There are so many times when you hesitate, trying to remember a keyboard shortcut or even a simple button-press and you end up running through all the menus and sub-menus. For me, most of these keyboard shortcuts are in Flight Simulators but there's also lots in other software, eg: Ham Radio Deluxe, WSJT-X, Photoshop, Zoom, etc, etc.
There's now a fabulous solution to this problem and it's called StreamDeck by Elgato. Its core user base is actually Vloggers who do a lot of live streaming and want to launch programs, play a jingle, display a graphic, resize/relocate windows, etc, quickly and on the fly. StreamDeck allows this by allowing you to assign an event to a button press on the device. And these LCD buttons can have descriptive text, colours, icons and even animations on them to help you quickly identify them.
Well I figured that would be an extremely handy thing to have sat on my desk to aid me in many ways - so I got the 32 button model - the XL. It comes complete with a stand to hold the StreamDeck at a 45 degree angle for easy viewing and operation. The keyboard attaches to the stand magnetically, so it's extremely easy to connect/disconnect it. The device is powered by a single USB lead to your PC.
Each and every button can be programmed to do something or be an access point to a folder (another page of 32 buttons). I will use this feature to start out with a kind of Desktop (or Welcome Screen), showing all my main software packages. From there, I can either launch a piece of software such as Ham Radio Deluxe, or I can got to a new bank of switches which are relevant to what I'm doing such as a FlightSim page.
Let me give you an example - from the initial screen (I call it the desktop), you might have 2 options (buttons) displayed for Microsoft FlightSim - one called FS2020 Full and one called FS2020 Quick. If you press the quick button, you'll be presented with a screen full of buttons which contain 30 odd of the most common button presses in the sim, such as Gear Up, Gear Down, Flaps, Spoilers, etc, so that you can just quickly jump into the cockpit and have a fly around for a bit of R&R.
QUICK FS2020
If you chose to press the full button instead, you could be presented with a screen containing a list of 30 odd categories such as Radio Options, Fuel Options, etc, which would in turn take you to a screen containing operational buttons related to that category. There are LOTS of keypresses in a complex study-level flightsim and having them all visually presented on a screen is amazingly helpful.
FULL FS2020 menus
Camera Options
Power Options
I'm new to all this, so I'm still very much learning, but it soon becomes clear that not only can you display lots of keypresses onscreen, but you can categorise them and even colour code them! You might also want to present them in a certain way, such as Up, Down, Left, Right, if that makes a certain operation seem more intuitive to the operator.
External Lights Menu
It's all fabulously flexible. And although I opted for the 32 button model, you could be equally happy with 16 buttons or even fewer (and cheaper), bearing in mind the ability to have sub-menus.
Elgato are constantly introducing new features and options to the StreamDeck and it's not just about programming in a simple keypress. You can do all sorts of things using the long list of built-in tools including Super Macros which will perform a long list of keypresses sequentially at the touch of a single button. Pretty cool!
Initially you will probably start off with a quite basic layout, but you soon learn to adapt a better workflow and start to use custom-made icons which actually make more sense to you visually instead of relying on the supplied icons.
As I get more comfortable with the StreamDeck, I hope to find more and more uses for it and will probably have a list of categories on the desktop to help me control FlightSims, General HAM Radio, Contesting, Photo, Audio & Video, Music Player, Writing, Cad, Zoom, etc, etc.
I'm guessing too, that the smarter people among us could find additional uses such as an interface for any experimental stuff they do on their computer. Perhaps even to have easy control over an antenna rotator, control a radio or some such thing, who knows?. Once you've justified the cost of purchase (as I have with FlightSim use), then everything else is a great bonus.
Prices start around £79.
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I've had my eye on an S2000 for quite a long time and even when I was ready to buy one a coupe of years ago, I chose to hold back again and opted for the PL-680 instead. And to be honest, I don't regret that decision because the PL-680 has been a fantastic radio - I just love it. It's been a joy to operate and to own - a little treasure.
