10 Meter Spurs

Ed, K0KC

I have noted some rather significant spurs across the 10 meter band (approximately 10 dB above the noise floor and spaced about 5 KHz apart) with 1.0.24 that I do not recall seeing with the previous versions. I do not believe that this is a local issue as nothing has changed here except the upgrade to 1.0.24. I have not checked all bands, although I do not recall seeing them on 80 meters when I was on that band this morning with 1.0.24. Does anyone else see these spurs or should I suspect that a neighbor got a new plasma HDTV for Christmas? Ed, K0KC

Ed, K0KC

By the way, the spurs are still visible even if I turn averaging to zero. Again, I cannot recall seeing them with previous versions of SmartSDR, but AVG on about 15 really makes them "pop-out" of the noise. Ed, K0KC

Keith - AE5XN

Ed, I recently observed the spurs on 10m as well. Seems to happen when I have multiple panadapters active at once and when I'm using higher frame rates and averages. I was able to get them to go away by moving around the frame rate and averaging slider. This is with a 6700 running 1.0.24 on Windows 8.1 64-bit

Ed, K0KC

Thanks for the feedback, Keith! I will have to experiment tomorrow when I fire-up on 10 meters again...I do have the frame rate fairly high, but the AVG is only about 15. I am on 80 meters now and there are no spurs at all. I do have multiple panadapters (2) open as I use WSJT-X which requires split operation for effective use of JT65 and JT9. Ed, K0KC

Tim - W4TME

How about some pictures of it?

Keith - AE5XN

Tim, I've only had it happen to me once, and after doing a reset to factory defaults using the "OK" and "Power" buttons on the front panel of my 6700, I've not seen the problem at all. When it did happen, it acted like it may have been due to loss of synchronization over the network between SSDR and my 6700. I'll take some pictures and maybe even some video captures if I can make it happen again. Keith - AE5XN

Ed, K0KC

I will try to do this today, but no promises...I was pretty ill last night and don't feel so hot this morning.

Ed, K0KC

Here is a capture of a section of 10 meters this morning.

Tim - W4TME

Is the antenna disconnected? The NF seems high for a disconnected antenna. Please disconnect to see if the noise in internal /local to the radio or not.

Tim - W4TME

No hurries. Get well soon.

Roger Rockwell/na4rr

Here is what mine looks like I get them if two panadapters No antenna. One panadapter on 6(no slice) The second on 10 (no slice) . If I x out either panadapter they go away. 6 Meter Only 6m and 10m roger

Ed, K0KC

Well, maybe I was right about the neighbor getting a plasma TV for Christmas! With the antenna switched-off, most of the spurs went away. I only saw about three across the whole 10 meter band. I am worried about myself...I should have thought about removing the antenna when I first encountered these spurs. Now I need to do some snooping-around my house to see if I can locate the source. I have not noticed these spurs on any other band except 12 meters where they are much worse.

Tim - W4TME

Ed - don't beat yourself up too bad. We all do dumb things. I already have a half a dozen to my credit this morning alone. HI HI The best thing about SmartSDR is the panadapter and the worst thing about SmartSDR is the panadapter because now you can see junk that was always there but may have never heard before.

Ed, K0KC

Tim, True, but I wonder why I did not notice those spurs on 10 meters prior to the latest beta upgrade. I had been on 10 meters quite a bit running under the previous version (but not on 12 meters) and do not recall seeing them. Oh well, something to do to keep me out of trouble! Ed, K0KC

Keith - AE5XN

Tim, I just found out what caused mine to appear. I had the +30dB preamp engaged with four active panadapters (80m, 40m, 15m, and 10m) all using ANT1, and a nearby ham was tuning up on 75m. Just saw the spurs again this morning on 10m and happened to notice a >S9+60dB signal on 75m that coincided with them. So, the very strong signal was over-loading the preamp with no ham band band-pass filters engaged (WIDE mode). So, it's not a radio or SSDR issue, it was an operator issue ;-). Keith - AE5XN

Roger Rockwell/na4rr

Mine are coming from in the 6700. I can select two panadapters, put one on one band and the other on any other band and the spurs will show. If I put both pans on the same band --no spurs. Roger

K1UO Larry

Ed, Are they always 60hz apart? put a choke on your PS AC cable. The other view shown on here looks more like a wall wart noise pattern(although I had an HDMI cable from my Sat rcvr that looked nearly the same for noise)

Al_NN4ZZ

Hi Roger, I duplicated your scenario but no spurs here. (tried with and without an antenna, SSB and CW). Maybe some others will try it also. Regards, Al / NN4ZZ

Ed, K0KC

Larry, I only have the one screen capture in this topic and it appears that the spurs are 60 KHz apart, not 60 Hz. They went away when I disconnected the antenna, so it appears that it is radiated interference. The other screen captures are from Roger, NA4RR, who apparently has a different issue. Ed, K0KC

Tim - W4TME

Roger, I see where your issue may be hardware related since you have an open HelpDesk ticket. Someone from Support will be in contact with you soon.

K1UO Larry

Sri Ed I meant 60KHz.. It still could be the switching PS in your PC...... thats a common signature for them. Choking the ac cord to it usually will help. regards and good luck Larry K1UO

Robert -- N5IKD

I put my Flex on a battery and the computer on UPS took a screenshot of three bands, then I shut off the main power to the house and took a second screenshot. The next steps are: 1. Turn everything off one thing at a time until each spur is identified. 2. Go to the neighbors houses and do the same thing. (Okay number 2 may be a stretch). With Power: Without Power: