Introduction
First
thing i can remember about my PCR-1000 when i turned it on at day
1 was terrible performance in LF/MF area. Over here in Europe we
have many radio stations operating on LW and MW so i could test
my radio right away. Soon i realized that there is actually nothing
i can hear, even near stations. This was indeed strange. But it
wasn't until the day i turned on my LW/MW/FM Technics radio receiver
and noticed same thing. Now, this was very strange, since this radio
was always working nice. Later that day i turned on that Technics
radio again, but this time my PC was off. And what a difference!!
I screamed: "Ahaaaaa!!! It is damn PC doing this interferences
to my PCR radio!"
Right away i went into search and realized that
the main "noise factory" is the PC power supply. And its
biggest allies are wires going out of the PC, which become its antennas.
Among then, the strongest "antennas" are those coming
out of Com port and Soundcard. What an irony since both need to
go into our poor little PCR-1000 and nuke it with interference.
Ok, things are getting clear now. If i want to avoid any contact
with the PC i need some kind of external controller for my PCR-1000.
Then i remembered there was one man in Italy producing controllers
for PCR-1000. As soon as i got his address, i ordered one.
PCR Hardware Controller
Test 1 - LF Performance (77.5 kHz)
For those who don't know, LF stands for Low Frequency and represents
frequencies in 30 kHz - 300 kHz range. For more info about frequency
designations please click here.
Before we start the test lets look at original PCR-1000 specification
released by Icom Company. It appears they are saying that the effective
downrange for PCR-1000 is 500 kHz (Quote from Icom homepage: Specifications
guaranteed 0.5 - 1300 MHz only). So lets tune below and go into
77.5 kHz which is low frequency radio time signal coming from Mainflingen/Germany
(30 kW ERP) located 900 km from my receiver. It appears Icom Company
was right, and there was no much i could hear. But then i turned
off the PC and started to control the PCR-1000 with hardware controller.
I went again to 77.5 kHz and guess what! There it was! Clear and
loud signal. Click here or on the image
below to hear sample 1 with PCR-1000 connected to PC (the usual
way), and sample 2 with PCR-1000 connected to hardware controller
while PC was off. Both sound samples are merged into one file and
separated by a beep tone so you can hear both. First you will hear
sample 1 then 2.
Test 2 - LW Performance (153 kHz)
Over here in Europe we have radio stations down low at 150 kHz -
280 kHz range, and this area is called Long Wave or LW. For more
info and stations list on LW, you can click here.
This is the part of the spectrum where my Icom was receiving strongest
interference from PC. There was nothing i could hear. Then i turned
off the PC and connected hardware controller to my PCR-1000. You
can hear the results below. I also included grounding in this example.
So you will hear three samples. Sample 1 is PCR-1000 connected to
PC. Sample 2 is non-grounded PCR-1000 connected to hardware controller.
Sample 3 is grounded PCR-1000 connected to hardware controller.
All three samples are connected into one file and separated with
beep tone, and go in order sample 1, 2, 3. Click here
or on the image below to hear samples.
Test 3 - MW Performance (612 kHz)
There is also Medium Wave or MW here in Europe which extends from
530 kHz - 1620 kHz. For more info and stations list on MW, you can
click here.
Again my PCR-1000 was receiving a lot of interference and i could
hear just few stations but with a lot of buzz ('Rattle and Hum'
as my friend calls this interference noise). Same story. First i
recorded data with PC (sample 1) and then with hardware controller
(sample 2) while PC was off. Both samples are connected into
one file and separated with beep tone, and go in order sample 1,
2. Click here or on the image below to
hear samples.
More PC Interferences
Except those
mentioned in tests, i've also found a lot of interferences on 10
MHz. However, they are not constant and depend on what's happening
on computer screen. I guess they have something to do with video
card. For example if you minimize and then maximize a window, you
will hear a noise during that time. With PC turned off and connected
to hardware controller, this noise is completely gone.
Other interferences
So far i haven't
found any more interferences when PCR-1000 is connected to PC. In
case you are not interested in LF/MF reception and 10 MHz area,
then you probably don't need this hardware controller.
Conclusion
In test 1 we can see
that Icom Company underestimated their own radio. It goes well below
100 kHz and there is no any doubt about it. Actually, with a good
antenna it can go down to 20 kHz. I've made some tests with raw
(non amplified) magnetic loop antenna and i could hear military
20 kHz transmissions. However i do not want to publish any results
yet as this is raw, unbalanced antenna! First i need to turn it
into active antenna with preamp, and then i can do proper tests,
but this work is in progress. Once it will be done, i will not be
surprised if i receive Russian alpha signals on 14 kHz!
