WiNRADiO ® by RADIXON ® WR-G39DDC EXCELSIOR TM Software-Defined Communications Receiver User’s Guide Ver. 1.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Published by WiNRADiO Communications PO Box 6118, St. Kilda Road Central, Melbourne 8008, Australia © 2011 WiNRADiO Communications, Melbourne All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Trademarks WiNRADiO, G3, G39DDC and Excelsior are trademarks of WiNRADiO Communications All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide FCC Notice The WiNRADiO WR-G39DDC receiver has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................. 6 The Hardware ................................................................................................ 7 WR-G39DDCe External (USB) Receiver Models ....................................... 7 WR-G39DDCi Internal (PCI Express) Receiver Models ............................. 8 Installation ...........................................................
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Noise Blanker ........................................................................................... 66 Pause........................................................................................................ 67 Spectrum Scopes ....................................................................................... 69 Zoom Spectrum ........................................................................................ 71 Save Spectrum .................................
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Introduction Welcome to the WiNRADiO G39DDC receiver, the Excelsior. This receiver is a rather unusual product. One might perhaps wonder, is this a receiver with a spectrum analyzer - or a spectrum analyzer with a receiver? This is the first time that a piece of equipment of such advanced specifications and uniquely and closely integrated combination of features has been offered to the general marketplace.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The Hardware The WiNRADiO G39DDC receiver is available in two versions: The external USB-interfaced WR-G39DDCe model and the internal WR-G39DDCi PCI Express card. There are no differences in RF performance between these models; however, with the external WR-G39DDCe model, the DDC bandwidth of the secondary receiver is limited to 2 MHz (rather than 4 MHz), due to the limitations of the USB interface.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The power input socket requires 12 V DC with a tolerance of ± 1 V. The power adapter must be rated for a minimum of 2 A. CAUTION: For best performance and safety, we recommend using only the power adapter supplied by WiNRADiO, which comes included with your receiver. The antenna input is an SMA-type connector with 50 ohm impedance. The USB interface is compatible with the USB 2.0 standard and serves to connect the receiver to a desktop or a laptop computer.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Installation The complete WiNRADiO G39DDC receiver package contains the following items: • • • • • • WiNRADiO G39DDCe or G39DDCi receiver Application software, User’s and Installation Guide on a CD ROM Installation Guide in printed form Warranty information AC/DC adapter with power cord (G39DDCe only) USB interface cable (G39DDCe only) In order for the WiNRADiO G39DDC receiver to function properly, your computer must meet the minimum system requirements specified below.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Software and Hardware Installation External (USB) Models 1. Leave the receiver disconnected from the PC and insert the installation CD ROM. The installer should start automatically. If the installation program does not start automatically, choose the Run command from the Windows Start menu and type D:\INSTALL (if the CD ROM is the D: drive on your PC). 2. Connect the receiver to the USB port. 3.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Select “Install the software automatically” and click on Next. Click on Finish to complete the installation.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide After all the files have been installed to your hard disk, run the WiNRADiO G39DDC application by clicking on the new icon that has been installed on your desktop. Note also a shortcut to the user’s manual file (G39DDC User’s Guide.pdf) that will also appear on your desktop. Finally, connect your antenna to the antenna connector (SMA-type) at the rear of the receiver. Having a good antenna is most important; see more details in the chapter Connecting the Antenna.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Setting up the Sound Card As the digitally down-converted signal from the receiver is transferred to the PC over either the USB or PCI Express interface, no external connection to the PC sound card input is necessary. The sound card is only used for the demodulated audio output. On Windows 7, the audio volume can be adjusted using the WR-G39DDC volume slider inside the Applications section and the master volume inside the Device section. Both controls need to be unmuted.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide On Windows XP simply adjust the Wave mixer: To get started, make sure the volume is set approximately as shown above. If you find that the maximum volume as set on the receiver application panel is not sufficient, you may then wish to increase the sound card volume later. Connecting the Antenna As the old saying goes, “a good antenna is the best amplifier”.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Grounding Grounding requirements and the following related comments do not typically apply to antennas which do not require ground as a counterpoise to the “live” terminal. For example, typical VHF/UHF antennas such as discones or HF magnetic field loop antennas do not require grounding of the receiver. In general, antennas with two output terminals do not usually require that the receiver be grounded.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide In an ideal situation, the length of coaxial cable to the receiver would be no more than a few meters in order to provide low RF ground impedance at the receiver. To make a connection to the coaxial cable, there are a number of options. These include using WiNRADiO antenna accessories such as the WR-CMC-30 Common Mode Choke (see www.winradio.com/cmc30) or the WR-LWA-0130 Long Wire Adapter (sometimes referred to as a “long wire balun”; see www.winradio.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Getting Started The following quick-start introduction is intended to make it possible for you to enjoy your new receiver as quickly as possible. Detailed operation is described in the subsequent chapters. We do hope you will return to these chapters as the WiNRADiO Excelsior receiver has many unique and innovative features the usage of which may not be immediately obvious and which would be a shame to miss.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Using the keyboard, type in the frequency of one your local AM stations: For example, for 774 kHz, type in 7 7 4, then k for kHz, then press Enter. The typed-in frequency will appear on the digital frequency display. When you start the receiver the first time, the AM mode is selected by default.