gt 60 dB Attack time 188 ms single tone 316 ms two tones S meter sensitivity Not specified S 9 signal 14 MHz 46 2 uV 50 MHz 60 9 uV Range at 6 dB points bandwidth CW 300 902 Hz 602 Hz Equival
5. FM 20 kHz Blocking Gain Compression dB Receiver Receiver Dynamic Testing 96 Minimum discernible signal MDS 138 dBm Noise floor MDS 500 Hz DSP BW 0 137 MHz 130 dBm 0 475 MHz 130 dBm 1 0MHz 135 dBm 3 5 MHz 135 dBm 20 kHz 3rd Order Dynamic Range dB 14 MHz 135 dBm 50 MHz 144 dBm Ry 4 Pm 60 105 140 2 kHz Reciprocal Mixing sani Range pd 2 kHz Blocking Gain Compression dB 96 110 2 kHz 3rd Order Dynamic Range dB 20 40 22 35 20 kHz 3rd Order Intercept dBm _ ve 40 22 30 2 kHz 3rd Order Intercept dBm 29 jA Transmit 3rd Order IMD dB 49 LRS 20 See 276 Transmit 9th Order IMD dB QS1510 PR098 Key Off Scale 80 M Intercept values were determined Q 4 using 97 dBm reference 20 M Q Worst case band predistortion off A Worst case band predistortion on 46 October 2015 Noise figure Not specified Spectral sensitivity Not specified AM sensitivity Not specified FM sensitivity Not specified Blocking gain compression dynamic range Not specified Reciprocal mixing dynamic range Not specified 14 MHz 12 dB 50 MHz 3 dB 100 kHz screen bandwidth panadapter 135 dBm waterfall 142 dBm 10 dB S N N 1 kHz 30 modulation 6 kHz DSP BW 1 0 MHz 1 16 uV 3 88 MHz 1 16 uV 50 4 MHz 0 56 uV 29 MHz 0 47 uV 52 MHz 0 20 uV Blocking gain compression dynamic range 500 Hz DSP BW
6. Vox 2x Z x1 where IZ Raga X From EZNEC modeling software a 43 foot vertical antenna has an impedance of about 3 j 600 Q on 160 meters And when in putting the coil dimensions into HamCalc 300 mm length x 45 7 mm diameter wire diameter 1 65 mm N 94 the inductor has a calculated resistive loss of about 2 Q on 160 meters Table 2 shows the approxi mate inductor power loss and antenna base peak voltage versus ground losses As you can see the inductor loss can get quite high as ground loss is reduced However average inductor loss will typically be 20 30 of that shown for SSB or CW operation MFJ 2910 Discussion Figure 8 shows a network of 13 relays to select taps on a large air wound inductor to provide 43 foot vertical base matching on 160 and 80 meters On 60 10 meters the relay network bypasses the inductor and so the input reverts to the original unun fed antenna The relays have contact to contact breakdown voltage ratings of 1000 Vems and contact to coil breakdown voltage LELI 34 160 Meter Inductor Performance 160 meter inductor loss and peak voltage vs ground loss at 1500 W Assumptions radiation resistance 3 Q antenna reactance 600 Q inductor loss 2 Q 0 17 32 600 10 10 0 200 15 8 66 150 j pani i iliii WASAN 14 700 iji IE iiih be iY Kors IEMET k LLT ee A I j i uli i 8 500 7 400 F i lir di il tlm Bl war d F l
7. channel it may still be audible in the other depending on how independent your antennas are in terms of spatial separa tion polarization and so on The ANAN 100D also supports a diversity combining mode This adds the RX1 and RX2 signals together with adjustable phase and amplitude You can use this simply to Intermodulation distortion IMD is a problem for transmitters because it causes audible distortion of your voice or multi tone digital signal and it causes your signal to broaden and interfere with other stations near your frequency For years engineers have used the technique called predistortion linearization to reduce IMD in commercial RF power amplifiers We present a quick overview here To our knowledge the Pure Signal feature of PowerSDR as implemented by Warren C Pratt NRQ V is the first application of predistortion linearization to a commercial Amateur Radio HF transceiver t Pratt received the 2014 ARRL Technical Innovation Award for this work Part A of Figure A offers a graphical view Your linear amplifier is never quite linear that s what produces IMD It might have some power compression at high power as shown by the Amp curve in the figure If we introduce predistortion before the ampli fier with a matching power expansion characteristic the overall result should be much improved linearity The amplifiers power transfer curve will vary depending on operating conditions so a f
8. previously written articles describing a base matching unit for the 43 foot verti cal that significantly reduces SWR related 52 October 2015 coax and unun mismatch losses on 160 and 80 meters while preserving the 60 10 meter compromise SWR of the original antenna gt 14 For those who do not wish to undertake that construction project the MFJ 2910 shown at the base of the au thor s 43 foot vertical in Figure 7 is an op tion to consider Bottom Line The MFJ 2910 provides a worth while addition to 43 foot vertical for those who wish to use this antenna on 160 and 80 meters First a Discussion on RF Voltages The MFJ 2910 is rated for 1 5 kW PEP or 750 W continuous RF power on all amateur bands from 160 6 meters The power limi tations are due to the extremely high volt ages and high currents that can be generated because of the low radiation resistance and high reactance of this antenna on 160 meters and the finite Q of the matching in ductor As it is important to understand the high voltages and currents that can occur a discussion of the calculations is 1n order You will be matching your amplifier power into the sum of the radiation resistance R inductive losses Rina and ground Figure 7 MFJ 2910 connected to the base of the reviewer s 43 foot vertical losses Rg Riotal Rr Ring Rg Since Power PR P R and so inductor loss I Ring Finally the peak voltage is
