G0ETP SDR HF Receiver – User Guide

Doc Version 1.07 (updated 9.12.2018, S/W version 0.93)

This document describes the controls and functions of the G0ETP HF receiver,
along with some useful operating procedures and tips.

Initial Power On
The radio uses battery backed-up SRAM to store various parameters when the
power is off. If the VFO button is held in while the radio is turned on, or if corrupt
values are detected in the NV-SRAM it will be initialised with default values.

Primary Radio Controls

Push Buttons
• VFO Press this to toggle between VFO A and B
Hold this to copy the current VFO into the other one.

• Mode Press this to cycle through the modes USB, LSB, CW and DATA
or AM and FM modes.
Hold this button to switch between SSB/CW and AM/FM groups.

• Display Press this to cycle through display modes that are appropriate to
the current mode. In SSB, AM and FM this will be the FFT display
and the waterfall display. In CW and DATA modes a text decode
screen is also available.
Hold this button in CW mode to view the amplitude slicer or in DATA
mode to view the raw demodulator output.

• Step Press this to cycle through the tuning step sizes from 10Hz to
10kHz. If Auto Step is enabled then this gets set to a suitable value
on certain mode changes.
Hold this to enter 100kHz tuning mode to move quickly between HF
bands.

Push/Rotate Menu Knob

Pressing the menu knob will first bring up the menu display if it is hidden.
Pressing this while the menu is visible will toggle between menu item selection
and menu item adjustment.
When a menu item is selected for adjustment, the rotation of the menu knob
remains associated with that value, even after the menu display has
disappeared.
Menu Items
The following items are stored on a per-VFO basis:
• Max AGC Gain This limits the maximum gain that will be applied to
weak signals. It is used to control the volume of the
channel background noise.
This controls the CW slice threshold in CW mode and
the squelch in FM mode.
• Bandwidth Select Normal, Wide or Narrow bandwidth (mode
dependent).
• Notch filters These allow the notch filters to be turned on and off.
When it is on the notch freq is displayed. Notch tuning
if performed by the main tuning knob but only when
the menu is visible.
• IF Shift Shifts the filter passband to help avoid adjacent
channel interference.
• DDS ref mult This changes the multiple of the 26MHz TCXO that is
used as the internal DDS reference. This can be
used to avoid spurious signals that are caused by DDS
spurs (but most of them are not).
• Auto step When this is on the tuning step size is set to a
convenient value when certain mode changes occur.
• Waterfall bias This offsets the waterfall level (colours) relative to the
current signal levels being received and the Max AGC
setting.
The following items are global:
• Pre-sel filter If you have an RF pre-selection filter you must select
the correct type here.
There is a bypass option for all filter types, regardless
of whether the particular filter supports it.
• Ref freq adjust Used to calibrate the internal TCXO (see calibration
procedure below).
• W/fall Hscroll When this is on the waterfall history will scroll
sideways when the radio is tuned.
• AGC spk thresh Adjusts the relative level above which a signal is
considered a noise spike.
• AGC spk delay Changes the hold time before the 'normal' AGC level is
returned.
• Code version Display only.
Tuning
The main tuning knob is self explanitory. The tunable frequency range is 20kHz
to 30MHz in 10Hz (or greater) steps.

FFT and Waterfall displays

These show signals in the range ±12.5kHz with 0 at the centre of the screen.

In FFT mode, the Y axis is logarithmic with a scale of 1dB per pixel, so it can
display a range of 128dB.

The waterfall display uses a colour palette similar to that used in FLDIGI; this
goes from black to blue to yellow to white to red. There is a blue 'plateau' just
before yellow which can be used to separate stuff above (active signals) and
stuff below (band noise). The Max AGC gain control is linked to the waterfall
colour offset so that Max AGC gain can be adjusted to accommodate the current
band noise conditions, both for the AGC and the waterfall in one operation. If you
need to offset the relationship between these two functions then adjust the
'Waterfall bias' in the menu.

Pre-Selector Filter Selection

If you have fitted a pre-selector filter to your radio then you will need to select
the correct filter within the radio menu. Failure to select the correct filter can
result in little or no signal reception.

Check http://www.themadhowes.org.uk/g0etp/sdr_rx/filters.html for an up to date

list.

Distunguishing Real Signals from Images and Spurs

Signals that are 'really there' will move across the FFT and waterfall displays at
the expected tuning rate, i.e. on the waterfall they will remain as vertical traces
(when waterfall Hscroll is enabled).

Signals that result from harmonic mixing in the radio QSD mixer will move at a
multiple of the tuning rate or in a different direction; these will not stay still on
the waterfall display and can therefore be recognised. To help avoid those that
are caused by real signals, a bandpass pre-selection filter can be applied at the
antenna input (e.g. the HA8LFK filter). An ATU can help a lot here too. If you are
unlucky and still have a narrow, in-channel interferer then the notch filters can
help.

Signals that result from DDS spurs often (but don't always) occur in symmetric
sets about the centre of the waterfall display and can therefore be recognised.
These can often be avoided by changing the DDS reference multiplier.

Other spurs, such as those coming from the ADC sample clock and the ARM
board will tend to stay still as they are 'real signals'. These cannot be avoided.
TCXO Frequency Calibration
The suggested method for calibrating the radio's internal TCXO frequency
reference is to use an accurate off-air frequency standard, such as the Russian
time and frequency reference RWM on 9996kHz. Calibrate as follows:

• Select USB mode, 500Hz step size.

• Set IF shift to -700Hz (so we can hear 500Hz either side of 0).

• Tune to 9995.5kHz and set the tuning step to 1kHz.

• Flip between 9995.5 and 9996.5 and alter the 'Ref freq adjust' menu
option until you get the same 500Hz tone either side of 9996kHz.