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Manual tuning can be done in several ways. Let’s start with the tuning knob: Place the mouse cursor onto the upper half of the tuning knob, at which point you will see the cursor change to a curved double ended arrow. Hold down the right or left mouse buttons to increase or decrease the frequency, and the knob will rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise, respectively. If you place your cursor onto the bottom half of the tuning knob, the direction of the rotation will reverse.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Achieving Best Selectivity In any software-defined receiver, the maximum achievable selectivity is a function of the processing power of the host computer: The greater the CPU power, the “longer” (and therefore sharper) can the digital filters be made. The selectivity of your receiver can be adjusted using the function Filter length under the top bar menu Options.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Avoiding Front-End Overload If you are tuned to the HF bands and the S-meter shows the words ADC CLP, the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is overloaded (i.e. clipping the signal). In such case, use the Attenuator to reduce the level of the signal entering the ADC. You can use the Auto button which reduces the signal automatically to the optimum level. The attenuator is only applicable for frequencies up to 50 MHz.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide You will note that this is a “dual” receiver in more respects than just one: Immediately after the antenna and its associated protective and impedancematching circuitry, the RF path splits into separate VHF/UHF/SHF and HF sections, to achieve optimum performance over the entire received spectrum of 9 kHz to 3.5 GHz.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The Preselector of the VHF/UHF/SHF section contains a bank of fixed filters that improve the image response of the receiver and reduce the possibility of overloading and intermodulation distortion. The signal then passes through a low-noise and low-distortion two-stage amplifier whose first stage can be enabled or disabled by the user.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide In the particular class of software-defined receivers that the WiNRADiO Excelsior represents, much of the hardware processing is replaced by software. A large chunk of the received spectrum is digitized as a whole, and out of this digitized spectrum data, a smaller chunk is selected by a process called decimation and down-converted digitally, using a hardware component called a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide not be possible as the computer may then become sluggish and the application may “freeze”. The chunk of the IF spectrum as seen and processed by the primary downconverter (DDC1) is shown at top-left; this is called the DDC1 spectrum.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The dark blue rectangular area inside DDC1 spectrum corresponds to the DDC2 bandwidth, while the grey area inside both the DDC1 and DDC2 spectrum relates to the demodulator filter bandwidth. This bandwidth represents the selectivity bandwidth of the entire receiver and, for the best signal-to-noise ratio of the received signal, you might wish to adjust this bandwidth to very closely embrace the visible spectrum of the received signal.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Resizing the Application Window The WiNRADiO Excelsior application is fully resizable, which means you can drag its edges, corners and some internal boundaries to maximize the available screen space. The application panel also supports being resized over two or more monitors: You can literally surround yourself with a complete panorama of radio spectrum.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Drop-Down Menu Controls The WiNRADiO Excelsior receiver employs an innovative type of drop-down menu controls that work slightly differently from standard Windows controls. To illustrate this, let’s try, for example, the DEM BW (demodulator filter bandwidth) control located just above the DDC2 spectrum: Clicking on the arrow button opens a drop-down menu showing a list of values to select from, as you would expect.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Tuning the Excelsior Manual Frequency Entry To change frequency, simply type the new frequency into the keyboard. As soon as you press a number or decimal point, the frequency display will activate, waiting for a frequency to be typed. You can also click on the display to type in a new frequency in a highlighted field, or after clicking on the display, it is possible to use the mouse wheel to increment/decrement a particular digit, depending on the current cursor position.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Release the Shift key to exit this mode. Under the main frequency display there is a Band description window: This window shows the band allocation of the currently tuned frequency. While the displayed band descriptions are specific to the North American standard band allocation, they are based on international treaties and therefore are generally applicable worldwide with minor differences, and can be easily edited by the user.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Tuning Knob The Tuning knob makes it possible to adjust the frequency in fixed 1 kHz, 100 Hz, 10 Hz or 1 Hz steps. To use the tuning knob, position the mouse cursor over the knob (the cursor will turn into a curved double ended arrow) and click using either the left or right mouse button. If the cursor is on the top half of the knob, the left button will decrease the frequency, and the right button will increase the frequency.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Dual Receiver Operation With the WiNRADiO Excelsior you can tune to two stations at once, listening to one (or both of them mixed together) and recording the other (or both at the same time, into separate files). The only condition is that both of these frequencies must fit inside the 16 MHz IF bandwidth, as displayed in the wide-band spectrum at the bottom of the application window (while the Spectrum button is activated).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Any such attempt will be ignored and the recording button above the DDC spectrum will flash to indicate the reason why this operation failed. You would need to stop the recording first, or unlock the receiver in the recorder “toolbox” settings.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide differences in behavior depending on which particular spectrum window the highlighted passband is being dragged in. Dragging the grey area in the wideband spectrum will relocate the DDC1 passband to a new frequency. However, it is not possible to drag beyond the current spectrum boundaries; you will need to stay within the 16 MHz IF filter passband.