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Re: [IRCA] Winradio G313-E
Yes,
Like Brandon, I've been using the WiNRADiO 313E exclusively for DXing
for the past year, plus. I love the radio and cannot imagine ever
returning to a non-SDR receiver. Some of the main advantages of the
WiNRADiO and its Flex Radio SDR-1000 competitor are probably only
applicable to people DXing International MW and SW.... The Spectrum
Scope, for instance, allows you to focus in from 20 kHz. wide (max)
to 2 kHz. wide at total zoom-in. When you are working with
close-together signals (say two or three kHz. apart, there is nothing
like seeing the signals and then graphically dragging the filter
envelope and center-of-tuning to fit them precisely between the QRM
to achieve the maximum recoverable audio.
The other thing that the Scope does is afford the user "situational
awareness" to a degree that is just unreachable without a scope.....
Since you can see what you are trying to hear, in great detail, and
you can see the immediate surrounding signals, too, you immediately
know what adjustments need to be made to the receiver... Its not that
you can't figure out what needs to be done... bandwidth, mode, slot
filter, etc.... in the traditional fashion.... its just so much
easier and faster to do it when you have graphical as well as the
traditional auditory input. This latter "situational awareness"
aspect is something that would benefit Domestic DXers, as well.
Another situational awareness attribute of the 313E that I really
love is the specific way that alpha-numeric notes can be displayed,
after they are associated with a particular memory and
frequency.... For some years, there have been a few receivers on the
market that allowed you to store a title or some form of notes with
each memory channel..... That way, WHEN YOU LOOKED AT THE MEMORY
CHANNELS, there would be a title like "Mem 1 BBC Evenings 5975
USB" or "Mem 2 R Australia 9580 AM." Well, the 313E does that,
too, but in addition, it allows you to associate a comment with each
memory.... further and very importantly, it displays that comment
just beneath the Frequency Display on the radio, WHENEVER the
receiver is tuned (by any means) to that frequency, whether you are
in memory mode or not. So, when I have my "Asian MW" memory file
loaded, every time I tune past 891, the comment appears just beneath
the Frequency numbers on the radio WATCH FOR THAILAND LATE. When I
go to Grayland this weekend, when I pass 738, the radio is going to
remind me: RECORD PROBABLE JILIN PBS, etc., etc. This ability should
be of assistance to domestic DXers, too.... having reminders come up
every time you pass certain frequencies is a boon to this 65 year-old
DXer, let me tell you!
Two other special favorites and then I'll quit:
The synchronous detector is the best that I've ever used..... in
fact, though I've owned most of the receivers with a sync detector,
this is the first that I've used as my primary DXing mode. Two
reasons.... first, by being synced on the carrier of choice, it
actually suppresses some sideband splatter and hash from adjacent
signals (wow!) further, even with signals out in the open, it seems
to improve signal-to-noise or intelligibility of weak signals.... in
my Okie terms "It hears better!"
Lastly, an attribute of most serious DSP receivers.... virtually
vertical sidewalls on the IF envelope. With any analog IF filters...
even the vaunted Collins mechanical filters, the acutal window that
you are receiving the signal through is shaped like a truncated
equilateral triangle. Where your main DXing filter may be 2.7 kHz
wide at 3 dB down, it may be 15 or more wide at 30 dB down. The
result of that is that you use narrower filters that you really want
to, to conquer adjacent channel QRM..... AND since you have touse a
wide enough filter to let intelligible audio in, you also allow Loud
adjacent splatter, etc. in "under the filter skirts." With a total
DSP package, from demodulation on down, the IF filtering, of course,
is done in the software.... hence, filter skirts that are pretty-much
VERTICAL. In my case, I can use say a 4 kHz wide virtual filter
rather than a 2.8 physical filter in the same conditions. Since my 4
kHz. filter lets in much more of the audio of my DX target (than does
a 2.8) I hear more intelligible audio. This would be true, all things
being equal, of any set that used virtual IF filters, not just the
Black Box receivers like the 313. Purists will argue that other
problems in the digital realm degrade this advantage, and to a
degree, they are likely correct.... However, I can stil;l keep my
filters open wider with this radio than with any of the excellent
analog sets that I've owned.
So, while the 313 black box won't be to everyone's taste, it lets me
hear more stations, better and easier than any set I've ever had
before. I may someday by another main DXing set, but I'll guarantee
you that it will be a software-defined receiver.
John B.
P.S. I started MW DXing in the winter of 1953-54 and I love to use
classic tube communications gear..... I especially love sitting and
staring at it while I listen and MOST OF ALL, I love tuning a really
well weighted, gear driven tuning knob. For years, I owned a mint
1942 SX-28A. Tuning that set was almost a sexual experience. I sold
the SX-28A to help me afford a totally rebuilt SP-600.... turning
that counter-weighted knob and those beautiful brass gears WAS
orgasmic. I love DXing with those sets... and I was so sure that I'd
miss a tuning knob on the 313E that I invested in an outboard
accessory tuning knob (USB connected) that I used for about three
evenings. I can just hear more stuff more easily with this cold
little box... and, in the final analysis, my hobby is hearing DX and
getting QSLs, not turning knobs, counter-weighted or otherwise.
JHB
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