9. AN 100D transmitter during keying sideband testing Equivalent keying speed is 60 WPM using external keying Spectrum analyzer resolution bandwidth is 10 Hz and the sweep time is 30 seconds The transmitter was being operated at 100 W PEP output on the 14 MHz band and this plot shows the transmitter output 5 kHz from the carrier The reference level is 0 dBc and the vertical scale is in dB QS1510 ProdRev03 Level in dBc Hz 100 Hz 1 kHz 10 kHz 100 kHz Frequency Offset 1 MHz Figure 3 Spectral display of the ANAN 100D transmitter output during phase noise testing Power output is 100 W on the 14 MHz band blue trace and on the 50 MHz band red trace The carrier off the left edge of the plot is not shown This plot shows composite transmitted noise 100 Hz to 1 MHz from the carrier The reference level is 0 dBc and the vertical scale is in dBc Hz O 0 01 0 02 0 03 0 04 0 05 0 06 0 07 0 08 Time s B October 2015 47 two analog to digital converter ADC channels sampling the input RF 10 kHz 55 MHz at a 122 88 MHz rate with 16 bit resolution Firmware defines up to seven independent receivers operating at band widths up to 350 kHz that can be placed within the 55 MHz range Output of each of these receivers can be displayed as a panadapter waterf
10. IMD results at several signal levels Two tone Third order Dynamic Range figures comparable to previous reviews are shown on the first line in each group The IP3 column is the calculated Third order Intercept Point Second order intercept points were determined using 97 dBm reference Third order two tone dynamic range values shown are best case IMD DR depends on band activity and signal strengths See text and February 2010 QST page 52 for an explanation tDefault values CW 500 Hz BW SSB 2 4 kHz BW AM 10 kHz BW bandwidth is adjustable via DSP ttDefault values Turnaround times and CW delay are adjustable in PowerSDR Transmitted phase noise Not specified QS1510 ProdRevo1 Figure 1 CW keying waveform for the ANAN 100D showing the first two dits in full break in QSK mode using external keying Equivalent keying speed is 60 WPM A and 48 WPM B The upper trace is the actual key closure the lower trace is the RF en velope Note that the first key closure starts at the left edge of the figure Horizontal divisions are 10 ms The transceiver was being operated at 100 W output on the 14 MHz band 0 04 0 08 0 12 0 16 0 20 0 24 0 28 0 32 Time s A QS1510 ProdRev02 k So WO N O O gt T g e o 50 o N D xX Q fc 4 fc 2 fe fc 2 fo 4 Frequency in kHz Figure 2 Spectral display of the AN
11. Product Review Mark J Wilson KLRO kLro arrl org Apache Labs ANAN 100D SDR HF 6 Meter Transceiver An advanced fully open source SDR transceiver Reviewed by Martin Ewing AA6E aa6e arrl net Software defined radio SDR is taking off in Amateur Radio For mainstream trans ceivers typically cov ering the 160 6 meter bands with 100 W out put there have been only a few commercial offerings mainly from FlexRadio Systems Now we think this market segment is going to have even more life thanks to continu ing advances in digital technology The Apache Labs ANAN series has its own approach based on open source design In this review we look at the ANAN 100D which is based on some of the same technology as the FlexRadio 6000 series transceivers we recently reviewed The FlexRadio 6000 series and the Apache Labs ANAN series represent a generation of SDRs built around fast samplers that are able to ingest the entire RF spectrum from near dc to 54 MHz and beyond They do require external intelligence provided by your PC in order to operate but the heavy lifting is done in the radio with special field programmable gate array FPGA devices Using a technique called digital down con version DDC FPGAs can divide up the bandwidth into a number of subbands that can be displayed as panadapter spectra or waterfalls where you can plunk down re ceivers to listen to your favorite modes Bottom Line Th