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide For LSB mode, dragging the right-hand edge of the greyed-out filter passband results in tuning, dragging the left-hand edge results in adjusting the filter bandwidth. For USB mode, the opposite applies. The edge that is used for tuning is highlighted for operator convenience.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide exact carrier frequency will result in a whistle being heard, its pitch being directly proportional to the IF shift displacement. This is because while you have changed the tuned frequency, you have not changed the “BFO” (or rather the digital equivalent of it) simultaneously.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The Step control selects the stepping size. The following convenient step sizes are available: 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 100 Hz, 1 kHz, 3.125 kHz, 5 kHz, 6.25 kHz, 10 kHz, 12.5 kHz, 25 kHz, 50 kHz, 100 kHz. The left and right arrow buttons perform the actual stepping. Frequency Display Offset It is possible to connect the Excelsior to a down-converter to receive frequencies that are normally beyond the Excelsior’s frequency range.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Receiver Selection Clicking on one of the two Receiver tabs located above the main frequency display selects that particular virtual receiver. The other receiver continues operating provided its frequency fits within the current IF spectrum bandwidth. The tuned frequency of each receiver is displayed inside their associated tabs.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide AM Amplitude Modulation AMS Amplitude Modulation (Synchronous Demodulation) LSB Lower Side Band USB Upper Side Band ISB Independent Side Bands DSB Dual Side Bands CW Continuous Wave (Morse Code) FM Narrow-Band Frequency Modulation FMW Wide-Band Frequency Modulation DRM “Digital Radio Mondiale” (HF Digital Radio) FSK Frequency Shift Keying UDM User Definable Mode In addition to the standard AM, LSB, USB, CW and FM modes, the Excelsior receiver is equipped
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide In the AMS mode, there is a certain "capture range", a frequency range within which the receiver will "capture" the signal and achieve synchronization. If you are tuning to a new signal, this initial capture (“Tune capture range”) is initially quite wide, within plus or minus 1.5 kHz (default value) from the actual signal frequency, to enable easy tuning by pointing and clicking near the peak in the DDC spectrum, or dragging the filter passband area in the demodulator spectrum.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide ISB and DSB Modes ISB (independent sideband) is quite similar to the AMS mode and makes it possible to receive independent information in the two sidebands of an AMmodulated signal with suppressed, or partially suppressed, carrier.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide After acquiring the license, when the DRM mode is selected, the contents of the audio tab change to accommodate the special requirements of this mode: When a DRM station is successfully received, on top of the DDC2 spectrum, there will be a text display that shows a continuously running “ticker” text which is usually transmitted by the station along with the audio, and which typically contains the station ID and program information associated with the broadcast.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide On the right-hand side, there is also an indicator of progress of the DRM signal capture (Sync detected will have to appear before Audio decoded and then the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) indicator will appear to show the quality of the received signal. For reliable audio output, the SNR needs to be above a certain threshold, typically 15 dB.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide FSK Mode The FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) mode performs in a similar manner to the CW mode, in that all of the parameters associated with CW are also available with FSK, but each with its own independent setting. Of particular note is the tone frequency: With CW, or Morse transmission, this is typically set to 800 Hz to provide a comfortable sound for the listener.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Tuning Tab The Tuning tab contains controls for Passband tuning, BW presets, demodulator spectrum Centering, AFC (Automatic Frequency Control), TTP (Tune to Peak) and Stepping controls. For the AMS, ISB and DSB modes, it also contains lower or upper sideband selection, and for the UDM mode there is also a mode selection. Passband tuning The passband tuning control duplicates the function of dragging the demodulator passband using the right mouse button.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The numbers on the buttons represent the bandwidth in kHz. These preset bandwidths change depending on the selected mode, offering an optimum choice of typical values applicable to that mode.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Frequency Stepping Another facility available under the tuning tab is Frequency stepping: The Step control selects the stepping size. The following convenient step sizes are available: 1 Hz, 10 Hz, 100 Hz, 1 kHz, 3.125 kHz, 5 kHz, 6.25 kHz, 10 and right arrow kHz, 12.5 kHz, 25 kHz, 50 kHz, 100 kHz. The left buttons perform the actual stepping. Spectrum Centering The Center button demodulator passband.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide In LSB and USB modes, the success of this facility will depend on the type of modulation signal. It may be useful for certain types of data modulation (fax), but is not usually recommended for voice modulation. Band Selection In the AMS, ISB and DSB modes, the tuning tab also includes Band selection controls: These make it possible to choose which of the sidebands is to be listened to, either the lower sideband, upper sideband, or both.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Audio Filter The Filter button turns on the Audio filter. The audio filter is a bandpass filter with continuously adjustable lower and upper cut-off frequencies: When the audio filter is enabled, its low and high cut-off frequencies can be adjusted using the Low and High controls.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The filter can be also adjusted graphically, by dragging either edge of the audio filter passband: In the Audio spectrum, the ASR (Audio Sampling Rate) control makes it possible to adjust the sampling rate of the output audio and so influence the audio bandwidth (i.e. the audio bandwidth will be almost half of the selected sampling rate): Clicking the RF button while the audio spectrum is displayed will return the spectrum scope to the default spectrum mode.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Volume Control The Volume control is also located under the Audio tab. The volume can range from 0 (no sound) to 31 (full volume). To enter a value directly, click on the display and type in the new volume level. The volume can also be increased or decreased by selecting the desired value from the drop-down list. An alternative way of changing the volume is by using the Volume slider. Place the mouse cursor on the slider and drag it either left or right to change the volume.