[hpsdr] Mercury sensitivity problem

[Jose V. Gavila]

Hi all,

I have just got a barely used set of Mercury-EU + Metis + Atlas and have 
got it working fine with last svn release of PowerSDR 2.2.3. I had 
previously checked with a previous 2.2.3 version, but the problem is the 
same: it starts OK, receiving with a good sensitivity. Then, from time 
to time, sensitivity drops a lot (about 4 or so S-meter units), so you 
can only receive strong signals. Then, sometimes, it gets back to normal 
and sometimes is stays that way.

I have 20+ years of experience in radio and 10+ fixing all kind of rigs 
(in fact, now I work full time on that), and my gut feeling is that 
there is an analog problem in the unit, due to a bad soldering joint or, 
what I am afraid, a aproblem on the A/D

Is there a way to check (by software) my Mercury to be sure where is the 
fault located?. At the end, I can resort to schematics and treat this as 
any other rig but, if there are software tools, I would prefer that 
approach as a first attempt to pinpoint the fault.

Thanks for your help and best regards,

JOSE

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