But sometimes, you want something that little bit bigger - something with more accessible buttons and dials - something with a bit more heft - enter the Tecsun S2000!
My initial reason for not buying an S2000 was its size. In all the magazine and online reviews, it looked like a big ghetto blaster and it wasn't until I saw one in the flesh that I realised how compact they actually were. Sure, they're not tiny, but they are not as big as they look in photos.
For many people, the appearance of aradio is what initiallycatches one's eye. The S2000 is certainly a piece of eye-candy and that bulky, almost military style with chromed grab handles, big tuning dial and slightly retro signal meter really grabs your attention. But a pretty face isn't everything. This good lookin' gal has to perform as well!
You will hear that the Tecsun S2000 is really a Grundig Satellit 750 and to be honest, that's no bad thing, but the Tecsun version actually has a little extra in the form of an IF-OUT (more on that later). In all other regards, the 2000 and 750 are identical. Needless to say, some will always make claims to the 'superiority' of the Grundig model, but the truth is, the only real difference is the badge! Anyway, Grundig went bankrupt years ago!
The other reason for me not buying an S2000 up to now, was the cost. Some people sell these things for a ridiculous price and it seems that some are foolish enough to pay it! I've even see them sell at £444 😮 even though the MRRP is closer to £300.
Well even £300 is too much for me when it comes to something which will only have occasional use, so I opted to do what I almost always do - find a minter second-hand and that's exactly what I did here. I found one for sale at £180 on FaceBook MarketPlace and the seller was just around the corner from me.
The radio was described as MINT, BOXED and sure enough it was. You couldn't tell it from new and so I snapped it up and took it to its new home. I put it in the corner of my lounge and gave the box to my wife to wrap as a Christmas present to put under the tree 😂
As I switched the radio on for the first time and played around with the dial in FM mode, my first impression was that this was a neat radio and one which was pretty well built. All the knobs felt tight and responsive. The dial was nice and smooth with just the right amount of resistance. Everything was very clearly labelled and I didn't have to pick up the manual - not even for storing frequencies in memory. Mind you, I do own another Tecsun.
On FM all the stations were pulled in with absolute ease and I noticed that the signal didn't really change when I switched from my external AOR SA-7000 to the built-in telescopic whip - so that's good! The only odd bit was when I tuned to ClassicFM - it was a cleaner signal through the telescopic whip than through the external antenna - and it wasn't a case of overload.
But FM is only a tiny part of my interest in this radio - my main interest is ShortWave and AirBand. Like the PL-680, the S2000 has AM, MW, LW, FM, LSB and USB modes, so there's not much it can't do. In the bottom right corner of the front panel it has a BFO dial which provides that all important fine tuning of SSB signals (bearing in mind that the lowest tuning resolution is 1KHz via the big dial). One mode which is sadly absent is CW but the signals can be heard quite well using the Narrow bandwidth filter.
The radio is littered with nice features including two 50ohm BNC sockets for external antennas (one marked FM and the other marked SW). That's a fabulous and highly valued feature to me. Below those are a couple of snap-lock connectors for a high impedance SW antenna. Also in this cluster is a switch to swap from Internal/External antennas. Nice!
Antenna options don't end there though! On top of the radio is a rotatable AM antenna which works incredibly well. At first, it just looks to be part of the radio cabinet, but it soon becomes apparent that it can be rotated (either way) to find the best MW/LW signal. And there's more! Using the 3.5mm jack-plug in the center of the AM antenna, you can plug in an external antenna or even something like Tecsun's own AN100/200 LOOP antennas.
The S2000 has other useful connectors including the usual stereo 3.5mm headphone jack, a 3.5mmstereo Line-In jack and a pair of RCA sockets for stereo Line Out. And then of course, there's that IF-OUT.
Although the Line In/Out connections make sense, I can't really understand the point of the IF output.To use it for a panadapter for example, you'd need to inject that signal into an SDR device such as the SDRPLAY RSP1A and a computer. Well if you had an RSP1A and a computer, there's not much point plugging the S2000 into the loop - the RSP1A would do a much better job anyway. I guess you could use it to connect to some sort of demodulator for DRM, but it just seems like too much faffing around to me.