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide By pressing either (or both) of the Left or Right buttons, you can channel the currently selected receiver’s audio to either the left or right (or both) audio stereo channels. Note however, that in order to be able to simultaneously listen to a receiver that is not currently “in focus” (i.e. it is not selected by its associated tab), you will need to disable the “Auto-mute RX not in focus” option under the Options top bar menu.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The VSC control buttons become available once the VSC is installed: Engaging the VSC button connects the selected receiver to the virtual sound card. Using the IF button, you can select the entire contents of the demodulator spectrum to the VSC; the Audio button only sends the filtered and demodulated audio. The VSC IF signal is sent in I/Q (in-phase and quadrature) form, 16 bit, stereo.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Memory Tab The Memory tab contains functions related to the frequency memory available in the Excelsior. This user-defined memory makes it possible to store and recall arbitrary frequencies, and group them together in a tree-like structure. The number of frequencies that can be stored in Excelsior memories is limited only by the size of your computer’s hard disk.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide At the top of the window is the Callsign edit box. That’s where you would store a callsign or a name of the station whose frequency you are storing. The next line contains a Description where you can type your comments regarding the station. Below is the Frequency you are storing and the demodulator Bandwidth. The mode buttons (AM, AMS, LSB, etc.) make it possible to store the demodulation mode.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The same applies to the audio Filter, Attenuator, Preamp and DDC settings. If enabled, their settings will be stored together with the frequency and the specified values will be applied when the memory is recalled. Hotkey For quick tuning to your favorite stations, you can also assign a Hotkey (function keys F2 to F12) to up to eleven different frequencies. If you then press this hotkey, the associated frequency will be instantly recalled.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide To select a frequency, double-click on an item in the list on the right, and the frequency will be tuned. Then close the window. Editing Memory To change the settings for a particular frequency, click on the Edit button, or select Edit from the right-click menu: A window will open showing the current settings. All settings can be edited. After the entry has been edited, click on OK. Deleting a Frequency To remove a frequency, click on the Recall button first.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide In the left-hand portion of the window, you can set up a tree-like structure made of folders and subfolders: All these folders and subfolders are user-definable and can be nested indefinitely, i.e. a subfolder can contain another subfolder, etc. These folders and subfolders represent memory Groups. You can group frequencies together using your own arbitrary criteria. To create a new group, use the New group button at bottom left.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide When the receiver is tuned to a frequency that is equal to a frequency stored in the memory, the stored callsign will be shown in the band indicator under the main frequency display. If there is no callsign stored with the frequency, the content of the description field will be shown instead. The user memory will first be searched for a matching frequency for the currently selected group.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The notch filter is a band-stop filter which can be used to minimize the effects of interference falling inside or near a received station’s spectrum. Each filter is activated by pressing the associated Enable button. The center frequency and the width can be adjusted using the appropriately named controls. For both notch controls, the same usage rules apply as with the demodulator bandwidth setting, i.e.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide blue area center and edges) to fall exactly over the interfering signal, the situation will look like this: This results in significantly reduced interference and a much more pleasing sound. Squelch The Squelch tab contains squelch-related controls: The squelch control can be used to automatically mute the receiver when no signal is being received.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Noise squelch determines the level of noise in the received demodulated audio above which the squelch will mute the receiver. This is particularly useful for the FM mode, where there is a considerable level of noise in the absence of a useful signal. The current Noise content value is also shown next to the corresponding control. Voice squelch determines the contents of voice frequencies in the spectrum of the demodulated audio.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide threshold somewhere between these extreme values. Note that the noise squelch is particularly effective in the FM mode and its values also depend on the demodulator bandwidth setting. The adjustment procedure for the voice squelch is similar: Tune to an unoccupied channel first, then to an active voice channel, note the corresponding Voice content values, and set the voice threshold between these two extremes. To enable the squelch action, click the Enable button.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The AGC has six speed settings: Slow, Medium, Fast, User 1, User 2 and User 3. These make it possible to select the speed with which the AGC reacts. Typically, the AGC would be in the medium position. For most practical applications, the medium setting is recommended.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Using the Max. gain control it is possible to limit the maximum gain that the AGC has at its disposal, and so prevent excessive “pumping noise” between transmissions. This is especially useful with SSB signals or when monitoring point-to-point transmissions where the transmitter is switched on intermittently.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide 2. If the AGC is enabled and the sound is distorted despite the volume being turned down, make sure that the AGC reference level is not set too high. If the volume is too low, try to increase the AGC reference level. 3. If the AGC is disabled and the sound is too weak despite the volume control being all the way up, try to increase the manual gain. 4.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The Short Time DDC Averaging method is preferable and will yield improvement in most cases of atmospheric or man-made interference. It is activated by pressing the Enable DDC Averaging button located under the Noise Blanker tab. If the instantaneous signal level at the input of the demodulator exceeds the short-time average level by a user-adjustable percentage amount, these signal samples will be replaced by zero values.