12. Windows These alternative projects show that it is possible for experienced programmers to develop their own back end systems for special needs or just for fun Computers and Networks The User Guide recommends a computer with a 2 8 GHz Intel 13 processor or better 6 GB RAM and a 1280 x 1024 display running Windows 7 I think PowerSDR mRX PS software should run well on most recent Windows PCs It worked okay for me on a range of computers from multicore Figure 4 The ANAN 100D s rear panel connections include three antennas an external transverter external 10 MHz oscillator and amplifier PTT Prali eee ied ole A LA a a Figure 5 PowerSDR offers spectral and waterfall displays along with access to all trans ceiver functions The ANAN 100D s Angelia board was developed by Apache Labs as part of the Open Source High Performance Software Defined Radio OpenHPSDR project which has supported a number of limited production products for experimenters beginning in 2006 There have been several generations of products and the OpenHPSDR documen tation is full of project names that are historically important In particular the Angelia board descends from an earlier single board SDR called Hermes Much of the origi nal OpenHPSDR hardware firmware development including the Hermes trans ceiver was done by Phil Harman VK6PH Hermes in turn incorporates technology from earlier projects such as Metis Alex Merc
13. ablished that it will be the default choice for modes requiring good linearity AM SSB and some digital modes Frequency Reference The internal frequency reference is a 0 1 ppm TCXO which is excellent for most amateur work In a normal work ing environment you can expect stability somewhat better than this PowerSDR of fers an automatic frequency calibration against an external signal such as WWY but you can do better with Fidigi software On our unit measured an offset of about 0 04 ppm against WWV at 20 MHz The ANAN 100D offers the ability to work with an external 10 MHz oscillator as a ref erence which may be helpful if you want to run a VHF station from a common oscil lator or if you have a GPS disciplined oscil lator To switch from internal to external reference requires changing jumpers on the Angelia board which again means disas sembling the radio Apache Labs notes that the ANAN 200D model does not require opening the case and moving jumpers for the 10 MHz reference or mic bias adjust ments Apache Labs sells a small add on daughter card for the Angelia that provides automatic switching between internal and external references if you need it October 2015 51 Thermal Design Apache Labs rates the ANAN 100D for a maximum continuous output of 30 W which could affect long transmissions on RTTY or FM for example This is ap parently due to the limited air circulation and use of the radio s cas
14. all and in other ways supporting one or two audio detectors As a transmitter the 100D supports a single modulation channel with digital upconversion to the operating frequency followed by a 100 W power amplifier Traditional modes include SSB AM FM and CW RTTY and digital modes are sup ported as SSB audio via additional digi mode software Software The ANAN 100D is entirely controlled through the user s PC excepting only the on off switch The recommended software for the Windows PC is the OpenHPSDR mRX PS extension of PowerSDR Pow erSDR is open source software familiar to many amateurs as the basis for several SDR products including earlier FlexRadio transceivers For the OpenHPSDR project PowerSDR has been enhanced by Doug Wigley WSWC Warren C Pratt NR V and perhaps others The beta User Guide has been prepared by Ken Hopper N9VV and Bill Diaz KC9XG PowerSDR supports up to four receivers as two spectral displays see Figure 5 It will allow you to stitch together three receiv ers to appear as one panadapter display cov ering up to about 1 05 MHz Normally you have a single audio channel but in mul tiRX mode you can have two If you re operating split frequency for example you can listen to DX with one ear and the pile up with the other Separately PowerSDR will support another independent receiver called RX2 which is normally connected to its own ADC an
15. an isolated Ethernet connection with no router at all Documentation The first thing to do after you unpack the ANAN 100D is to download the User Guide which is well written but rather uneven in its coverage To use the Guide effectively it helps to know your way around PowerSDR and some of the OpenHPSDR lingo If PowerSDR is new to you I would recommend reading the manual software parts for the FlexRadio Systems FLEX 5000 which has a similar user interface The Flex document is a fine example of a comprehensive user manual Thorough documentation 1s hard work and it can be a difficult thing to accomplish in distributed open source projects Most of the information you might want about PowerSDR and the ANAN 100D is available on the Internet but some of it is fragmented across various websites and those websites may not be quite in sync You may need to ask the users and gurus on the Yahoo Apache Labs group There is also a notable wiki site that compiles useful links and documents Many options are available through the setup menus but unfortunately the User Guide does not explain all of them Some major items such as the ALEX button are not explained anywhere It enables auto matic receiver filter switching I would prefer that the more exotic and experi mental options be hidden unless you enter an expert mode otherwise a newbie is tempted to twiddle settings and possibly set bad operating cond