You can of course use an accurate RF signal generator if you have one.

S-Meter (RSSI) Calibration

The gain of the receiver board should not vary drastically from one build to the
next, so adjustment of the S meter is not essential. If for any reason you want to
check this calibration the procedure is as follows:

Put the radio in CW-W mode and inject a calibrated signal from an RF generator
at, for example -60dBm at 14MHz. Using the RSSI calibration in the menu, find
the min and max calibration point where the RSSI reads -60dBm. Set the RSSI
calibration to the mid point of these 2 values.

Useful Operating Procedures

Max AGC Gain Setting

This menu setting limits the maximum gain that the AGC can apply. This will
have a large impact on the background channel noise and will have no effect on
the volume of signals unless this gain is reduced too far.
I aim to set the gain so that the channel background noise is at least 10dB lower
than that of active signals; this makes for a pleasant listening experience and
reduces fatigue.
When you are familiar with this control, this is easy. Otherwise, one way to do
this is to tune to an empty channel and increase the gain from low to high.
Remember the step at which the noise becomes no louder then back off by 9-
12dB.
The default waterfall 'bias' has been set so that this setting coincides with the
channel noise on the waterfall being a mid blue colour and not quite causing
yellow to appear.
CW Decoder Slicer Level Adjustment
Like the colours in the waterfall, the threshold level used in the CW decoder key
up/down decision is linked to the Max AGC gain control, so altering the Max AGC
gain setting will adjust the CW decoder sensitivity.

The threshold needs to be set so that between transmissions, channel noise is

just below the CW threshold and no 'crumbs' appear on the ticker-tape at the
bottom of the CW decode screen. This threshold setting can limit sensitivity,
however, particularly when there is a lot of channel fading. If more CW sensitivity
is required, increase the Max AGC gain but accept the fact that noise will now
cause false characters to appear.

RTTY Reception
The RTTY demodulator is configured for 2-FSK signals with a frequency shift of
170Hz. The MARK tone (logic 1) is the higher of the 2 RF frequencies and is
indicated exactly by the VFO frequency display. The MARK tone has been set in
this design to generate a 1000Hz audio tone. The SPACE tone (logic 0) is the
lower of the 2 RF frequencies and produces an 830Hz audio tone. You must tune
an RTTY signal so that you can hear both tones.
The RTTY decoder operates using the 5-bit Baudot / ITA-2 character set at 45.45
BAUD (22ms bit duration). There is an operating convention known as Unshift On
Space (UOS) and this is enabled in this receiver.

AM Reception
A feature of this zero-IF radio design and the particular ADC used means that
there is a narrow notch at the 0 IF centre. If an AM station is tuned exactly, the
AM carrier can fall into this notch and result in distorted AM demodulation.

In AM mode, the workaround for this (for the time being) is to tune slightly to one
side. E.g. set the VFO frequency 100Hz higher than the nominal AM carrier.

Whilst there is no synchronous AM detector, the accuracy of the VFO in this radio
is so good that you can asynchronously decode AM in SSB mode. If the VFO error
is < 5Hz this is even good enough for music.

When demodulating AM in SSB mode, the presence of the AM carrier can force
the AGC up and lead to low audio output. If this is causing you grief, set the IF
shift to +100Hz and this will bring the audio back to the expected volume but at
the expense of a reduced bass response.

During AM reception I find that the FFT display is more useful than the waterfall
display.
Notch Filter Tuning
Sometimes you have to wait until a wanted signal goes away so that you can
optimise the notch filter tuning. Tuning the notch filter back-and-forth slightly
can be used as a trick to hold the display in 'notch tuning mode' for longer, until
you get a chance to make the best adjustment.

Specifications

Tuning Range
20kHz to 30MHz in 10Hz (or greater) steps. (Note that additional pre-selection
filtering becomes increasingly important as you go down in frequency.)

IF Filter Bandwidths
• SSB -6dB 2766Hz, -60dB 3314Hz (shape factor 1.2)

• SSB-W -6dB 4253Hz, -60dB 5066Hz (shape factor 1.2)

• SSB-N -6dB 2238Hz, -60dB 2685Hz (shape factor 1.2)

• CW -6dB 255Hz, -60dB 559Hz (shape factor 2.2)

• CW-W -6dB 508Hz, -60dB 1116Hz (shape factor 2.2)

• CW-N -6dB 86.3Hz, -60dB 188Hz (shape factor 2.2)

• AM -6dB 6510Hz

• AM-W -6dB 8650Hz

• FM -6dB 12880

In SSB mode the default BFO position (IF shift set to 0) is at the -6dB point on the
filter skirt.

Sensitivity and Maximum Signal Handling

The receiver analogue gain is fixed to deliver a compromise between receiver
sensitivity and strong signal handling. The 24bit ADC reaches saturation at an
input signal level of around -23dBm, which is equivalent to S9+50dB. The noise
figure (NF) of this receiver is around 27dB. This may seem poor by commercial
receiver standards which can be as good as 7dB, however, a NF this good is
excessive on all HF bands below 28MHz: On lower bands, the man-made and
atmospheric band noise can be above the thermal noise of the receiver by more
than 40dB and the use of an attenuator is commonplace.
The 27dB NF of this receiver is equivalent to a NF of 7dB with a 20dB attenuator
on its input. With this configuration, the band noise at my (urban) home location
is at least 20dB greater than the receiver noise floor on bands below 15MHz and
this margin steadily reduces as you head up towards 30MHz.
If more sensitivity is required, an external low-noise preamp may be used but be
aware that this will reduce the strong signal handling of the receiver and upset
the S-meter calibration.
If more strong signal handling is required then an external attenuator can be
used. This will further reduce the NF and will upset the S-meter calibration.
TODO: Calculate the IP3 of the receiver.

[EOF]