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide buffer instead of going through the usual demodulation process. In this state, the Current delay display will show the increasing amount of saved signal in terms of the time delay, while the Pause time display will show the time when the pausing started. If the paused data length exceeds the Maximum buffer time, then Pause time will show the oldest buffered data that remains available for playback. If there is some data in the pause buffer, the Resume button becomes available.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Spectrum Scopes We have already touched on the spectrum scopes in some of the preceding paragraphs, but there is much more to the WiNRADiO Excelsior spectrum scopes than just the ability to “point-and-click” tune or drag the demodulator filter passband. There are three spectrum scopes that can be effectively considered to be subsets of one another.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide DDC2 bandwidth always needs to be smaller or equal to that of DDC1, so if an attempt is made to set DDC1 bandwidth to a lower value than that of DDC2, then the DDC2 value will automatically adjust to that lower value. The grey shaded area in the wideband spectrum represents the DDC1 bandwidth. Both receiver channels are visible, with the one in focus (i.e. with the associated RX tab selected) being highlighted.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Zoom Spectrum Each spectrum scope includes Zoom buttons . Use the two zoom buttons to zoom in and out of the spectrum – this is a useful feature for observing frequency peaks in close detail, for example where stations are very close to one another. When the spectrum window is zoomed, you can use the bottom slider to conveniently navigate to a portion of the spectrum that you wish to inspect. To restore the original scale and reset the zoom, use the 1:1 button .
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Note that the best achievable accuracy of the various point-and-click operations inside the displayed spectra will be limited by the width of the displayed spectrum (remember that the width of any of the spectrum scope windows is adjustable and can be extended over two or more monitors) and the respective RBW limit of the particular spectrum scope, which is dependent on the currently selected DDC bandwidth.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The palette can be selected using the Palette control, from a set of several factory defined color palettes: To invoke the palette menu simply click on the dBm scale on the left. This will reveal three selectable parameters, using which the waterfall can be made more informative. The palette Top and Bottom parameters can be understood as optical limits, or baselines.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Spectrum Markers This facility exists in the wideband, DDC and audio spectrum scopes, making it possible to mark frequencies of interest, set reference points and calculate differential frequencies. Right-clicking on the spectrum reveals a menu with the following functions: Tune to nearest peak – this will tune the receiver to a peak that is nearest to the cursor.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Cancel marker reference – this will remove the marker’s referential status and the differential frequencies will not be displayed for the other markers. Remove marker at xx.xxx MHz – this will remove the indicated marker. Remove marker at xx.xxx MHz – by selecting this function, this marker will be deleted. Tune to marker at xx.xxx MHz – this will tune the receiver to the marker frequency. Clear all markers – this function removes all markers from the spectrum.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Baseline Level The wideband spectrum scope makes it possible to adjust the baseline level using the Min. Level control.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Markers (right click on spectrum) are also available in the Audio Spectrum display mode. When the Audio filter is enabled (using the Filter button under the Audio tab), its passband will be shown as a gray area superimposed over the audio spectrum. The low and high cut-off frequencies of the filter can be graphically adjusted by dragging the left and right edges of the displayed passband.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Sweeper If the Sweeper button is engaged, this changes the wide-band spectrum into a “swept” spectrum scope. Rather than showing the intermediate frequency 16 MHz wide spectrum in real-time (which happens when the Spectrum button is engaged), the sweeper draws the spectrum by quickly tuning the receiver in 10 MHz chunks, and “gluing” these 10 MHz chunks of spectra together, to produce a continuous spectrum.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The arrow button starts the sweeping, the stop button stops is, the pause button pauses it, and the loop button selects between a single shot and continuous sweeping.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Activity Search If the Activity button is engaged, this will put the receiver into the Activity search mode: In this mode, the wide-band display does not show a contiguous spectrum, but rather “hits” on discreet frequency channels. In other words, the receiver will operate like a conventional scanner.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide In addition to the visual activity search, on the right-hand side of the spectrum, the search result will be also presented in a textual form, where the currently active frequencies will be highlighted: The Hit column will show the percentage of the time (since the start of the search) that the found frequencies were on air. Similarly to the Sweeper, the activity search results can be saved in a special proprietary format (extension “.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Pressing this button will reduce the height of the spectrum scope at the bottom and utilize the extra space for the recorder controls. The recording controls of the DDC1 and DDC2 spectrum scopes appear identical. However, their functions differ: The recording controls of the DDC1 spectrum scope relates to the DDC recorder, making it possible to record the entire DDC1 bandwidth (up to 4 MHz wide), while the Audio recorder in the DDC2 panel serves to record the demodulated audio.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The DDC recorder can record files with the extension “.ddc” or “.rxw”. The Audio recorder will record in the standard Windows wave format (extension “.wav”) or in the “.wwv” format. The actual format can be chosen in the Browse file dialog or just by typing the file extension in the file name edit box. For more details regarding the recording formats, please see Appendix G Recording File Formats. The recorded file name can be set up using the usual Windows file edit box.