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SmartSDR NB and WNB performance

Luis - K1PLL
Luis - K1PLL Member ✭✭
edited February 2020 in SmartSDR for Windows

Hello Everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster. Thinking in buying a Flex-6400 and eventually a Maestro.
I live in a location that has lots of man-made noise (QRN). Currently have a
Flex-5000 and a Flex-1500 and the noise blankers in PowerSDR are very effective in mitigating the QRN. Would the WNB and NB on SmartSDR have the same performance in mitigating the local QRN noise as PowerSDR?

Please see the following link of my Flex-5000 in action reducing the local noise on 10 meter band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lll8jBXGjM4

  • Radio: Flex-5000
  • PowerSDR version: 2.8.0.134 (KE9NS)
  • Antenna: Homebrew Hexbeam
  • Location: Watertown, Massachusetts
73 de K1PLL -> Luis !!

Answers

  • Bill -VA3WTB
    Bill -VA3WTB Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    Luis, to be honest it is a toss up. I will explain.
    The NB in SSDR is not working as well as what you show on your video, but the WNB is simply amazing with a very limited type of electrical noise. Check out some of the u tubes showing the WNB at work.
    One thing the 5000 does not have is the AGC-T that the SSDR has. Most of us use this to control many types of noise.
    Also Flex has told us they have been working on the noise mitigation again for future releases of SSDR.
  • Johan _ SE3X
    Johan _ SE3X Member ✭✭
    edited November 2019
    May I dream of V4 as the DX version. With superb noice cancelling, the Best NB .. etc on the market. Loads of functionality aimed at the DX'er rather than the contester.

    I have a dream ..
  • Jon_KF2E
    Jon_KF2E Member ✭✭✭
    edited November 2019
    I've had that same dream for the last five years.
  • Johan _ SE3X
    Johan _ SE3X Member ✭✭
    edited November 2019
    It's Christmas soon .. Never give up hope
  • Robby Robertson
    Robby Robertson Member ✭✭
    edited November 2019
    I bought my 6400 about 6 months ago. I moved from another very popular rig. I am constantly being amazed by the features that both have but work so much better and easier on the Flex. 

    I didn't try a lot of things at first because I didn't expect them to work well. I'm talking about NR and NB. Not to mention the AGC-T.
    Now I can have fun for hours without making a transmission.

    I just put up an inverted vee for 80M. On 3750 with my RF gain at zero my noise at 100hz BW is S2. When I enable WNB it drops to S1. 

    I will see what happens this evening.

    I wish I could change the BW presets on CW. I am never going to use anything above 500hz. 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500 would be much better. I would use all of those. I find it difficult to try to grab a line with the mouse and drag it to a target BW.

    WX: mix of sun and cloud. 23C with light breeze. No rain yet today but it will come. 

    -Robby
    HP3SS
  • HCampbell WB4IVF
    HCampbell WB4IVF Member ✭✭
    edited November 2019

    I agree with Bill that we will probably see further improvements in noise mitigation.  According to Flex noise mitigation is the #1 customer priority, per Flex’s comments on the recent customer priority survey results: 

     “.... the survey was very helpful in revealing the relative importance of noise mitigation and pre-distortion. We have heard these messages loud and clear and have already begun discussions on next steps to make improvements in these areas of performance.”

    So I strongly suspect we will see action in these areas.  BTW, in my case, NB does a good job in attenuating neighbors’ electric fence noise (currently the only real problem in my low-noise rural area), while WNB has very little effect.  However, occasionally a very strong signal completely blanks out a wide spectrum, where NB has very little effect, but when I turn on WNB the noise completely disappears.   You have to see it to believe it.

    Howard

  • N8SDR
    N8SDR Member ✭✭
    edited November 2019
    Luis: This really depends on what the noise is, the NB doesn't work as well on the 6K series as in past with PSDR, I noticed this right away when coming from a Flex 3000 to a 6400, However as others have stated the WB (Wide Band) does do a pretty nice job. I have a video showing the WB- being turned on and off- in-which you can see/hear it in action https://youtu.be/wwmsMQhOUjI

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