So what's the receiver like? Well without posting lots of video examples (there's already loads on YouTube), I'd simply say that I'm quite happy with it. For comparisons, I connected it to the same antenna as used on my ICOM IC-7300 - it's an EFHW. Before comparing the two radios, I switched off the pre-amp, noise-blanker and noise reduction on the 7300.
Using a high quality antenna switch, I tuned both radios to LW/MW frequencies and switched between the two. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of difference between them. Sure, the SDR technology inside the Icom did a better job than the Tecsun, but the latter was perfectly audible and on some stations, even better!
The SSB performance test wasn't easy because at the time of testing, there were very few HAM stations on air. I managed to find one on 40M, 20M and 80M. Even though you can only tune in minimum steps of 1KHz, you can then turn to the BFO dial and fine tune the signal. It's not 100% perfect (as none of these radios are) but it's good enough. It's only when you're trying to hear very weak stations that frustration creeps in. Overall though, I think I'm going to be very satisfied with the S2000 when conditions are better.
In fact, that's what I like about these portable radios - I can sit wherever I like such as a comfy couch in the lounge or conservatory, idly flicking through the bands and then when I find something that really interests me, I can go to the shack and pull out the big guns. It's great when you're tuning through and hear a Radio Ham who you've been chasing for months and hear him on your portable, allowing you to go work him/her on a transceiver.
The noise floor and general sensitivity of the S2000 is quite good and I don't really have any complaints. When I've read elsewhere that people have struggled with a radio (any radio), I've come to realise that something may work for someone in one location very well and not for someone else in a different location. It's the same with antennas - many people say that a G5RV is not very good and yet at my QTH, I find them to be quite effective and have worked the world with one at QRP levels.
Without doubt, this radio (and any other) will benefit from an Antenna Tuning Unit when using a long wire antenna. I found an old GLOBAL COUPLER AT-1000which works a treat. They're cheap and worth every penny. As for MW/LW, the rotatable antenna on top of the radio is amazingly effective. I really was surprised by this.
The squelch is a little odd. It seems to quieten the background noise rather than provide a clear-cut threshold. Maybe I'm doing something wrong - I'll investigate more and update this post.
The S2000 has lots of memories for each band and it's incredibly easy to store stations that you've found - it's just a case of pressing the M button briefly, then choosing a location to store it and holding the M button for a couple of seconds.
The AirBand reception was pretty good through my AOR SA-7000 antenna but Manchester Airport's ATIS signal sounded a little weaker than I'm used to, so I need to look into that a little more. I might try putting my AirBand Filter inline and see if that makes a difference. I need to bear in mind though, that I normally listen to the Airband on a dedicated AirBand radio connected to a colinear mounted much higher up than the SA-7000. This is why you have to be careful not to make unfair comparisons. I'll update on this later.
The audio from the S2000 suits me perfectly well. It's great for Broadcast radio (especially FM) and it's good in other modes as long as you adjust the tone controls to suit the modulation and noise levels. No use moaning about muffled signals on SSB when you've got the tone settings all wrong.
Up to now I've only used the S2000 on internal battery power (4xD Cells). Apparently, the radio has quite a reputation for long battery life, so I'll keep it on DC until the cells expire, then try it on Mains via the supplied psu. It's worth pointing out that the centre-pin of the power supply is ground which is not typical, so don't be plugging in any old 6V supply you have hanging around.
Construction and overall quality of the Tecsun S2000 is good. It's tough, it's attractive and it seems to be well made. Sure, there's a little play to be felt in the large tuning dial, but I've witnessed similar levels of play in much more expensive radios!
Although this is really a desktop radio, I'm quite looking forward to slinging it in the car in Spring and having a play outdoors, higher up than my home QTH. I reckon it'll be a lot of fun. I also think I'll come to love this radio like I do my PL-680. In fact, I will try to do a side-by-side comparison of the two over the weekend and report back. I'll try my ELECRAFT AX-1 on it too!