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Ask for overwrite – a dialog box will ask you if you wish to overwrite the file. Increment its name - each time the record button is pressed, a “counter” will be inserted in the file name and prefixed with the “$” symbol. If there is no initial number then “001” is automatically used first, and then incremented each time a new file is created. For example, the file name may look like this: rec-$001.wav Overwrite - the file will be overwritten with the new data.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Audio recordings can be controlled by the squelch condition. Should the recording pause if the receiver is squelched, this can be set up by checking the Pause recording if squelched checkbox. (This function is not applicable to DDC recordings.) The Insert frequency and date/time facility serves to insert the current local time and the currently tuned frequency into the file name (with DDC files this will be the current center frequency of the DDC bandwidth).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide If HF sensitivity appears poor, please first ensure that the attenuator is disabled. Preamplifier For the VHF/UHF/SHF section of the receiver, the Preamp button engages a low noise preamplifier, which adds approx 10 dB of amplification to the frontend, and so increases sensitivity. Please note that the actions of both the attenuator and preamplifier are compensated for by the S-meter.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The Peak and RMS buttons select between peak and RMS values. The AVG button applies a floating average with a one second time interval to smooth the S-meter movement. The S-meter is very selective, and acts only upon signals within the selected demodulator bandwidth (gray-shaded area in the demodulator spectrum display). Please note that the actions of both the attenuator and preamplifier are compensated for by the S-meter.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide User memory files are of a special format with the extension “.r7m”. Scheduler files have the extension “.r7s”. Sweeper data (refer to the Sweeper chapter) have the extension “.g39ddcswp”. Spectra are all saved as images, using the standard BMP format.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Folder can also include subfolders (groups), which are separated by slash signs “/”, for example as follows: "Memory/SW stations/Australia" Frequency, Bandwidth and the audio filter parameters are specified including the frequency unit, for example: "21.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Options The Options menu contains a number of user settings making it possible to customize the receiver’s look and behaviour, adjust its numerous operational parameters, activate various test and measurement displays, calibrate the receiver, as well as restore factory defaults for user-definable parameters.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Enable second RX By default, the second receiver is enabled. If disabled, then only the RX1 tab remains active and it will not be possible to activate the RX2 tab. This feature is useful with computers of insufficient processing power to run both receivers with satisfactory DDC bandwidth and filter selectivity.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The Notch and Audio filter lengths can also be adjusted using this facility, resulting in sharper (or shallower) notch and audio filtering, tailored to specific customer requirements. Should the computer become sluggish or even “freeze” as a result of this adjustment, please reduce the respective filter length to a lower value. Note also that the CPU load can be lowered (while keeping selectivity high) by reducing the DDC1 bandwidth.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Display Offset This feature makes it possible to introduce a fixed offset to the displayed frequency. It is particularly useful if an external frequency down-converter is being used with the receiver: Enter the required offset value in the Display offset edit box, click OK, and this value will be added to the displayed frequency.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Note the format in which the date is displayed depends on the locale settings of your computer. You can change this in your Windows control panel under Regional and Language Options. (Exact wording will depend on your Windows version.) Keyboard Shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts make it possible to use keyboard keys instead of the mouse to select most common functions.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide All shortcuts can be user defined. If there is a conflict in the definition table (the same keystrokes are specified for more than one function), this will be highlighted in red. The Default button restores the factory defaults and the Enable button can be used to enable or disable all shortcuts. VSC Set-up The Virtual Sound Card (VSC) is a software option designed to transfer digitized audio signal streams from WiNRADiO receivers directly to other applications.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide While the buffering removes drop-outs, on the other hand it introduces a certain delay (latency) to the output audio. The Min. buffer size and Max. buffer size parameters can be adjusted to minimize the latency for a particular computer system. The Min. buffer size parameter can be adjusted to the minimum acceptable value before significant distortion or drop-outs develop. On the other hand, the Max. buffer size parameter determines the maximum allowable latency.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Once locked to a signal, the capture range automatically reduces to ± 50 Hz (factory default value) from the signal frequency. The reason for such reduction is to avoid "kidnapping" of the synchronization frequency by a nearby strong signal if the carrier signal fades, as may happen especially with long-distance reception due to ionospheric effects. You can adjust the Sync.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide It is also possible to channel the audio output to an ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) device, if it is available in your system. This feature makes it possible for an ASIO device to bypass the Windows audio processing layers and access the receiver’s audio output directly, with the lowest possible latency and eliminating any artifacts introduced by the computer’s operating system.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Of particular interest to many users will be the CPU load (excessive CPU load may cause sluggish behaviour or freezing of the computer), and Audio latency. Apart from DDC bandwidth, CPU load may be minimized by reducing the Demodulator filter length (thus sacrificing selectivity) and audio latency may be minimized by reducing the Audio buffering (while inviting the possibility of audio drop-outs or distortion). Both these controls are available under Options.