16. cast AM station Other Features PowerSDR provides two interesting noise reduction options NR and NR2 They both offer the ability to help signals stand out from noise They sound rather different so you need to try both of them to find what works for you I found that NR2 was particu larly good in some conditions It has a some what unnatural sound but it was effective There is an auto notch filter ANF that will try to eliminate steady interfering tones heterodynes as we knew them of yore The binaural BIN option separates the audio reception into two components for left and right headphones It produces a pleasing stereo effect I m not sure if it im proves copy but it won t hurt The Power SDR setup options give you the chance to experiment with many different settings for the NR and ANF functions There are two noise blanking functions NB or NB2 They generally work by snip ping out a short piece of audio when there is a brief noise peak Depending on your situation you may benefit from one option or the other PowerSDR has an RA radio astronomy option As a radio astronomer in a for mer life I found that intriguing With this feature you can measure what we would call total power the sum of the power across frequency channels This is aver aged written to a disk file and graphed against time Astronomically you might record the response as the Sun or Moon drifts throu
17. d its own RF input jack This can be useful for diversity reception or for monitoring a second band Angelia s internal computations are per formed in an Altera Cyclone IV FPGA Open source firmware for this device has been developed by Joe Martin K5SO 4 If your radio does not have the current firmware version you can download and install the latest one A new version may bring new features bug fixes or reliability improvements that may or may not affect 48 October 2015 your operation but keeping up to date is a good idea The PowerSDR mRX PS software for Windows appears to be the only fully op erational transceiver software available for the ANAN 100D However with the open nature of the project it is not surprising that there are other choices I looked at two which currently work with the 100D for receiving but not transmitting CuSDR was developed for Windows by Hermann von Hasseln DL3HVH It pro vides views of the entire HF spectrum along with detailed windows for specific receiving bands of interest The visual in terface is modern and attractive CuSDR is available in beta test but it 1s not officially released Ghpsdr3 Qt developed by John Melton G ORX N6LYT is another software sys tem developed for OpenHPSDR radios It features an interesting client server structure that may make it easier to share work among different computers Source or binary versions are available for Linux MacOS or
18. e Apache Labs ANAN 100D offers good perfor mance in a full featured SDR based on the open source model Low transmit IMD with Pure Signal enabled is particularly noteworthy from CW and SSB to exotic digital modes Introduction The ANAN 100D HF 6 meter transceiver gives you a detailed view of up to 1 MHz in One panadapter display on one band plus another 350 kHz in a second band using free PowerSDR mRX PS software running on your PC The transmitter produces up to 100 W peak 30 W maximum sustained av erage With the Pure Signal feature the transmitter can produce remarkably low intermodulation distortion IMD making its signal one of the cleanest on the bands AS we mentioned above the ANAN 100D and its recommended PowerSDR software are open source projects including both software and hardware design All the basic design information and source code are freely available if you want to be part of the project or if you just want to see how the magic is made Both hardware and software have been developed as part of the OpenHPSDR project see sidebar The OpenHPSDR Proj ect Apache Labs an Indian company builds and packages the hardware while the software is de veloped by anumber of ham developers spread around the globe Apache Labs provides links to key software but the devel opers publish much of their work to various other websites Finding documentation may be a challenge but you can eve
