I've had my 313i for approx 3 weeks now & I thought I'd post some thought's
about this hf radio.

Do to the very poor wx conditions here in the Wash DC area USA,alot of
electrical storms,I have not been able to run the 313i,or any radio for
that matter,enough to give a better review of its workings.

First of all WinRadio has done a decent job re shielding.I'm getting no
more/less *noise* from the p/c than I get from my stand-alone hf radios,a
JRC 535d & a AOR 3030.I have a CRT monitor & I get the usual noise
depending on the tuned freq.Probably time to get a LCD type monitor.
This hf radio is by far the most sensitive radio I have ever
owned.However,for some odd reason,WinRadio has chosen to give the operator
only one attenuation setting.A on/off setting of 18dB.The 313i also has
what's described as "true IF" as opposed to a RF control.This is taking
some getting used to as the 313i does not allow the IF control to be on
when the AGC is on.I like having both available for use as there are
time's,ie fast fades, when having both AGC AND IF control come's in
handy.Also having both would help when the 313i's strong sensitivity is too
much.
Another option that I hope is added in future software upgrades is
allowing the operator to point & click to a frequency while viewing the
spectrum analyzer.This is standard in just about any software type radio
I've ever used & is sorely missed.

However,over-all,this radio is a definate keeper.Their are alot of
excellent *pros* to this radio.The variable b/w control is GREAT &,when
viewed with the excellent spectrum analyzer,one has minute control.There
are also several fine-tuning controls which is invaluable re utility
trans.The 313i has 1hz tuning,a RIT & a RF-Shift control.The NOTCH filter
works to perfection &,as with most controls,has many different setups.

The 313i is not an easy radio to operate.Sure you can turn it on & begin
to receive lf,mw & hf trans immediately.But for dx'ing the weak
signals,dealing with QRM,ect the owner will need time to bring out all the
radio's tools & to learn how to best operate the radio in general.I would
not reccommend the 313i as a "first" radio

Eventually the wx here just HAS to get better.
Once I get more op-time I'll post more of my pro's & con's re the 313i.

Al
--
ald
at
nexet
net

Here's the WinRadio link re the 313i.You can check out what the radio has
& get general info about it.

http://www.winradio.com/home/g313i.htm

Hi,

I enjoyed your comments on the g313i. I've experienced it's predecessor, the
g303i, at DXpeditions on the WA State coast. The g303i's real-time spectrum
display was extremely adept at revealing weak AM carriers on the mediumwave
band, that invariably turned out to be audio from trans-Pacific mediumwave
stations. It was a lot of fun to spot the "blips" between the domestic
10-kHz channels and tune into them, resulting in audio almost every time. It
became easier to spot the "hets" of TP MW DX on the g303i than to tune
across the band on our other receivers (listening to the changing pitch of
the carriers).

The Winradio compared extremely favorably against the Collins, WJ's, Racals,
RX340s, and modded consumer-grade radios in use at our DXpeditions. The
recovered audio of the g303i was just as good as with the other DSP-based
rigs (Collins HF-2050, RX340, etc.) The low noise floor of the g303i was
appreciated at our quiet location with Beverage antennas in use.

I'm sure your g313i exceeds the g303i in a number of performance areas, as I
see that some of its specs are better. If you can get away to a quiet
location with your Winradio, you'll really be able to "stomp the
accelerator" and see what it'll do.

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA USA



"me" wrote in message
36...
I've had my 313i for approx 3 weeks now & I thought I'd post some
thought's
about this hf radio.

Do to the very poor wx conditions here in the Wash DC area USA,alot of
electrical storms,I have not been able to run the 313i,or any radio for
that matter,enough to give a better review of its workings.

First of all WinRadio has done a decent job re shielding.I'm getting no
more/less *noise* from the p/c than I get from my stand-alone hf radios,a
JRC 535d & a AOR 3030.I have a CRT monitor & I get the usual noise
depending on the tuned freq.Probably time to get a LCD type monitor.
This hf radio is by far the most sensitive radio I have ever
owned.However,for some odd reason,WinRadio has chosen to give the operator
only one attenuation setting.A on/off setting of 18dB.The 313i also has
what's described as "true IF" as opposed to a RF control.This is taking
some getting used to as the 313i does not allow the IF control to be on
when the AGC is on.I like having both available for use as there are
time's,ie fast fades, when having both AGC AND IF control come's in
handy.Also having both would help when the 313i's strong sensitivity is
too
much.
Another option that I hope is added in future software upgrades is
allowing the operator to point & click to a frequency while viewing the
spectrum analyzer.This is standard in just about any software type radio
I've ever used & is sorely missed.

