We have added an extra section concerning support of the DRB 32.
Meanwhile the DiRaBox DRB 30 is a well-established product for PC-controlled shortwave receivers and SDR platforms.
Numerous test reports show an excellent ranking.
The unit is often used especially for DRM applications as reference and for propagation studies.
What will be needed ?
The DiRaBox DRB 32 is a so-called black box receiver under computer control which converts the RF signal to a low frequency IF signal suitable for the PC soundcard.
A standard PC or notebook with standard soundcard is sufficient.
The processor clock rate should exceed 500 MHz and is related to the used SDR software.
The low frequency IF output is connected to the line input of the soundcard (3.5mm stereo jack socket).
Sound is provided by the soundcard via connected earphones or loudspeaker.
The web offers currently a handfull SDR programs, most of them are experimental freeware.
These programs enable the demodulation of the IF signal delivered by the DiRaBox.
Computer control of the unit is provided by the rear-panel parallel interface port (LPT) or via USB **.
Corresponding control software (WIN95/98/2000/XP) is available.
First conversion to a high IF-frequency and second conversion to a very low IF-frequency followed by DSP (Digital Signal Processing). In the DiRaBox concept DSP is replaced by the combination PC and SDR software.
Software Defined Radio (SDR) is a radio system which replaces as much as possible functional blocks by software technologies that enable reconfigurable system architectures.
This makes is quite clear that a flexible system like SDR is superior to a rigid system, right now when transmission technolgy is changing from analogue to digital.
Max. Allowed Antenna Level : +10dBm typ. / saturation at -15dBm typ.
Standard: < -131dBm (0.06µV) typ.
HighIP: < -119dBm (0.25µV) typ.
DDS-related Spurious Supression: > 70dB typ.
Please note: Plug-Power Supply, application software (Control Panel) and connecting cables are not included !
Application software is available directly from this page. Also available as CD-ROM on request.