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write your own review of the Radio Shack DSP 40.
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AE5RC
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 7, 2011 19:38
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Good, not great,,,
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have had the DSP 40 since it came out. My intention was to use it with mobile radios. That was not a great experiment so the unit sat on my work desk. Recently I put it in line on an Icom 735. It is better to me inside the shack as opposed to in the car. It is decent on both noise reduction and ssb filtering mode to my ears and that would yield a 3 of 5 rating if that is all it did. On cw it makes the most impact for me. Being a casual operator and not having a whiz bang new radio, the unit is a good addition to my station. Not great (5) but better than simply ok so a 4 of 5 it is. Don't know the going rate for one of these is but if you have an older rig, what can it hurt to try it?
73
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N0TTW
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Rating: 3/5
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Jul 23, 2011 09:44
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Gives life to older radios.
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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My review is based more on using this device on older radios (Yaesu FT-736R, FT-757, etc) that have no DSP or audio filtering. Currently the device is on my 736.
The Noise Reduction (NR) setting is probably the poorest of the 3 settings. I find weak signals in CW disappear in this mode (I mean weak). Noise reduction is limited as well. Not my choice to use.
The SSB setting does a good job of clearing out the noise, even for a weak signal without losing the intelligence of the signal. I'm mostly in the Medium to Narrow mode at this setting most of the time. Makes weak signal monitoring bearable to the ears. The only draw back to this setting is the loss of CW signals because of the notching it provides for hetrodyne sigs.
The CW setting is my favorite on the 736. I can scan the band and hear the fainest beep. On 222 Mhz, I was able to complete a QSO with a station in EM35 from my location in EN32 on an average day. If I didn't have this, I wouldn't have heard the signal.
Overall, if you have an older radio... this filter would be a nice addition. At hamfest and some online sales, I see these go for $10-$15 on average. If you see one at that price, grab it.
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KC8LTL
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Rating: 3/5
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Jan 31, 2011 10:47
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It is what it is
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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As has been stated by many others, this little unit does not offer state of the art Digital Signal Processing. Even when it was new, it was't fancy at all, and it is about 15 years old now.
What it does is Bandpass filtering in multiple widths for phone and cw. In addition, in phone modes it offers an automatic notch filter. In addition it is an amplified speaker. Other than this it has no noise reduction features.
The cw pitch is fixed and higher than I like, but this unit does have a purpose. I'm glad I picked one up for cheap at a hamfest.
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K9FE
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Rating: 2/5
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Mar 25, 2010 18:04
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Better than nothing
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Picked up 4 of these from a Radio Shack that was liquidating them at $9.99 each. The on-board speaker is really fair and the internal amp tends to be ok for use in the shack but not really adequate mobile or at a field day site. However if you use cans the volume is ok.
The operation on CW is ok but on phone the DSP is rather poor. The ringing from the DSP is pronounced.
Best thing is that they fetched $20 EACH at a hamfest, almost doubled my money!
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W6EOD
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 4, 2009 11:55
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For the price...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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For the price you pay it is great. For CW work it is great and better than no filter or 100+ dollars toward a IF filter.
The fact that is has a built in speaker is an added bonus which eliminates buying a speaker to complete the package.
I have no idea how it works on SSB as I don't operate that mode very often.
If you find one at a hamfest and have a need, buy it. Its worth it.
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RN3AKK
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 14, 2009 00:39
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good
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I have similar Realistic 21-543
Very good job for low price. Highly reccomended
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K8JHR
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Rating: 5/5
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Jan 2, 2009 09:38
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Worth the Price for Sure
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have two of these RS DSP-40 audio filters and I love them. Definitely worth what I paid for them on eBay. The RadioShack DSP-40 works as advertised - it reduces (cannot eliminate) QRM, hiss and static noise. I use it primarily on SSB, bust I think may be more effective, overall, on CW. It can really help a SW receiver or transceiver that does not have built-in DSP - not better than my TenTec Omni VII DSP... but better than nothing and worth the cost.
I also have a Timewave DSP 599zx and a Timewave DSP 9+ - which are better, but which cost five times more money. Nothing kills all the noise, but this helps and is a good tool and I like using it.
That's MY take...
======== James - K8JHR ========
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WD9FRF
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Rating: 3/5
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Oct 26, 2008 14:34
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Works for me!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Is it a match for the DSP in my IC-746PRO transceiver? Of course not. But then again did you really expect it to be.
Is it a match for the MFJ-784B Tunable DSP Filter attached to my TenTec Argosy? Nope, sure isn't! But I never expected it to be.
Does it make a difficult QSO on my faithful old HW-8 a bit better? Darned right it does!
That made it worth the 35 bucks I paid for, and then some.
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N8EB
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Rating: 5/5
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May 15, 2008 04:33
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For what it is...
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Someone else already said it - For the price...
Is it as good as the modern DSP installed inside your rig? No, but for the price...
If you have an older rig with no DSP option, you just can't beat it - for the price...
A bunch of us take mobile HF rigs, mount them in a picnic cooler, throw a wire in a tree at the local Metro Park, and power everything off a deep cyle battery for an afternoon of playing radio.
In a cooler it is hard to hear most internal rig speakers, so we use an external speaker, and when you use the R/S DSP for both noise reduction and volume control (do the mod), you just can't beat this combo! Especially for the price...
Most people say that this DSP is better at CW than SSB, but I use it for phone and works out OK, especially for the price!
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NU0C
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 29, 2008 16:54
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You get what you pay for
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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If anyone else wants to throw theirs in the trash, send it to me instead! I'll pay shipping. The DSP-40 perfroms as advertised, it is a basic noise reduction system. If you want Timewave performance, you need to buy a Timewave. If you are happy with a low cost, low end system, the DSP-40 fits the bill. I think this is where a lot of hams were disappointed, they expected this box to be more than it was.
I own three of these, and plan to acquire more as they present themselves. I used one extensively for Mode A satellite on the RS birds back in the day, on my TR-7. It did exactly what I needed it to, remove high frequency hiss from the headphone audio and make weak satellite signals more readable. Testing with the first unit on my Radio Shack DX-400 shortwave receiver made SSB signals on the low bands copyable that were not copyable without the unit. Not that I use the DX-400 regularly for SSB work, it really doesn't have the selectivity to be effective - but it was a good test.
In summary, I'm completely satisfied with the performance of the DSP-40 as a low-end DSP unit. There's also a published mod on the internet to increase the audio output level. I haven't tried it out yet, but I plan to when I get things organized again.
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