Gavin Jacobs wrote:

In article ,
says...
Hi all,

Having done some DX'ing with a small Sony SW radio for ten years, I
would like to buy a better one, connected to the pc. I was thinking of
the Ten-Tech RX320D. Does anyone have any experience with this radio?
Is it better than, say, Icom or Winradio? And what about computer
noise? Also, I'm in an apartment and would like some kind of antenna
(active?). Which one would you recommend, and where to get it. I am
not really a DIY person

Thanks!


[...]

I agree with comment about not getting an internal card radio. Too much
noise inside the best of the computer boxes. Also, they are much more
expensive. At some point your new computer will come without a serial
port; then you will need to buy either a USB to serial converter, or a
serial card. Both these will be low risk and low cost compared to trying
to make a card-radio work.


While I agree with the caveats above, it depends on your goals. The
WinRadio G303i is an SDR, which allows you to do a lot of interesting
hacks, should you want to. The API is published. Eventually I hope
the register set for the card is published, so an open-source Linux
driver for it can be developed.

As for its performance as an HF receiver...

It's astounding. NO noise leakage from the PC at all, and it has
features many other receivers don't. I've thoroughly enjoyed mine.

If you get one, be sure to get the "Professional Demodulator" version
-- the extra $100 for that software is worth it, just for the
continuous bandwidth adjustments.

Now, if you aren't interested in a PCI-based receiver, which, granted
*will* have a limited lifetime, the RX-320 is well regarded. I don't
have that one so I can't speak for it, pro or con.

You might want to pick up a copy of "Passport to World Band Radio" to
see the reviews of the two receivers.

Regards,

Eric

--
Eric F. Richards,
"Making me root for a sanctimonious statist blowhard like Kerry isn't
the worst thing Bush has done to the country. But it's the offense
that I take most personally."
-- http://www.reason.com/links/links071304.shtml

"Panzer240" wrote:

"Dwight Stewart" wrote:
I considered buying one of those types
of shortwave receivers before. However,
I changed my mind after weighing all the
possible long term implications. (snip)


I have a PCR-1000 here that will work on
everything from Win95 to WinXp + Linux/
Unix. At the very worst you can dedicate
on "older" computer to the setup and keep
it going indefinitely. There may be many
reasons to choose a different type of receiver,
but the chaning OS scene is certainly not one
of them. (snip)


Perhaps I'm just a little oversensitive to the idea because of all the
computer hardware and software that has become obsolete over the years -
millions and millions of tons of still working but obsolete computers,
printers, and peripherals, dumped into landfills throughout the country.

Stewart

"Dwight Stewart" wrote in news:8kHLc.8943
:



Perhaps I'm just a little oversensitive to the idea because of all the
computer hardware and software that has become obsolete over the years -
millions and millions of tons of still working but obsolete computers,
printers, and peripherals, dumped into landfills throughout the country.

Stewart



Heheheh I'm still using 486DX-66 's here to build cheap and dirty routers
using KA9Q's old gateway (dos based) software They are cheap and easy to
build and require no HD, just two NIC's and a floppy disk drive. Lots go to
the dump, very true, but there are enough of them around and at fire sale
prices that you could keep the current PC controlled radios running almost
indefinitely.



--
Panzer

Dwight Stewart wrote:

Perhaps I'm just a little oversensitive to the idea because of all the
computer hardware and software that has become obsolete over the years -
millions and millions of tons of still working but obsolete computers,
printers, and peripherals, dumped into landfills throughout the country.

Stewart

Computer hardware recycling is becoming a lucrative business. You'd be
surprised at how much gold they can get out of one.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb142436.htm


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On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:59:26 +0200, Bill
wrote:
Having done some DX'ing with a small Sony SW radio for ten years, I
would like to buy a better one, connected to the pc. I was thinking of
the Ten-Tech RX320D. Does anyone have any experience with this radio?
Is it better than, say, Icom or Winradio? And what about computer
noise? Also, I'm in an apartment and would like some kind of antenna
(active?). Which one would you recommend, and where to get it. I am
not really a DIY person

Thanks for the replies, all! Anyone have anything to say about the
Winradio G303? It seems even better than the RX320D and the Icom.
Though more expensive and internal (but well-shielded, I heard).

Bill wrote:

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 09:59:26 +0200, Bill
wrote:
Having done some DX'ing with a small Sony SW radio for ten years, I
would like to buy a better one, connected to the pc. I was thinking of
the Ten-Tech RX320D. Does anyone have any experience with this radio?
Is it better than, say, Icom or Winradio? And what about computer
noise? Also, I'm in an apartment and would like some kind of antenna
(active?). Which one would you recommend, and where to get it. I am
not really a DIY person

Thanks for the replies, all! Anyone have anything to say about the
Winradio G303? It seems even better than the RX320D and the Icom.
Though more expensive and internal (but well-shielded, I heard).

Yeah, up there earlier. :-)

It's a terrific radio for the money. Actually, it's a terrific radio,
period.

It is extremely well shielded -- I get NO noise at all.

If you get one, get the Professional demodulator -- it's worth the
extra $100 just to get continuous variable bandwidth.

The spectrum scope is actually useful, unlike most built-in spectrum
scopes.

The filtering, since it is implemented in software and therefore
doesn't have all the inevitable interactions that actual hardware has,
is great. (Yes, sloppy filtering can be done in software, but that's
not the case here.)

There are, of course, disadvantages to using a radio that used both
your sound card input and a free PCI slot, plus is unable to be moved
around freely like a standalone radio, but if those issues aren't a
big deal for you, go for it.

Eric

--
Eric F. Richards,
"Making me root for a sanctimonious statist blowhard like Kerry isn't
the worst thing Bush has done to the country. But it's the offense
that I take most personally."
-- http://www.reason.com/links/links071304.shtml