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Show Waterfall Timestamps Invoking this option makes the waterfall spectrum display show time stamps, making it possible to relate spectrum events to absolute time: Calibration Since the Excelsior uses an accurate and stable temperature compensated crystal oscillator with 0.5 ppm (parts per million) tuning stability, there is no real need for calibration for most practical purposes.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Hand-Off Receiver The Excelsior receiver software includes a useful function which allows users to utilize a WiNRADiO G315 receiver (either the external WR-G315e or the internal WR-G315i model) as a hand-off or recording receiver.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Memory The memory functions are described in great detail in the chapter Memory tab (under Function tabs). Selecting this top bar menu function is equivalent to pressing the Recall button under the memory tab. Scheduler The Scheduler is used to schedule automatic audio recording of stations at predefined dates and times: When the Scheduler function is selected, the following Task list is shown: You can add new recording tasks by pressing the Add button at bottom left.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The next items are Start time and Start date. This is when the task shall be executed, for example a recording will commence. After this, you will need to specify whether you wish for this task to run only once (select Run once), or whether this is to be a repetitive task (select Repeat). If this is to be a repetitive task, you can select the repeat period in terms of days, hours and minutes, and the ending date (using the Until control).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Finally, you can decide whether you wish to delete a task from the task list if ended, or wish to keep it for later editing and re-use. All added tasks will be included in the task list. Right-clicking on an item in the task list will show a pop-up menu which makes it possible to enable or disable a task without deleting it, tune to the station specified in the task, edit or delete a task (these last two functions serve for convenience and duplicate the Add and Edit buttons).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The user needs to select a memory group within which the scan will be performed (note that particular frequencies in the group can be “locked out” – refer to the chapter Memory under Function tabs). The scan can be or right arrow performed in either direction using either the left buttons. The scan can be stopped using the Stop button or paused using the Pause button.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide A simple dialog box makes it then possible to specify the file path and name into which the logging will be made (in the CSV format) and the logging period. While the Logger is running, normal operation of the receiver is not possible. Elapsed time is shown in the Logger window and this is also where the logging task can be stopped. Once logging is stopped and the Logger window closed, the receiver operation returns back to normal.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Power Switch The Power switch, located at the bottom-right corner of the application window, controls the receiver power. When it is off, the receiver circuitry will be powered down. When you exit and restart the WiNRADiO G39DDC application, the power on/off status will be remembered. Date and Time Display The top menu bar clock display indicates the current time and date.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix A – SDR and DDC Primer This note is intended to help “traditional” radio enthusiasts understand the technology differences between old style analog receivers and the new generation of Software Defined Radio (SDR), especially with reference to the WiNRADiO Excelsior. Analog Receivers Prior to the era of computer-interfaced radio receivers, a block diagram of a typical HF receiver would look similar to that below.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide WR-1000e shortly followed suit. These receivers were little more than software controlled (rather than software defined): Their functionality, especially those critical filtering and demodulation functions, was still very much defined by and dependent on hardware. The software portion of these products was limited to only two basic functions: To provide a convenient graphical user interface and to process the audio via a computer sound card.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide DSP-based demodulation provides a receiver with great flexibility, where additional modes can be easily added by a simple software change, while the hardware remains the same. Plus of course, there is a benefit of performance consistency: With the same input, a software routine will always produce the same result, not depending in variations and aging of components such as diodes, resistors and capacitors.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide The preceding spectrum display is that of the WiNRADiO G313 receiver, a typical representative of this type of SDR receivers, belonging to a class of receivers also referred to as SDR Tier Two or Software-Reconfigurable Radio. In SDR Tier Two radios, software is used to control and redefine a variety of modulation techniques, spectrum bandwidth, and other essential parameters and functionality of a radio receiver.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide While this 16 MHz wide band is narrow enough to be digitized by today’s latest and fast analog-to-digital converters, it is still too wide to be then processed in real time by most contemporary PCs, and needs to be reduced further. The most common process for such a reduction is digital down-conversion (DDC) which typically relies on a special hardware component known as a field programmable gate array (FPGA).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix B – Troubleshooting Problem Solution Upon installation, the software says that the receiver is not found and offers to run in demo mode only. WR-G39DDCe (USB models): Check that receiver is turned on using the switch located at the front of the device. The blue LED should flash. Compare the LED flashing pattern with the table shown in Appendix C.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Problem Solution The receiver application runs OK, but there is no sound coming from the speaker. When you tune to a known station, you should be able to see a peak on the demodulator spectrum scope. If you can’t see any peak, make sure your antenna is properly connected. If you can see a peak but there is no sound coming from the speaker, please check the following: The Mute button under the Audio tab is disengaged and the volume is set to a medium level (say 15).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Problem I can hear the audio and tune the receiver, but the sound is distorted. Solution Make sure that AGC under the Gain tab is enabled and set to medium speed. Try to adjust the Gain parameter under the Audio tab (excessive audio gain can cause distortion). If the S-meter shows the ADC CLP message, try to reduce the signal level using the Attenuator (this is only applicable on HF bands).
