Can u use radios like winradio or pcr1000 with software like this...or have u got to use specific radios for the software to work.
First, what specific software do you mean when you say “with software like this” and “for the software to work”?
The name of this forum is “Software Defined Radio”, not “Software for Radios”. As KA3JJZ said I think maybe you have misunderstood what is going on in both of these areas.
A Software Defined Radio (SDR) is a specific subset of radio design. It is how the radio hardware works. A true SDR has no local oscillator or mixer as would be found in a more traditional superhetrodyne receiver design, it directly digitizes the RF. From that point the software defines how the demodulation technique is done. In fact, that is where the name SDR comes from, essentially every part of the radio is defined by software, the frequency tuned, the modulation technique, the filter widths, etc.
There are many software packages for SDR use, but they all work in very similar manors at the most basic levels. The user interfaces can be quite different though.
The important thing to know and remember is that an SDR is not the same as a Software Controlled Radio (SCR).
You mentioned “WinRadio” and “PCR1000”.
The PCR1000 (and PCR1500 and PCR2500) for sure is not an SDR, it and its siblings are SCRs. They all can be controlled by software but are all traditional superhetrodyne designs that are controlled from the computer display.
“WinRadio” has several answers, because there are several models of “WinRadio”, ranging from true SDR to SCR. For example the WinRadio G31DDC is a true SDR, every aspect of it is defined by software and it has no local oscillator and no mixer. The WinRadio G315 (and similar family of radios, G303, G305, G305, etc) is a “hybrid”, it has a local oscillator and a mixer and uses these to down convert the RF to a lower frequency, and then a digitizer treats the signal exactly as an SDR would from that point on. Some radio manufacturers call this a “DSP” radio but WinRadio markets them as “SDR”. The WR series of WinRadio products (WR-1000, WR1500, WR1550, WR3500, etc) are SCRs. They are absolutely traditional superhetrodyne designs but lack a front panel and knobs, those being replaced by software controls on a computer display.
T!
