Elad FDM-S3 SDR Receiver

The FDM-S3 receiver is an exceptional SDR with very strong performance features. Here the Italian manufacturer has taken the possibilities of modern SDR design to the extreme. For example, the FDM-S3 offers an incredible bandwidth of 24 MHz, which can be scanned simultaneously and in which up to 4 receivers can be operated simultaneously. So far, this has only been reserved in this form for much more expensive receivers.

The FDM-S3 works as a direct scanning SDR with a variable sampling rate of max. 122.8 MHz. The reception range goes from 9 kHz to 108 MHz, for even higher frequencies an optional downconverter has been announced.

One of the special tricks of the receiver is the variable sample rate, which varies between 98 and 122 MHz depending on the band range. This flexibility makes it possible to select more favourable divider ratios for down-sampling, increasing sensitivity and the achievable dynamic range.

Another special feature of the SDR FDM-S3 is the flexible selection of the clock source. The receiver is supplied with either a TCXO or an OCXO. The TCXO (Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator) offers good accuracy and stability at moderate power consumption, the OCXO (Oven Controlled Crystal Oscillator) offers significantly better stability at higher power consumption.
Additionally, the FDM-S3 can be equipped with an optional GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System, aka GPS, Glonass, Beidou, Galileo) antenna. This antenna provides a frequency link to GNSS satellites (aka GNSS-DO, GPSDO). And if that is not enough, an external 10 MHz reference clock can be fed from a high-precision source.
All clock signals and sources are handled more or less automatically by the newly developed 'Reference Clock Manager Module', the user does not need to intervene.

The SDR receiver FDM-S3 is equipped with two auto-switching low-pass filters and a bandpass for the 3m radio band. Optionally up to 8 additional low, high and bandpass filters can be used. These are the same filter modules that are already known from the Elad FDM-S2R and Elad QSF-06 Pre-Selector. A switchable attenuator works with three stages, furthermore a pre-amplifier can be switched on.

For shortwave, the FDM-S3 offers two switchable antenna inputs, one of which can be provided with a bias voltage, for example to operate an external pre-amplifier. For VHF, one input is available, also with switchable bias voltage. The Windows PC (Windows 7, 8 or 10, 32 or 64 bit) should have sufficient power depending on the required operation. For example, recording a 24 MHz wide spectrum requires a considerable amount of memory and also data rates for the hard disk or SSD. More detailed information can be found in the manual. Power is supplied via Powerpole sockets, the voltage must be in the range of 8 to 16 V. A power cable with Powerpole plugs on one side is included.

As software the free FDM-SW2 software is available, which offers up to 4 independent decoders (receivers). This software can also be used to set up all options of the receiver such as band filters etc. Alternatively the software 'SDR Console' by Simon Brown is available.