19. e as a heat sink Running at 30 W continuously the case gets quite hot to the touch If you go to the Yahoo support group you will find ideas to improve cooling and increase operating power such as drilling holes or adding fins But the standard cooling fan is quiet and fine for lower duty cycle voice CW or data modes running up to 100 W peak Conclusions The ANAN 100D is an advanced SDR transceiver that developed from the OpenHPSDR project It has a strong heri tage as an open system where you have access to all the design information and where more importantly you have access to advanced users and designers You are joining a project almost as much as you are purchasing a radio That s good because it means there are a lot of new features being hatched and help is easy to find Some amateurs on the other hand might prefer the stability and thorough documentation that you get with more traditional products and companies The ANAN 100D s operating look and feel is very similar to the last generation FlexRadio 3000 5000 SDR radios because of their shared PowerSDR interface It is a mature and time tested software system that is very usable If you hanker for a high performance SDR radio and you lean toward open source so lutions the ANAN 100D could be the radio for you Manufacturer Apache Labs Pvt Ltd 1023 Tower B4 Spaze I Tech Park Sector 49 Sohna Road Gurgaon 122001 Haryana India e mail s
20. ecting RF cable via an included three position bias T MFJ 4118 An iso lated 12 V dc power source such as the MFJ 1316 or 12 V dc wall transformer is required as both positive and negative voltages must be provided for proper op eration About 60 mA is required for 12 V 80 meter operation and 12 V 60 10 meter operation No current is required for the default 0 V 160 meter operation MFJ 2910 Setup and Adjustments Because of the very high voltages devel oped across the antenna base to ground on 160 meters a new fiberglass insulated antenna base is provided as part of the MFJ 2910 package Depending on your antenna base insulator you may or may not elect to install this new base The MFJ 2910 must be adjusted for proper operation as each antenna installation will be a little different To make the adjust ments remove six externally accessible screws and two nuts slide the MFJ 2910 from its housing and mount it to the an tenna base An antenna analyzer is nec essary to determine the proper 160 and 80 meter resonance frequencies and best SWR A 2 Phillips screwdriver is used to change the inductor tap positions You will need to take the MFJ 4118 bias T and a bat tery pack to the antenna base to enable the different bands while you make the neces sary adjustments Note Incorrectly connecting the bias T can damage your antenna analyzer by applying October 2015 53 ELF PP ig Me ey ari ie oe l eed rt
21. ent Rectangular BW 507 Hz USB 194 2638 Hz 2444 Hz LSB 196 2676 Hz 2480 Hz AM 160 4988 Hz 9656 Hz IF audio response Not specified Power output 0 100 W Spurious signal and harmonic suppression gt 50 dB HF gt 60 dB 50 MHz As specified except 0 30 W AM HF typically 58 dB worst case 52 dB 24 9 MHz 50 MHz 60 dB Complies with FCC emission standards gt 70 dB gt 70 dB 100 W PEP 3rd 5th 7th 9th order Pure Signal on see text 52 54 lt 60 lt 60 dB HF typical 52 50 51 lt 60 dB 50 MHz 49 56 59 lt 60 dB worst case 160 m Pure Signal off see text 38 38 44 52 dB HF typical 40 37 44 52 dB 50 MHz 29 35 39 49 dB worst case 15 m 1 to 45 8 WPM iambic Mode B See Figures 1 and 2 S 9 signal AGC fast 240 ms 1T SSB carrier suppression gt 90 dB Undesired sideband suppression gt 90 dB Third order intermodulation distortion IMD Not specified CW keyer speed range Not specified CW keying characteristics Not specified Transmit receive turn around time PTT release to 50 audio output Not specified Receive transmit turn around time tx delay Not specified SSB 142 ms FM 109 ms 29 MHz 129 ms 52 MHz tt See Figure 3 Size height width depth incl protrusions 3 3 x 10 4 x 11 1 inches Weight 10 Ibs Price 3489 00 ARRL Product Review testing includes Two Tone
22. er provides either 3 or 10 band adjustment of frequency response separately for transmit and receive Some of the audio characteristics can be stored in transmit profiles which are labeled storage areas that allow you to switch your configuration between say normal and DX modes DX might need more compression and less bass response to give more punch for example AM is supported on receive with filters up to 10 kHz bandwidth providing good re sults on broadcast stations especially in the SAM synchronous AM mode Transmit filters can also be set to pass modulation up to 10 kHz If you ask for more than 3 kHz all that is needed for normal voice commu nications you will get a mild scolding from PowerSDR but you can use all 10 kHz The 100D with PowerSDR supports FM voice operation with either 2 5 or 5 0 kHz deviation A convenient control panel al lows you to select CTCSS tones and re peater offsets including normal reverse and simplex A MEMORY tab brings up a window that lets you remember all the relevant settings for an operating channel such as a repeater This feature is handy for storing commonly used frequencies and settings for any mode An adjustable squelch control is available on any mode but will be particularly 1m portant for channelized FM work There is no tuning indicator to show carrier offset but you can see the offset on the panadapter during a pause in modulation For digital QSOs