From what we've seen, dramatic improvement in LF/MF
performance of PCR-1000 receiver is obvious. If you are interested
in this area i think hardware controller is a must have. For 80$
i think it is worth. Maybe i would fix my interference problems
by doing better PC case with good shielding and all Com and sound
blaster outputs filtered, but that would take too much time. At
the end it would cost money too, right? I can recommend you a good
article on reducing
PC interference, however, when you read it, you'll get back
here and solve all this problems with hardware controller.
Ground your PCR
Grounding does make a difference !
First of all, you will need real grounding. Forget using that GND
on mains socket. It is full of electrical noise and will do more
damage than good. You need to dig out the real grounding. That's
right, you need to "dig out". If you have no place to
dig or neighbors don't permit you digging then i need to say sorry.
I will now describe my case, of how i built grounding.
First i bought a pipe (used for water installations)
2m long. Then bought the thickest wire i could find in store, which
was 2.5mm2. First i dig the channel for the cable, which is about
10 cm deep leading from the building to the hole 7m distance. Then
i dig 1m deep hole. I put the pipe in, took the sledgehammer and
started beating. After 10 minutes of beating, first neighbors started
appearing asking questions. The most effective answer is: "It
is a electrostatic ______ (put some complex word here) protection
for my antenna. I paid my antenna a lot of money and this protects
it. This hole you see will gone, the pipe will be below surface,
and everything be exactly as it was before. So no need to worry.
Thank you!". What ever happens, you need to remain tough, saying
you are protecting your antenna, and you gave too much money for
it to give it up...etc. None of the neighbors didn't called police,
but that more likely comes from the fact that i never did anything
bad to any of them.
It took about
one hour of beating with sledgehammer, to finish the job and put
this pipe about 10 cm below surface level. Connect the wire to the
pipe as hard as you can (you will need screws and some other stuff...).
And you are done. You can see the grounding wire in my room on the
image above (blue wire).
Once you have grounding in your room, you can start
experimenting. Using RF Systems MLB Mk2 antenna (basically 20m of
wire connected to 9:1 transformer) i can tell you that in 70% the
reception is better with grounding. In about 25% there is no change.
And in 5% the reception is better without grounding (keep that in
mind too!!). So if you hear interference when grounding is connected,
try disconnecting it, and reception might improve! This sounds
strange but there are bands on LW and MW when i really need to disconnect
groundig to get better reception. That is the main reason why i
use the clip to hold that blue ground wire (see image above). That
way i can easely disconnect / connect the ground. However, this
statistic depends on your antenna type. Don't take it as it is,
but experiment and find results for yourself. Here below you can
hear sample 1 with no grounding, and sample 2 with grounding. Both
sound samples are merged into one file and separated by a beep tone,
and go in order sample 1,2. Actually you've heard part of this example,
in test 2. Click here or on the image below
to hear samples.
Turn off and disconnect PC !
It
is not enough to just turn off your PC from the shutdown screen!
Because the power supply is still ON, producing noise. You also
need to turn off power supply. On the backside of the PC you should
see switch. If you can't find it, then disconnect the cable. Sample
1 is example of PC that has been shutdown but the power supply is
still on. And the sample 2 represents reception with supply off.
Recording was made on 141 kHz AM, so no broadcast stations are playing
(to better hear the difference). Both sound samples are merged into
one file and separated by a beep tone, and go in order sample 1,2.
Click here or on the image below to hear samples.
More infos
PCR
Hardware Controller
Icom
PCR-1000 specifications
PCR Software
Yahoo
Group PCR1000
#Monitor (HF
listening, Utility Radio Monitoring)
Example
of a 'real' black box
IMPORTANT NOTE FROM AUTHOR
This page is free from sponsored
bulls*it
This is not another sponsored bull*hit article.
For this text i haven’t received a cent from Icom Company or from
the designer of PCR hardware controller. All the content of this
text is 100% true. All test results (wav samples) in this article
are available to public and can be downloaded with no restrictions.
On many places on internet you might find reviews
of various radio receivers by some "experts" or "experienced
listeners". Pick 3 reviews of the same radio and you will find
each of them gives totally different results on the same subject.
But which review is a good one and comes from real expert? Well,
there is a way you can recognize a good review. It doesn’t contain
a lot of words like "wow, great, amazing", but instead
informs you with detailed examples of each test, allowing you to
examine results, so that You (user) can be the final judge!
Learn not to thrust everything
you read !
Take a look at this information
released in the book "Passport to World Band Radio 2002":
And take a look at your PCR-1000:
(i think this image doesn't need a
comment)
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