Monitoring Mode

Based on the receiver’s agc the AR5000RA software allows to continuously monitor (1) up to five single radio frequencies or (2) a complete waveband. After conversion of the sampled agc data from 0 - 255 digits to dB they are stored to disk. Also the program allows (3) to count steep signal rises as produced by lightning strokes (sferics) and store it to disc.

The data are stored as comma separated plain textfile. Each row of data closes with a carriage return and linefeed. The file name is automatically created and contains the current date and hour: DDMMYYHH.csv. The data can be examined, processed and displayed later by using an office or statistical software.

A weak signal mode (4) implements the possibility to monitor up to five radio frequencies based on the audio output. The audio output can be recorded, edited and analyzed by a separate DSP-software. Duration of observation of a radio frequency and its periodicity can be chosen. Thereby, the single observations are divided by 500 ms silence at minimum.

The following mind map shows how to operate the monitoring modes:

Mindmap of how to operate the monitoring modes of the AR5000 control software

When monitoring a frequency band the selected resolution is combined with a specific if-bandwidth as shown here:

Resolution Filter position Actual IF-Bandwidth1
2 kHz 3 kHz 2.7 kHz / -6 dB2
10 kHz 6 kHz 5.5 kHz / -6 dB2
20 kHz 15 kHz 10.4 kHz / -6 dB2
50 kHz 30 kHz 30 kHz / -6 dB
100 kHz 110 kHz 140 kHz / -3 dB
200 kHz 220 kHz 260 kHz / -3 dB

1Build 1999 for the European market. 2These if-bandwidths have been measured, see bandwidth page. All other IF-bandwidths are taken from the AR5000 operating manual.