23. gh the beam of your VHF Yagi helping you check the pointing of your antenna and the sensitivity of your system Moving back to Earth you might monitor your interference level throughout the day Another feature of the ANAN 100D is the setup option for your operating region Re gions are predefined for many countries The one you choose determines the al lowed operating bands modes and license classes There is also an extended region that allows transmission on any frequency which should only be used with care You are always responsible to be sure that on air operation is confined to bands and modes that are legal for your license Making use of the extended region we did some quick tests transmitting on the pro posed 630 meter and 2200 meter bands We got around 100 W output at 475 kHz and about 40 W at 137 kHz The transmitter has high harmonic output however because it lacks the correct low pass filters for those bands You would have to supply your own filters when the bands open up to Amateur Radio For contest operators who need to reduce the complexity of working with computer logging systems PowerSDR implements a FocusMaster feature that returns mouse keyboard focus to a supplementary pro gram such as the NIMM logger after a radio operation is completed Receiver IMD The ANAN 100D like some other SDR receivers shows a two tone third order dynamic range that depends on the level of activity and s
24. ignal strengths in the RF pass band of the receiver as explained in the QS1510 ProdRev06 ww N O O gt O Response dB d oO fo fc 2 fc 4 Frequency in kHz fc 4 fc 2 fc 2 fc 4 fc Frequency in kHz B Figure 6 ANAN 100D during normal opera tion A and with Pure Signal on B February 2010 issue of QST page 52 The values in the data table are the best observed dynamic ranges Typically on a quiet band the user will have a third order IMD dy namic range of about 65 dB Transmitter Linearity The ANAN 100D with PowerSDR offers a very interesting transmitter IMD reduction feature called Pure Signal PS imple mented by Warren C Pratt NR V and based on the principle of predistortion linearization See the sidebar Taming IMD with Predistortion Linearization Pure Signal IMD improvements measured in the ARRL Lab were dramatic A typical IMD mea surement before and after applying Pure Signal is shown in Figure 6 The typical 3rd order IMD without PS was a respectable 38 dB Figure 6A but with PS IMD it was an exceptional 50 dB Figure 6B the best we ve ever seen in the Lab Pure Signal is provided on an opt in basis You need to set it up and enable it before using At some point we would hope that a feature like this will be well enough es t
25. itions or get lost in the forest of options Some settings seem to apply to unfinished development work that should probably not appear in production software Some times open source can be a little too open It s not too much to expect that all con trols should be documented with a clear explanation of whether special capabili ties like CESSB or Pure Signal should be considered the default choice for normal operation Operating Modes For CW operation PowerSDR includes an iambic keyer function claiming to cover 1 to 60 WPM so you only need to attach your paddle or straight key Unfortunately we found that the ANAN 100D with current software was not able to reliably track e1 ther the internal iambic keyer or an external keying signal above about 48 WPM Fig ure shows the problem when we try to run our standard 60 WPM keying test CW with the internal keyer was good in the 20 30 WPM range that I normally send with a paddle The audio sidetone is in sync with the RF output without perceptible delay Sidetone pitch can be varied from 200 to 2250 Hz Semi break in operation is provided with a variable transmit hold time Typical of SDR transceivers the long transmit receive switching time prevents full break in QSK operation In CW mode PowerSDR provides an ad justable audio peaking filter APF that can tailor the audio response to your liking You can manually zero beat with another station by visuall