Found this lovely pic on Facebook
ABOVE : Here’s a small sample of the Tecsun S2000 on SSB using an outdoor resonant antenna. This signal could hardly be copied with the internal antenna.
Thanks for visiting the blog.
Leave any comments below.
73, Tom, M7MCQ.
UPDATE :
I managed to get hold of a Tecsun AN200 Loop antenna and tried it on both the S2000 and the PL-680. I have to tell you that it was DEFINITELY inferior to the radios internal ferrite bar! No doubt about it whatsoever! Don't waste your money if buying it to use with either of those two great radios.
I'll try the loop with some other (cheaper) transistor radios and see if it makes an improvement there, but it certainly doesn't improve reception on the S2000 or PL-680.
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BUT IS IT THE GREATEST?Well it's a far cry from the very first offering from Microsoft way back in 1982! Looking back at an early screenshot, it seems incredible that we even bothered to load it, let alone pay for it! But back then, it was every bit as "cutting edge" as the 2020 version is.
1982 FlightSim
When it comes to sims, I've always preferred to play with CombatSims like Falcon, LockOn and more recently DCS WORLD. I do own a copy of X-PLANE and have bought a study-level GA, but never really got too far into it. I've also owned a few Microsoft Flight Simulator versions over the years, but in the main, I prefer military aircraft over civil.
When I first heard about MSFS2020, my ears pricked up a bit, not least of all because of the stunning graphics and live streaming of ground mapping data. This introduces realism at a whole new level. IN THEORY it meant that when you fly over one of your known local landmarks (such as Winter Hill in Bolton), you should see it on the ground. WOW!!
It hasn't quite worked out that way. But damn it's good!
The graphics are simply stunning!!! Not just the flyable aircraft, but the airports too. And the general scenery and the weather and the 'objects' scattered around, here, there and everywhere.
I opted for the Premium Deluxe version of Flight Simulator because when you buy the basic version, you only end up spending extra on more planes and airports anyway! I also opted for a physical DVD version instead of a mega digital download. And then I upgraded a couple of airports using ORBX.
10 x DVD's!!!
Anyway, the point of this postis to show some doubters that this massive simulation will run perfectly well and without any hitches or problems on a decent PC and I don't mean one with an i9-Extreme CPU and a GeForce 24Gb RTX3090 !
So let me tell you the spec of my PC so that you can make comparisons...
ASUS ROG STRIX Z390-F GAMING motherboard
INTEL i7 9700 CoffeeLake 3.6MHz OC to 5,000MHz
32Gb Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000MHz
2 x CORSAIR MP-510 SSD storage drives
MSI GAMING-X GEFORCE GTX 1080 Ti11Gb
Monitor Resolution : 2560 x 1440p
So yes, it's a nice computer, but it's not a beast or anything. Before I installed FS2020, I was honestly thinking I was going to be disappointed and after reading all the complaints about stuttering and FPS figures only just getting into double figures, I envisaged an evening of pushing sliders back and switching off a lot of eye-candy 😨 There's lots of videos online showing people doing their best to tweak the sim so that they can achieve a steady 30fps.
On with the installation - I should say that even though I had DVD's it still took an incredible 5 hours to complete the installation and even then I had to download a further 100Gb of up to date data before I could run the sim 😵. Oh by the way, I installed the sim on its own dedicated 500Gb SSD.
Once it was up and running, I went into the settings and saw that the software had estimated which settings I should use based on the hardware it had found. To my amazement, it had selected ULTRA for everything!
Despite what the software thought of my PC, I was still rather sceptical. As recommended, I chose to start my first flight from a very busy and visually complex airport in order to get a true picture of what my PC could handle. I also made a point of using an aircraft with a glass cockpit instead of steam gauges.
Innsbruck Airport
Once in the cockpit, I found that I was in the mid-30 fps and everything was supremely smooth. There were no hiccups, no delays and no stuttering, even when I spun my views around and around. Up in the air, it was the same - no issues whatsoever and never once did the fps drop below 30. I purposely flew through clouds, flew past magnificently complex scenery, taxied past some of the most realistic (and heavily populated) airports I've seen.
