New SDR CommRadio CR-1

[corbintechboy]

Originally Posted by ka3jjz

Its price point, and specs, tends to suggest a very basic radio, possibly aimed at the newcomer market. Look at the lack of advanced capabilities - no ECSS, passband tuning, no IQ output, no AGC adjustment or 12 khz output for DRM - I suspect (without having actually talked to Don about it) that this radio is meant to be a competitor to the Palstar. It would still be useful to see how it would stack up against a R8T or R75 in terms of performance.

I plan on pitting against my R75. Although it won't be a scientific comparison, I am gonna try my best. I really hope someone can come out with some numbers on this perhaps before I get it.

[apgman]

looks like a great radio..disappointing that outside USA buyers will need to wait till May 2013 to be able to buy. I was on the website ready to buy one

[WB2KTG]

Little details like required governmental and agency certifications tend to slow down the wheels of progress...

[majoco]

Is it me, or am I missing something here...

The CR-1 is a new Software Defined Radio (SDR)

...but later on it says...

• The CR-1 is not controllable over USB by CommRadio or third-party software at this time.
• I-Q analog and/or digital IF signals are not ported to the rear-panel or accessible or at a standard sound-card sampling rate.

So the front panel controls are the only controls, there is (at the moment???) no provision to control the receiver by external means - so it's not really an SDR, it's a more-or-less conventional modern (of course!) receiver with an I-Q conversion and DSP of filters and detection all controlled by the front panel.

I see a button marked "Mem" but no mention of how many memories and what style of architecture - surely a laptop interface to store memory info would be a doddle.

...so is it being produced down to a price without requiring the new user to spend more on a laptop, whilst denying the experienced user the extra utilisation?

[WB2KTG]

majoco- The whole discussion about 'is it an SDR' or 'is it not an SDR' took place many pages ago in this thread. The designer of this radio and many other military and commercial radios, Don Moore (N0HDX), stated it best (and I'm paraphrasing him) "It's an SDR with knobs, switches and a display. Doesn't require a computer to operate with. It's the best of BOTH worlds!"

Unlike some SDR's, like the SDR I-Q, the CR-1 has a superhet front end which provides additional pre-selection and out of band signal rejection, while allowing greater frequency coverage than defined by the ADC alone. Like I say: "It's the best of BOTH worlds." Please review this thread, I've got photos of the inside of the box. In my initial evaluation, I found the CR-1 to be more sensitive than my ICOM IC-R20 as reported earlier. The ICOM is a very popular receiver from a big box house in the same ~$500, price range as the CR-1. The ICOM is also notoriously sensitive and subject to overloading with a decent sized outdoor antenna. I tested the CR-1 with a telescoping whip, just like might be found on the ICOM and also on my large dipole (~2.2 MHz resonant frequency). I did not see the CR-1 get crushed by strong signals like the ICOM.

A lot more evaluation to do on it. (I also have a day job so my time is limited during the week...)

[ratboy]

If I had $500 laying around, I would probably take a chance on it. I do have some fears about being an early adopter as I've been burned in the past, the worst being about 40 years ago when I bought an amazing looking electronic throttle (with 8 notch throttle, and realistic brake action) for my model trains. I think it was about $150, a lot of money for a 14 year old kid. It died soon after I got it, the company, can't remember the name anymore, folded soon after, and I ended up paying some ham I knew to pretty much upgrade all the components. It worked great after that. I sold it for way more than I paid for it in the early 80's to someone who had 2 dead ones so he could copy the changes in it and get his working.

[zl2taw]

has anybody tried a side by side comparison yet ? I think corbintechboy talked about it

[nickcarr]

Originally Posted by zl2taw

has anybody tried a side by side comparison yet ? I think corbintechboy talked about it

Doug you can't do this until it has been released.

[WB2KTG]

If you check the commradio.com website you'll see the specifications have changed, for the better!

"NOTE: Tuning down to 150 kHz (was 500 kHz) now included in all CR-1s. Optional Internal Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery avialable on all CR1's."

I know the receiver is designed to get down to 150KHz, now the operating system supports that function. The Li-ion battery allows the radio to be operated as a 'portable' for something in excess of eight hours, I believe. I hope to do some comparisons with my legacy hardware this weekend. Results will be posted.

[zl2taw]

Originally Posted by nickcarr

Doug you can't do this until it has been released.

ooops I thought there were a couple protoypes out there already

my bad

[nickcarr]

Originally Posted by zl2taw

ooops I thought there were a couple protoypes out there already

I'm sure there are but I'd rather wait for an official, retail version to know for sure.

[pd0psb]

I'm sorry but this is about the worst comparison to make, as a licensed ham ;-)

The CR1 uses your house AC system as counterpoise,while the Icom is "floating" without any ground system. It is no wonder at all the Icom performs much worse on HF, any other receiver would do.