26. ixed predistortion won t do With good software your radio can continu ously compare the RF output with the desired waveform and adjust the predistortion as needed Part B of Figure A is a basic block diagram The receiver operates during transmis sion allowing control software to adapt to changing conditions Everything you need is provided in the ANAN 100D with PowerSDR Pure Signal feature You can also use it to linearize an external power amplifier but you will have to feed back a small sample of the amplifiers output to the receiver with some extra hardware Predistortion linearization is a fascinating development that can work particularly well in SDR radios like the 100D helping you transmit a cleaner signal improve your audio quality and reduce QRM for everyone twww highfrequencyelectronics com Sep04 HFE0904_Nezami pdf ttwww wavenode com PureSignal pdf Let 4 cnr i _ kipena Figure A Predis tortion linearization method graphical concept A and simpli fied block diagram with adaptive control B S58 RF OUT H gain a bit of signal to noise with two anten nas or you can use it to null out an interfer ing signal With some tricky settings you can create a deep null in a particular direc tion that can help you eliminate a specific source of interference It can be hard to find the null if propagation is varying too much but I achieved a 35 dB null on a local broad
27. ntually find what you need so the open arrangement works pretty well The heart of the ANAN 100D is the An gelia SDR transceiver board a descendant of OpenHPSDR s Hermes design If you want to make your own you can buy the as sembled Angelia board separately and you can even buy the bare eight layer PC board by itself Apache Labs builds the 100D system by adding a 100 W power ampli fier and other circuitry to the Angelia in a compact enclosure ready for your operating desk see the lead photo and Figure 4 The radio is shipped with pre installed firmware the internal control and signal processing software but you must download software and documentation from the Internet to get up and running Hardware On the receiver side the ANAN 100D has Apache Labs ANAN 100D serial number 32186 PowerSDR_mMRX_PS version 3 2 27 Angelia firmware v 5 0 2 18 15 6 13 15 October 2015 45 Table 1 Apache Labs ANAN 100D serial number 32186 Key Measurements Summary Se 20 kHz Reciprocal Mixing Dynamic Range Receive 0 100 61 440 MHz transmit as specified At 13 8 V dc transmit 15 A typical receive 2 1 A Operation confirmed Frequency coverage Receive 0 01 55 MHz 140 transmit 160 6 meter amateur bands Power requirement Not specified at 11 7 V dc gt 95 W RF output Modes of operation SSB CW AM Digital As specified e 70 ee ee 440 RTTY
28. r Your 43 Foot Vertical QST part 1 Dec 2009 pp 30 32 part 2 Jan 2010 pp 34 35 14P Salas AD5X 160 and 80 Meter Matching Network for Your 43 foot Vertical UPDATED available from www ad5x com look in the Articles section 1Shamwaves com antennas inductance html 16R Severns N6LF Vertical Antenna Ground Systems at HF available from www kkn net dayton2004 HF_vertical_ground_ system_design_N6LF_Dayton pdf
29. talled 54 October 2015 I found that the cover raised the 160 meter center frequency by 50 kHz and the 80 meter center frequency by 25 kHz Keep this in mind when selecting your center fre quencies during the tuning process Start the tuning process on 80 meters by setting the bias T to 12 V Determine the lowest SWR frequency and move the top tap on the short coil to move the resonant frequency Moving the tap toward the ground end of the coil raises the resonant frequency Next select 160 meters by set ting the bias T off or just unplug the dc source Determine the lowest SWR fre quency and adjust the tap on the long coil Again moving the tap toward ground raises the resonant frequency Figure 9A shows the measured SWR per formance of the MFJ 2910 on 160 meters As I operate mostly CW I centered the unit between 1800 1850 kHz As you can see the SWR stays below 2 5 1 over this range resulting in negligible SWR related coax and unun losses when using RG 213 or bet ter quality coaxial cable Incidentally my measured ground loss is 13 Q a lower ground loss will result in a narrower SWR bandwidth Figure 9B shows the 80 meter SWR performance I achieved again based on my ground loss of about 13 Q With an SWR of 3 1 or less across the band SWR related losses are negligible Some Final Observations The maximum power I have available is 1200 W and no arcing occurred at this power level It was nice
30. to not even need an antenna tuner on my selected 160 and 80 meter CW frequencies Of course an in shack antenna tuner will be needed with a solid state amplifier for extended frequency operation on 160 and 80 meters and also for 60 10 meters with the 43 foot vertical s standard unun matching network Finally because of the design of the MFJ 2910 you won t have to worry about moisture collecting inside the unit Any moisture will easily drain out through the bottom connector side of the unit My only concern is that the holes in the bottom plate may be large enough for some insects to move into the unit over time Ants are a big problem in the Dallas Texas area where I live Conclusion For those who want to operate 160 and 80 meters with a 43 foot vertical the MFJ 2910 is one solution worth consider ing It eliminates the severe SWR related coax and unun losses normally associated with this antenna on those bands However while the MFJ 2910 will handle the ex tremely high RF voltages that will occur with this electrically short antenna when mounted over a typical ground system very well designed ground systems that achieve less than 10 Q ground loss may result in voltage breakdown within the MFJ 2910 when running full legal limit Manufacturer MFJ Enterprises 300 Industrial Park Rd Starkville MS 39759 tel 662 323 5869 www mfjenterprises com Notes 13P Salas AD5X 160 and 80 Meter Matching Network fo
