RX/TX Spectrum Display Settings

cfclaver

Question: Can the display levels for the spectrum and waterfall be set independently between RX and TX?

I am frequently faced with the spectrum and waterfall display being saturated on TX when the displays are set for good visibility of weak signals. This is limiting any meaningful assessment of TX quality from within the SmartSDR environment. I have not found how to do this or if it is possible or not. With a full duplex radio I would think this is something that should be possible.

Thanks for the help!

Best 73s

Charles (Chuck) Claver, PhD

NJ6D / N7KU

KD0RC

Hi Chuck, The TX signal that you see does not provide a good representation of your transmit quality. It will typically look very wide and full of spurs that are not actually going out over the air.

To get a good view of your transmit signal, open a second panadapter and put the rig into Full Duplex (FDX). You will need to receive on a different antenna than what the transmitter is using.

If you use an amp, you will need to fill out the Full Duplex worksheet to verify that you won't be overloading your second receiver.

Once you have FDX set up, you can set your two display levels differently to accommodate the relatively larger signal on the second receiver.

Ken, NM9P and Mike, VA3MW have some really good YouTube videos about using FDX to view your TX signal that you might want to check out.