To
all,
I like to get a better receiver and have interest to buy a WINRADIO
(SDR) receiver. Has anyone experience about the RX Sensitivity of this
receiver on 500 and 137KHz?
--------------------
Hi Marco
I've used the Winradio 313i as far down as 17 KHz, using a miniwhip to
listen to SAQ, as well as for MSF on 60 KHz and it works well.
General LF performance with a Wellbrook loop is also excellent.
Claimed range for the 313 is down to 9 KHz, and CW sensitivity
is specified as -122dBm (0.18uV) between 150 and 500 KHz with a comment
that the sensitivity gradually drops below 150KHz, figure quoted at 100 KHz is
-113dBm.
Although sensitivity is falling off there's no deliberate attenuation
across Medium Wave that you often find with HF receivers.
If you're looking for serious LF you will not want to consider any of the
earlier Winradio wideband products, only the later G3xx series, and I would
personally recommend the 313 only.
The 303 with professional demodulator is the next best option but still not
as good and the software feels clunky in comparison.
The 3xx series wideband products, 305 and 315, whilst much better at HF and
below, on paper at least, than earlier wideband offerings, still don't quite
match the 303 and 313 respectively so would avoid those too unless wideband
is a must.
Unlike some fully SDR receivers, using open source software, with
Winradio you're really going to be stuck with just the Winradio control
software but should be able to feed Spectran etc, although I haven't tried
that.
Bob mentioned earlier being able to record up to 192 KHz bandwidth with his
SDR and that's something else the Winradio can't do.
It can record but has a conventional hardware front end with a 20KHz
roofing filter at the first IF so recordings are limited to 20 KHz.
Personally, I see this as an advantage rather than disadvantage.
Much as I'm a great fan of SDR and the softrock kits in particular, I don't
think any of the more "purist" reasonable cost SDRs are capable of matching the
313 on overall LF/HF performance. I'm sure the day will come, but not yet.
For relatively narrow coverage though the softrocks do take some
beating.
Depending upon your needs, sensitivity may not be your only limiting
factor.
The WR313, coupled with its spectrum display, is great for spotting weak
signals just above the noise floor, the DSP filtering is very good, and
there's a range of further software options available.
Some online reviews complaining about minimum filter
bandwidths are out of date, in that later software revisions improved
things considerably, but I have found, on MSF signals for example, that I
could pull information out of the sidebands with a Cushman SLM fitted
with a 75 Hz crystal filter that the WR couldn't find.
Not that anything else I had could find it either:-)
You might want to join the Winradio 3 series group on Yahoo,
WiNRADiO_G3_Series, and also ask your question there.
You'll find a copy of the WR313 user manual in their archives
with the full spec in it, or I could email you copy, it's around
1.2Mb.
I'm a great enthusiast of the WR313, it performs well at HF and LF and
I consider the live spectrum display and filtering etc to be excellent, but
I'm always wary about recommending any radio for a particular purpose without
suggesting too that, if at all possible, you try it before you buy
it!!
I think this applies even more to PC controlled radios, which some of
us love....and others hate:-)
regards
Nigel
GM8PZR
