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Reviews For: Winradio G303e/PD

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Winradio G303e/PD
Reviews: 3MSRP: 699
Description:
software defined general coverage shortwave receiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.7
MUNGOSOOTY Rating: 2010-09-19
Grerat Receiver Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Winradio G303e with professional decoder, USB connection version. Great sensitivity, selectivity, good strong signal handling. The professional decoder provides infintiely variable bandwidth from 1 to 15 khz and is amazing. Seeing 20 khz of the band as you tune is very useful. Many different ways to tune - the easy "EASY TUNER" plug-in is free from the winradio website and enables slider tuning with the mouse. You can download the latest 2009 version of the software free from the winradio website this can be run in "demo" mode without the a receiver to get a feel of it. The Mouse wheel and mouse button can also control the tuning. Tuning steps are user definable ( tune using "page up" & "page down" on the keyboard) so it can be set to 5 Khz, perfect for steppping through the AM broadcast bands. User defined scans giving a graph display of the band can be set up but no signals heard during scan. If necessary the receiver can be very accurately calibrated by altering values in an init file (the major international broadcasters transmit exactly on frequency so zero beat on an AM signal in usb or lsb to check calibration) The only receiver I have to compare it with is my JRC NRD 525- the Winradio is noticably quiter and cleaner on weak SSB, AM is about the same, audio is a little warmer on the JRC (sound card quality can effect the G303e performance, some laptops can have inferior sound quality). Frequency memories are 1000 per file otherwise your computer memory is the only limit. As with all receivers, a good aerial is important, with the G303e it is a necessity, the active part needs to be outside and 10 meters or more away from the receiver and computer to eliminate noise. I have been using an old Datong AD370 active dipole which works well. I also want to try an active loop aerial, these are becoming more popular as they are good at reducing man made noise(sometimes a problem in my location). I have a middle of the road laptop with reasonable sound quality, the G303e audio is good, very low distortion and SSB is very clean. The software/audio Automatic Gain Control (AGC) is sometimes needed on SSB to level out strong and weak stations but not required on AM. The only slight problem is that as others have pointed out - the AGC pumping sometimes caused by other stronger staions in the 20 khz window, but remember that the G303e has two AGC systems, one is in the receiver hardware, the other is in the software section. It is the receiver AGC that sees all signals in the 20 khz bandwidth, if you turn of the receiver AGC and set the RF gain manually and use the audio / software AGC then you can work around this (just switching on both AGC's will help). The receiver is top class Longwave Mediumwave and shortwave all perform wondefully if you have the right aerial. The included "get you started aerial" will not show the receiver at its best. A great receiver with more to play with than many conventional receivers.
N0PQK Rating: 2007-12-22
Nice Reciever Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased my Winradio G303E in September of 2007, and I am writing this review in December of 2007. I really enjoy this radio, it has a great receiver as far as sensitivity is concerned and with the professional demodulator I am able to control the selectivity to what I feel is necessary. I like the built in memory management system and the DRM decoder. I listen to Radio New Zealand, Vatican Radio, Radio Netherlands and Radio Canada most every day or night in DRM and very rarely do I have dropouts. Another positive aspect of this radio is that it has two clocks on the computer display. One shows local time and the other shows UTC, I consider this a must for any one who enjoys shortwave DX'ing as much as I do. The radio lacks one essential function that I have really come to love on my Icom 756 Pro 2 and that function is an automatic notch filter, in fact this version of the Winradio does not have any type of notch filter. (If there are any programmers out there that know RBASIC this would be a great after market product to add.) The only negative thing that I can find with this Winradio is the lack of heat dissipation. I think the engineering department needs to think about adding some internal venting, and or a fan.

Over all I would recommend purchasing Winradio G303e.
KC9ERB Rating: 2006-12-15
lots of fun Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
High marks for performance and ease of use. Software loads with no difficulty, and the receiver is very sensitive has great selectivity and with the professional demodulator option, filtering out unwanted noise is a snap. The DRM demodulator is really nice too even though reception of DRM programming is somewhat limited. There is a signal from Canada daily at 9800 khz. The Advanced Digital Suite is also worth considering, and allows demodulation of some digital modes.
Low marks for the "User's Guides," as they are euphemistically labeled. If you don't already know how to use the software upgrades (professional demodulator, digital suite), you'll be doing some research because the guides provide nothing in the way of guidance regarding the operation of these programs. Also, email support from Winradio can be frustrating. I have been waiting just over two weeks for a reply. It seems to me that at least some kind of acknowledgement could have been sent by now. When they are moved to reply though, support can be excellent. In sum: easy to set up and fun to operate; poor documentation and iffy support.