A lot of people have asked me for the LD-1A’s performance specs, the kind of quantitative information typically supplied by the big manufacturers.  I don’t have easy access to the kind of test equipment one would want to measure things like noise floor, sensitivity, minimum detectable signal, etc.   My answer until now has been to subjectively compare  the LD-1A  to a fairly good radio, the FT-817 I’ve since shortly after they became available.    I chose that comparison because I have an FT-817, and like it a lot.  I know it has its weaknesses, but they’ve never interfered with my enjoyment.  Today I’ve succeeded in quantifying the comparison, making it objective.  For conditions as equal as I could make them, the output signal to noise ratio of the two receivers was equal.  This means that their sensitivities and MDS’s should be equal as well.  Here’s what I did: Read the rest of this entry »

Cody is the Lazy Dog that Lazy Dog Engineering is named after, so it’s only fitting that he helps me process company email while lounging lazily in “his” leather chair.  When I ask for his opinion, he answers with body language:  a wag of the tail for “yes”, a yawn for “no”, and scratching means “I’ll get back to you on that”.  Recently, we had several interesting items to consider. First, Jonathan asked “. . . do you make (or would you make) a battery pack for the LD-1A to make it portable?”

Read the rest of this entry »

We had planned to be at the Indianapolis Hamfest today, but had to cancel at the last minute due to a cascade of events.  Maybe “avalanche” would be more accurate than “cascade”.  In any case, we’re still offering Hamfest Special pricing to our web customers, and we’ve added some attractive product bundles for your convenience.

Also, the External Mute option for the LD-1A is now standard and included in the price.

These prices will be in effect through next Saturday.

LD-1A SDR:  $189.31 (normally $218)

LD-1A with Everything: $215 (normally $240)

LD-1A with Everything But The Antenna: $199.99 (normally $225)

LD-1A with Antenna:  $199.99 (normally $225.00)

Here’s a Youtube demo of the LD-1A with Winrad Read the rest of this entry »

I am testing a PPA-20 at 5 Watts as we speak.  Well, OK, not “speak” in the literal sense.  As we blog? Read the rest of this entry »

The PPA-20 Perfect Portable Antenna is now available from shop.lazydogengineering.com, for $35 plus S&H.   Read the rest of this entry »

I haven’t tried iSDR yet, but one of my customers did – at field day!  Read about it here!

I learned a few interesting things at the Six Meter Club Hamfest on Sunday.  The most important lesson is that I need to start selling Perfect Portable Antennas. Read the rest of this entry »

Digital Confections has an SDR app for iPhones and iPads!  I was recently contacted by the developer, NZ0I, about using it with the LD-1A.  Since there are no USBXpress drivers for the iPhone, I decided the best thing to do would be to modify the software and firmware so the user can define the LO frequency the LD-1A powers up on.  That makes it rather like a crystal-controlled Softrock, except that you can change the “crystal” frequency without changing the crystal or the BPF.  You just connect the LD-1A to your host PC, set the LO frequency and save it to the microcontroller’s flash memory.  Then you disconnect from the PC and power supply, connect the LD-1A to your iPhone, and power it up.   It comes up on the LO frequency you stored to the flash memory.

Take a look at the Digital Confections website, even if you don’t think you’d be interested in the app.  Even if you don’t have an iP(hone, ad, etc), it’s pretty cool to see what can be done with it.