Winradio Excalibur

ka1njl · #1 (**permalink**) 07-07-2010, 11:47 AM

Has anyone heard anything about this new receiver? The specifications look very good but my previous experience with a Winradio has me a bit skeptical. Lately I have been interested in buying a used commercial grade HF receiver but something like this, with upgradable software for about the same price, is pretty tempting.

E-Man · #2 (**permalink**) 07-07-2010, 10:03 PM

Hello, It looks like the release date keeps getting pushed back. Check out this discussion:

New SDR for HF

ka1njl · #3 (**permalink**) 07-08-2010, 7:46 AM

Thanks for responding electricman. I was getting worried that 84 views with no responses was a negative vote for the radio. Grove is apparently shipping them now but I am curious to hear from actual users. The preliminary reviews are good but there hasn't been sufficient time for anyone to really put it throught its paces. I owned a Winradio 1500 for a while and it was ok but not great. I am hoping that now that they are producing a true SDR and not a software controlled radio like the 1500 the performance will be improved. I guess we will see.

73

E-Man · #4 (**permalink**) 07-08-2010, 9:47 AM

Thats good news it's finally released.

I think it would be awesome if there was a SW Receiver Section within the HF / MW / LW Monitoring area, this would keep SW Receivers more organized, and have better visibility where the SW Guru's hang out. As it is right now, most SW Receiver Info is scattered within the HF General Discussion area & Shortwave Broadcast, which seems to be acceptable.

I think this is a very interesting receiver, and cant wait for the reviews to come in. I have not had any experience with any of the Winradio Receiver's, but there is a couple of Members here, that posted they were not very happy with one of the Winradio UHF/VHF Receivers.

bsmotril · #5 (**permalink**) 07-16-2010, 9:42 PM

I received mine from Grove a week ago. It is a really nice product. There's a couple of small quirks with the user interface that might be related to my wireless mouse, but receiver performance blows my old Icom R71E away. Super easy to tune, adjust filters, and adjust the audio filter. Really nice to have 3 receivers in the decode bandwidth running simultaneously with the ability to mix audio across the stereo audiospace. I'm running it on a quad core 2.8 CPU and I can't drive the first core much above 60% even with the biggest decode bandwitdth and highest resolutions on the spectrum displays. Favorite feature is the drag and drop on the spectrum display for the filter BW, passband tuning offset, and notch filter. Can get AM quality that blows away any other reciever I've tried before, and works extremely well on utility and ham bands with SSB. I have not tried any of Winradio's digital mode or DRM decoders yet.

ka3jjz · #6 (**permalink**) 07-23-2010, 1:48 PM

Here's a blog with a good bit of Excalibur information...

Arctic DX

73 Mike

E-Man · #7 (**permalink**) 07-23-2010, 7:07 PM

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed the Review with comparisons to Microtelecom Perseus,
Quicksilver QS1R and the RF Space SDR-IQ. Excellent

I was not able to listen to the audio comparisons, (codec issue? XP IE8) between the Excalibur and the Perseus, which one sounded better?

Token · #8 (**permalink**) 08-21-2010, 4:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electricman

Thanks for posting. I enjoyed the Review with comparisons to Microtelecom Perseus,
Quicksilver QS1R and the RF Space SDR-IQ. Excellent

I was not able to listen to the audio comparisons, (codec issue? XP IE8) between the Excalibur and the Perseus, which one sounded better?

When discussing sound quality you really have to cosnider the sound card used and the amplifier / speaker system used.

For my location I use the same Creative Labs PCI 512 in each radio oriented computer. The line out of that goes to a Bahringer 16 channel mixer (for the PCs that have SDR's on them, other radios go directly into a separate 24 channel mixer). The Main out of the 16 channel mixer goes to a dedicated decode and record PC and an external stereo audio amplifier, and the amp drives a pair of Infinity monitors.

"Sound better" is very opinion oriented. What follows is my opinion.

Using this setup I find that the Excalibur often, but not always, sounds a little better than the Perseus, it is mode and condition dependant. When a signal is right down in the noise floor and in AM mode the Perseus sounds better. In CW the Perseus has a very slight advantage. In SSB, AM-Sync, or AM with a better SNR the Excalibur sounds better. I have never really compared them in FM.

However, I find the SDR-IQ and SDR-14 sound better than both the Excalibur and the Perseus for most signals, but of course SpectraVue does not have an AM-Sync (or SAM) mode. It does, however, have DSB, something the other two lack.

With all of that said I am finding the Excalibur to be my most used radio while searching for new signals, and one of my SDR-IQ's or my SDR-14 my most used when I am doing scheduled spectrum recordings of frequencies.

T!
Mohave Desert, California, USA

strokjo · #9 (**permalink**) 09-25-2011, 2:45 PM

Do you have an update on what you have posted? I am about to get myself an SDR and still do not know which one. I ran over your post and realized that I have missed a chance. I had a friend living on Ivonpah Rd. for 2 years (Ox ranch). I would have asked for a chance to hear myself, if I would have know last year.

regards, Joerg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Token

When discussing sound quality you really have to cosnider the sound card used and the amplifier / speaker system used.

For my location I use the same Creative Labs PCI 512 in each radio oriented computer. The line out of that goes to a Bahringer 16 channel mixer (for the PCs that have SDR's on them, other radios go directly into a separate 24 channel mixer). The Main out of the 16 channel mixer goes to a dedicated decode and record PC and an external stereo audio amplifier, and the amp drives a pair of Infinity monitors.

"Sound better" is very opinion oriented. What follows is my opinion.

Using this setup I find that the Excalibur often, but not always, sounds a little better than the Perseus, it is mode and condition dependant. When a signal is right down in the noise floor and in AM mode the Perseus sounds better. In CW the Perseus has a very slight advantage. In SSB, AM-Sync, or AM with a better SNR the Excalibur sounds better. I have never really compared them in FM.

However, I find the SDR-IQ and SDR-14 sound better than both the Excalibur and the Perseus for most signals, but of course SpectraVue does not have an AM-Sync (or SAM) mode. It does, however, have DSB, something the other two lack.

With all of that said I am finding the Excalibur to be my most used radio while searching for new signals, and one of my SDR-IQ's or my SDR-14 my most used when I am doing scheduled spectrum recordings of frequencies.

T!
Mohave Desert, California, USA