So based on this experience, I have to say that I don't understand why some people who claim to have very high-end PC's are struggling and criticising Microsoft. Sure, if your PC is getting a bit long in the tooth, then you're going to have a dreadful experience - this is, after all, an incredibly complex and demanding sim. Now it's a fact that Microsoft have not yet developed this sim sufficiently enough to take advantage of ultra-modern, high-end GPU's, but this will improve over the coming months hopefully.
Is FS2020 better than XPLANE?? I'm not even going there! I'm a flightsim hobbyist and not one of these techno-geeks who will tell you it's all about the flight model and not the graphics. My enjoyment is somewhere in-between the two. For me, FS2020 is a whole lot of enjoyable fun!!
I even got my Amateur Radio callsign on the aircraft 😂....
UPDATE : 24 Nov 2020
I have decided to change my monitor to give me 4K Ultra High Def. This will make FS2020 look absolutely awesome but it will mean that the GPU will need an upgrade if I want to have everything maxed out at that resolution (3840 x 2160).
So the only real card to buy is the Nvidia RTX 3080 but availability is simply shocking!!! Anyway, I eventually managed to get my hands on a new ASUS RTX 3080 TUF OC 10GB but it cost me £100 over RRP (robbing b'stards)!! This is the OverClocked version and is about as good as it gets for the money.
ASUS RTX 3080 TUF OC 10GB
'TUF GAMING'
It's a monster of a card and is all-metal construction. It weighs a ton and one does worry about the weight of such a beast - I feel like it could do with a vertical support at the end of it.
Performance is a given at this spec - it just screams along at a blistering pace no matter what you throw at it. You can get as much as 150fps in some games at ULTRA settings, but FS2020 is still really in development and has yet to be optimised to take advantage of these new video cards. It will no doubt get better as time moves on and updates improve efficiency. Still, it looks like liquid silk with absolutely everything maxed to the hilt.
Click to see league tables
The temperature control of this particular card is pretty spectacular! It runs cooler than my 1080Ti - no matter what you throw at it. The only down side (apart from the eye-watering price) is the power consumption. There's no such thing as a 'green' game PC anymore 😂
My only concern is that the Intel i7 9700k CPU will be the next bottleneck. And the fact that my Z390 ROG STRIX MotherBoard only has PCIE-3 slot for the GPU when it should really be a PCIE-4. It is, of course, backward compatible, but it means that I'm not squeezing every ounce out of that card.
FULL REVIEWS HERE
Review-1
Review-2
Review-3
UPDATE TWO YEARS LATER!!
WOW!!!! Just look at this madness from Amazon...........
Icom have had incredible success with their IC-7300, followed by the superb IC-9700. It's a great combo and I'm sure that all the other big manufacturers have been green with envy, these last few years.
And now, in 2020, Yaesu launch the FT-DX10 which is a compact 100W SDR transceiver like the 7300. It looks to be a great bit of kit and I love the look of it (apart from that chavvy 3D waterfall). The spec looks fabulous and I don't doubt that it's going to receive great performance reviews, despite its £1550 price tag 😮
I reckon that they'll follow it up with a challenge to the IC-705 (their FT-818 is ooooh so very long in the tooth (but still a great radio)), and maybe they'll design a high-spec 2M/70cm/23cm radio with C4FM to compete with the IC-9700.
And maybe they'll sort out all the limitations that the 991A has when it comes to Fusion and dual-band operation. Hopefully it would be able to offer VHF/VHF, UHF/UHF, VHF/UHF, VHF/C4FM, UHF/C4FM and C4FM/C4FM just like the little FT300 does.
Whatever they do, I hope they don't make the same mistakes that they made with the 101D. They need to match Icom's feature set and ergonomics or better still, bring something new to the table.
We'll see 😊
PLEASE NOTE : this FT-DX90 is not a real radio - it's a guess at what Yaesu might do!