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Problem I can hear the audio and tune the receiver, but the audio is very noisy. Reception is obscured with a buzzing interference or periodic RF peaks. 116 Solution Make sure the Attenuator is disabled (on HF bands) and the Preamplifier is engaged (on VHF/UHF/SHF bands). Check that your antenna is properly connected, the connector is not loose and that the antenna cable is not damaged.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix C – USB Interface Diagnostics The flashing pattern of the blue LED on the WR-G39DDCe receiver’s front panel has a diagnostics meaning. Normally, when the receiver is powered up and the application running, the blue LED should flash in a dih-dah pattern (i.e. a short flash followed by a long one). A complete list of the flashing patterns and their meaning is as follows: No.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix D – Dealing with Interference Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) is what prevents us from receiving a clear signal, even when the receiver should be sensitive enough to receive it. There are many types of interference you can experience with radio receivers, emanating from both natural and man-made sources. Natural interference is produced by atmospheric phenomena such as storms and sun activity. Not so surprisingly, man-made interference is often worse.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide your monitor with a ‘quieter’ one, or you can try to relocate your antenna further away from your computer. While the WiNRADiO Excelsior receiver has been designed to minimize interference-related problems, switched-mode computer power supplies sometimes still present a challenge. This type of interference would usually enter the receiver as common-mode noise, which means that the noise is in the same phase on both the active and shielding conductors of the antenna lead.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix E – G39DDCi PCIe Card Connections At the front, the WiNRADiO G39DDCi card has the SMA antenna input connector, plus several additional optional inputs that may or may not be installed, depending on the customer requirement: At the rear of the card, there is a standard 6-pin connector for auxiliary power as well as, optionally, an SMA connector for IF output (70 MHz): The Auxiliary Power connector is useful if more than one card is installed in the computer and there
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix F – Waterfall Spectrum Palettes The Waterfall spectrum uses color palettes, selectable using the Palette control: The color palettes reside in ordinary text files with an extension “.pal”, located in the application installation folder, i.e. typically C:/Program files/WiNRADiO/G39DDC/Defs. The existing files are named Default.pal, Blue.pal, DeepBlue.pal, Gray.pal, Magenta.pal, Rainbow.pal, Sepia.pal and Yellow.pal.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix G – Recording File Formats The DDC recorder can record the DDC stream in a standard WAV file format, but saves the files with an extension “.ddc” in order to avoid confusion with audio wave files. The proprietary WiNRADiO RXW file format (extension “.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide DDC Bandwidth (kHz) 2000 2500 3200 4000 DDC Recording Sampling Rate (kHz) 2500 3333.3 4000 5000 Note: The Nyquist sampling theorem is satisfied because there are two values (I and Q) for each sample (stored as two stereo channels), so the effective sampling rate is twice of that shown. The Audio recorder can record standard Windows “.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix H – Compliance Declarations CE Conformity Radixon Group Pty.Ltd. declares that the WiNRADiO G39DDC Excelsior receiver complies with the following EC standards: EN 55013:2002 + A1:2004 + A2:2006 clause 4.2, 4.3 and 4.6 EN 55020:2007 EN 61000-4-2:2009 EN 61000-4-3:2006 + A1:2007 EN 61000-4-4:2004 FCC Compliance This device, trade name WiNRADiO Communications Receiver, model number WR-G39DDC complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
WiNRADiO G39DDC User’s Guide Appendix I – Safety Disposal 1. When this crossed-out bin symbol is attached to a product it means that the product is covered by the European Community directive 2002/96/EC. 2. All electrical and electronic products should be disposed of separately from the municipal waste stream via designated collection facilities appointed by the government or by the local authorities. 3.
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