However,over-all,this radio is a definate keeper.Their are alot of
excellent *pros* to this radio.The variable b/w control is GREAT &,when
viewed with the excellent spectrum analyzer,one has minute control.There
are also several fine-tuning controls which is invaluable re utility
trans.The 313i has 1hz tuning,a RIT & a RF-Shift control.The NOTCH filter
works to perfection &,as with most controls,has many different setups.

The 313i is not an easy radio to operate.Sure you can turn it on & begin
to receive lf,mw & hf trans immediately.But for dx'ing the weak
signals,dealing with QRM,ect the owner will need time to bring out all the
radio's tools & to learn how to best operate the radio in general.I would
not reccommend the 313i as a "first" radio

Eventually the wx here just HAS to get better.
Once I get more op-time I'll post more of my pro's & con's re the 313i.

Al
--
ald
at
nexet
net

Here's the WinRadio link re the 313i.You can check out what the radio has
& get general info about it.

http://www.winradio.com/home/g313i.htm

"me" wrote in message
36...
I've had my 313i for approx 3 weeks now & I thought I'd post some
thought's
about this hf radio.
Al

Nice post Al, thanks for the information. Is it possible to use other
software on the pc while using WinRadio? Specifically, can you use programs
like Spectran for signal analysis and still expect a reasonable time slot
for Spectran or does WinRadio pretty much take up all cpu time? Thanks for
any info.

Al KA5JGV
San Antonio, Tx.

"Al - KA5JGV" wrote in
:


"me" wrote in message
36...
I've had my 313i for approx 3 weeks now & I thought I'd post some
thought's
about this hf radio.
Al

Nice post Al, thanks for the information. Is it possible to use other
software on the pc while using WinRadio? Specifically, can you use
programs like Spectran for signal analysis and still expect a
reasonable time slot for Spectran or does WinRadio pretty much take up
all cpu time? Thanks for any info.

Al KA5JGV
San Antonio, Tx.


I have not run into any situation where a pgm. cannot be run if the 313i
is active.Once I tried loading Analyzer2000 while the 313i was running &
got a "sound card not available" error msg.However I have not been able to
duplicate this so I can't say it's a problem.Looking at a utility I
have,AnalogX's NetStat Live,the 313i does not appear to hog alot of CPU
cycles but I'm far from an expert re these type questions.When the 313i's
software is highlighted the CPU numbers seem to be right around 25%.But I
also have other pgm's running in the background,ie Eudora & this
pgm,Xnews.I've not noticed anything being sluggish with the radio on but if
this CPU question is an important question I can do further testing.

Talking about that *sound* subject just reminded me that I forgot to
include an important fact re the 313i.
The 313i,unlike most (all?) DSP/computer radio combo's,does not require
you to route the sound into one's p/c sound-card.It does its own sound via
its onboard DSP so one can plug a amplified speaker(s) directly to the
313i's audio-out jack.I say "important" not because this sound option
exists but because the sound quality is better via a direct feed.
Not having to go through the p/c's sound-card,at least in my case,has a
definate improvment in cutting down on whatever noise is added using the
sound-card for amplification.This is a fact even if the sound-card's
properties are manipulated via its controls.The computer that I have
installed the 313i in has on-board sound.Fwiw,a check of my system's info
say's the sound is a "Creative SoundBlaster PCI128".

It really does make a difference,especially on weak signals.The spectrum
analyzer on the 313i really does a good job in letting the user see trans
he or she might normally miss. As Mr.Atkins noted,re the 303 model,in his
post,the spectrum analyzer allows the user to tune in a signal & get audio
where other-wise this might not be the case.Of course the 313i *see's*
everything via the spectrum analyzer including noise.interference,ect.But
once the user become's familiar with the spectrum analyzer's looks they can
recognize what they are looking for.

One other thing come's to mind & it has to do with recording.The 313i
software has a built in real-time recorder where any trans can be saved to
a wav file.However,& this is really neat,instead of recording to a wav
format the trans can be recorded at the IF.This allows any play back to be
treated as a "live" trans & subject to any manipulation via the 313i's
tools.This option can be vital re digital ute trans.

As I said,this radio has alot of different uses,setups & formats that need
to be gone over in detail to realize its full potential.

Al
--
ald

at

nexet

net

On Mon, 19 Jul 2004 10:04:54 -0500, me wrote:


As I said,this radio has alot of different uses,setups & formats that need
to be gone over in detail to realize its full potential.

Al
--

I concur with all you said. I am also new to this radio, and some of
the concepts were a bit alien to me when I first turned it on.
But now I can't understand how I ever managed without a real-time
spectrum display on my previous radios.

And I still can't get over the fact that I can clearly see a signal
peak at just over -140dBm level. (Yes I can, I verified the level with
a signal generator at work. Thats 0.02 microvolt!) This is superb for
CW because you can see the signal peaks popping up on a band even if
you are not tuned to the signal yet.

And did you see all the beacons on LF?

I can't remember the last time I had such fun with a new radio.
I will continue exploring.

George