Airspy HF+ Discovery

Building on the Airspy HF+ architecture the new Airspy HF+ Discovery operates from only 500 Hz up to 31 MHz (HF band) and from 60 up to 260 MHz (VHF band). The receiver implement a Zero-IF SDR with three analog tuners on RF front-end. The tuner is preceded by fixed bandpass filters and continously tuned filters. The following mixers are designed as harmonic rejection circuits and thus ensure exceptionally good linearity and spectral purity of the down-converted signal. This is important for sensitivity, because the cleaner the signal, the less likely it is that a weak signal will sink into the noise. Very powerful ADC chip, with 4th order multi-bit noise shaping topology, are used for digitization. The following decimation phase (DDC) work with different methods to reduce the data rate. The result is a very effective anti-aliasing filter that offers 108 dBc reduction. The resulting signal has an 18 bit resolution, which is then scaled to 16 bit for transmission via the USB interface.

Airspy HF+ Discovery receiver architecture concept

The Airspy HF+ Discovery design requires a very precise AGC to achieve the best possible sensitivity and dynamic range. The firmware controls the signal gain in each stage of the front-end (6 dB-stepped on HF Tuner, 3 dB-stepped on VHF Tuner) and the subsequent amplifiers. The result is a dynamic range of 110 dB, an excellent result for such a compact receiver of this price range. The user thus benefits from the very good linearity and the high dynamic range as the received spectrum is much cleaner and free of artifacts. In addition to the excellent RF characteristics the Airspy designers have achieved an equally remarkable audio (AF) noise reduction processing. A flexible and acoustically "pleasant" noise reduction algorithms offers high-fidelity hiss removal for Broadcast FM signals as well unburying weak SSB signals from the noise floor. The algorithm doesn't kill the highs to give you a false impression of loudness, yet it doesn't have the typical high tone artifacts that plague popular noise reduction algorithms like LMS and Spectral Subtraction.

Airspy HF+ Discovery features :

• Tuner: Polyphase Tracking filters for close range interference suppression, pre-selector for HF with 4 filter banks (5, 10, 17 and 31 MHz), pre-selector for VHF (Air, HAM, Commercial and Military VHF), pre-selector for the FM band (Japan, US, EU, OIRT).

• Input matching down to virtually DC (few Hz).

• Single RF input connector to cover all bands with high-linearity switching.

• Clock: Phase noise -110 dBc/Hz @ 1kHz (100 MHz referenced), 1 PPB frequency adjustment capability.

• Supported OS: Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10, Linux, BSD, Mac.

• Supported SDR software: SDR#, Krypto500, Krypto1000, SDR-Console, SDR knife for Linux and Mac GQRX, HDSDR, Studio1, Elad FDM-SW2.

• 100% Plug-and-play on Windows. Fully open-source driver.

• Supported hardware: Intel compatible PC, Raspberry-Pi 2 and 3, Odroid C1 / C2 and XU4, other single board computers (SBC).

• Free software offers an easy way to set-up remote server. Even a small computer as Raspberry-Pi 3 can take over the function of the server to which the Airspy HF+ Discovery is connected. The receiver can then be accessed via the network in the usual way, even with several listeners at the same time. The difference to other web-based concepts is that the transferred data is an IQ signal, which can then be processed by the usual SDR software.

For a wideband Airspy SDR receiver see also the Airspy R2 model, 24-1800 MHz coverage in a single box with 10 MHz bandwidth I/Q output.

Airspy HF+ Discovery price

We have collected for your convenience the Airspy HF+ Discovery sale price (UK Pounds) and its trend over time. Useful to guarantee a cheaper purchase of this radio and to put it for sale in the second-hand market. Of course offers, accessories, warranty terms and conditions can lead to different figures.

Price	Date	Condition
GBP 199.95	2023-mar	Brand-new
GBP 123.00 (169USD)	2021-Jun	Brand-new
GBP 130.00 (169USD)	2020-May	Brand-new