31. upport apache labs com apache labs com Available from several US dealers Notes 1M Ewing AA6E FlexRadio Systems FLEX 6300 Transceiver FLEX 6700 Transceiver and SmartSDR for Windows Software Product Review QST Apr 2014 pp 47 59 2apache labs com productPdf 1031_ Angelia pdf 3apache labs com download_file php downloads_id 1017 4www k5so com HPSDR_downloads html plus google com 107168125384405552048 about S6openhpsdr org wiki index php title Ghpsdr3 Qt 7apache labs com instant downloads html 8goo gl JbC5g5 pdf 9groups yahoo com neo groups apache labs info 10anan 100d wikidot com 11D Hershberger W9GR Controlled Envelope Single Sideband QEX Nov Dec 2014 pp 3 13 12groups yahoo com group apache labs files PowerSDR Fldigi_Guide_V2 0 pdf See the Digital Edition of QST fora video overview of the Apache Labs ANAN 100D SDR HF 6 Meter Transceiver and PowerSDR_mRX_PS MFJ 2910 80 160 Meter Matching Network for 43 Foot Verticals Reviewed by Phil Salas AD5X ad5x arrl net When fed with a 1 4 unun unbalanced to unbalanced transformer the 43 foot vertical antenna has a reasonable SWR on 60 through 10 meters thereby keeping SWR related losses low on those bands On 160 and 80 meters however this antenna provides such a severe mismatch that you will throw away most of your power in your coax and unun on these bands because of the extreme SWR related losses I have
32. ury Penelope and Pennywhistle Some of this terminology is carried forward into PowerSDR s options settings and the ANAN 100D User Guide See OpenHPSDR org and S Cowling WA2DFI The High Performance Software Defined Radio Project QEX May Jun 2014 pp 3 13 laptops on up using Windows 7 I was able to run some experiments with my Intel Core 17 920 system with various BIOS settings With only a single core running PowerSDR had problems but with two or more cores it seemed to be adequate Your mileage may vary PowerSDR needs a display with at least 1024 x 768 resolution A larger display or multiple displays will provide screen space for logging programs digimode software and other operating niceties The software has an interesting collapsed mode that rearranges the display into a more compact format The ANAN 100D with PowerSDR does place a heavy load on your Ethernet as well as your PC The User Guide recom mends gigabit Ethernet although current software versions can only support a 100 Mb s rate Some combinations of operat ing modes are prohibited because they will require more than 100 Mb s For example you can t stitch radios or use 384 Kb s sampling while using the Pure Signal fea ture More of these corner cases should be supported when 1000 Mb s gigabit Ethernet is implemented You can connect your computer and the 100D to your home network router but if needed you can use
33. y tuning to the IF band center and if reception is clear enough you can use the 0 BEAT button to automatically center the signal PowerSDR also sports a CWX feature that allows you to send CW from preset buffers or live from your keyboard This should help for contesting or for any Morse key boarding For voice operation the ANAN 100D provides a front panel inch jack for microphone and PTT push to talk The User Guide helpfully explains how to connect various microphones You can select optional phantom bias and change the pin out by setting on board jumpers Unfortunately changing Angelia s jump ers requires a tricky disassembly of the 100D Alternatively you can connect line level audio and PTT through the back panel DB 25 connector It took me a while to figure out how to use a low output mi crophone It required not only selecting 20 dB boost but also increasing the MAX GAIN setting on the transmit setup dialog SSB and AM modes offer a selectable gain compression to increase average talk power There is also a downward expansion option that acts as a noise gate quickly attenuating the audio when the input level falls below a certain level help ing control background noise In addition to October 2015 49 gain compression a special CCESSB Over shoot Control option is available to mini mize overshoot peaks that would otherwise limit the maximum power An audio equaliz
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