It would be good to compare with at least an entry level HF receiver on the exact same antenna with the same grounding. (or run the CR1 on batteries as well)

Best 73
Paul
PD0PSB

Originally Posted by WB2KTG

First RF Test-

Just to get something, I grabbed my ICOM IC-R20 handheld receiver and Diamond RH-77 antenna, put the BNC telescopic whip I got originally with the R-20 on the CR-1. Tuned around 40M CW and found a weak but easily copyable signal on 7.00314. I then tuned the R-20 to the same frequency. No signal detected! The ICOM is generally regarded a VERY sensitive, but easily overloaded with a normal sized (e.g. dipole) antenna. In this case, the CR-1 had no problem copying a signal the ICOM couldn't even hear. I include an iPad picture of my highly sophisticated setup. Just as a sanity check, I later tested the receivers one at a time, and went to several different windows. Same results. There must be a contest going on 'cause this one guy has been pounding at about 20 WPM for the past hour or so. So far I'm impressed with the CR-1!

[WB2KTG]

Good observation! I'm going to find one of my 4xAA battery packs and give it a try. I know the CR-1 will work on a 9V battery, but I don't have any rechargeable ones. The unit I have, and one other field test unit that I'm aware of have 'pre-final' software installed. Not all features have been implemented in these units yet. I will also use an external speaker for some of the comparisons. My Racal 6790 has a audiophile monitor speaker. I'll swap speakers and antennas. Also an Icom 735 and Drake TR-7. It will be fun!

[pd0psb]

Looking forward to further comparisons.

CR1 has a high "must have" cuteness factor,
and I like low power consumption equipment.

But without standardized receiver specifications of dynamic range and sensitivity I would never buy it.
Unfortunately I couldn't find these specifications on the company's website yet, may be they are still under lab test?

73
Paul
PD0PSB

[WB2KTG]

I agree fully, cute is not enough reason to part with $500. I do know that there is a fair amount of firmware 'polishing' going on, getting rid of the nits, and such. I would anticipate that after those efforts have concluded that there will be technical specifications published. I'm just as anxious as you'all are!

[WB2KTG]

As part of my 'day job' I sometimes have the opportunity to get evil with electronic equipment- shock, vibration, hi temp, low temp, all sorts of evil testing. Yesterday I felt evil toward the CR-1. Yesterday morning I put it and a calibrated thermometer in my kitchen freezer. Kept them there all day. Eight PM last night I took them out. The stabilized temperature was 17F (-8.3 C). I ran into my radio room where the Racal had been receiving 10MHz WWV for the past few hours and powered the CR-1 up. Same antenna. Quickly tuned to 10.0000 MHz and heard just what I should hear.By this time, the radio had a light coating of frost from the 40% Relative Humidity air in the house, but no matter, it worked perfectly. I let it sit just like that for enough hours that the radio had dried itself off and felt to be room temperature. No doubt, mostly due to air circulating in the room since the < 1W dissipation would have minimal self heating effect. I've allowed it to run to right now, and it hasn't changed a digit in it's display, and hasn't skipped a beat. I wouldn't recommend doing this to any radio, and especially not to a lesser designed radio, but the CR-1 took it all in stride. I've attached a couple of pictures of the radio, and it's frost!

[ka3jjz]

OK this is a shameless plug, so be warned...

I just got word that Don is contributing a CR1 for the Winterfest being held in Pennsylvania on the 1st of March as the grand prize.

It's nice to know I still have a *little* pull left (hi) - I did email the Fest organizers with the info on the CR1, so I guess they got in touch with Don.

Mike

[mondomusique]

Well in thinking about performance tests, I'm not sure if this is where this thread 'jumps the shark' or whether this is perhaps a useful performance test. I usually don't subject my radios to such conditions, but then, if the CR-1 can be used in-vehicle, there could be some frosty sub-zero mornings certainly where I live.

In the absence of sensitivity, selectivity and overload specifications, sooner enough somebody will do some extended listening with the CR-1, either utility monitoring, dx-ing or pirate listening, and be able to make some subjective assessments. That should be at least as entertaining as dropping it in a deep freeze before listening.

[NRD-505]

Who has ordered a CR-1?

I have.

With battery?

I have.

If you have ordered the CR-1, what "tipped the scale" for you?

For me it was compactness, the OLED screen (small as it may be), portability and the *hope* of something new, fun and interesting capable of good performance and possible added features.

I have several receivers to compare against: JRC NRD-505, NRD 525 (w/VHF/UHF option and CW filter), Kenwood R-1000, AOR 7030+, R-390a and, for fun, a Panasonic RF-2200.

Performance is not expected to be on the level of some of these receivers but I do hope it is better than, say, a Grundig G5 or the Sony ICF-2010 (excepting sync det). Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!

Suggestions for a carry case? I'm sure something could be adapted for the purpose but I would like to see a fitted case.

We await.

[NRD-505]

Has anyone received a ship date or have their credit card charged yet?

The CommRadio site shows 2/22 as a ship date.

Thanks!