Seeing-I-dawg wrote:

SDR-1000

http://www.flex-radio.com/About.aspx

LSB, USB, AM, FMN, Sync AM, CW, and DRM are supported.

Receive 12KHz-60MHz
(Requires external user supplied pre selector for best operation below 160M)
see:
http://sdr-1000.blogspot.com/2006/09...w1vlf-low.html
http://sdr-1000.blogspot.com/2006/10...osure-for.html

"This radio currently features receiver specs that out perform all three of
the top "mega-priced" radios by Ten-Tec, Icom, and Yaseu."

"3rd and 4th order harmonics are so much better than any other radio
currently on the market."

"+30 dBm IP3"
"98 dB IMD DR3 @ 2 KHz"

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4108

Full Manufacturer Specifications He
http://www.flex-radio.com/Products.aspx?topic=sdr1k

Personally, I have no interest in a 'radio' that requires a computer to operate.

But, here is a recent bit some might be interested in:

Winradio G313-E

I've been using the WiNRADiO 313E exclusively for DXing for the past
year, plus. I love the radio and cannot imagine ever returning to a
non-SDR receiver. Some of the main advantages of the WiNRADiO and its
Flex Radio SDR-1000 competitor are probably only applicable to people
DXing International MW and SW --- The Spectrum Scope, for instance,
allows you to focus in from 20 kHz wide (max) to 2 kHz wide at total
zoom-in. When you are working with close-together signals (say two or
three kHz apart, there is nothing like seeing the signals and then
graphically dragging the filter envelope and center-of-tuning to fit
them precisely between the QRM to achieve the maximum recoverable
audio.

The other thing that the Scope does is afford the user "situational
awareness" to a degree that is just unreachable without a scope.
Since you can see what you are trying to hear, in great detail, and
you can see the immediate surrounding signals, too, you immediately
know what adjustments need to be made to the receiver. It`s not that
you can't figure out what needs to be done --- bandwidth, mode, slot
filter, etc., in the traditional fashion --- its just so much easier
and faster to do it when you have graphical as well as the traditional
auditory input. This latter "situational awareness" aspect is
something that would benefit Domestic DXers, as well.

Another situational awareness attribute of the 313E that I really love
is the specific way that alpha-numeric notes can be displayed, after
they are associated with a particular memory and frequency. For some
years, there have been a few receivers on the market that allowed you
to store a title or some form of notes with each memory channel. That
way, WHEN YOU LOOKED AT THE MEMORY CHANNELS, there would be a title
like "Mem 1 BBC Evenings 5975 USB" or "Mem 2 R Australia 9580
AM." Well, the 313E does that, too, but in addition, it allows you
to associate a comment with each memory. Further and very importantly,
it displays that comment just beneath the Frequency Display on the
radio, WHENEVER the receiver is tuned (by any means) to that
frequency, whether you are in memory mode or not. So, when I have my
"Asian MW" memory file loaded, every time I tune past 891, the comment
appears just beneath the Frequency numbers on the radio WATCH FOR
THAILAND LATE. When I go to Grayland this weekend, when I pass 738,
the radio is going to remind me: RECORD PROBABLE JILIN PBS, etc., etc.
This ability should be of assistance to domestic DXers, too. Having
reminders come up every time you pass certain frequencies is a boon to
this 65 year-old DXer, let me tell you!

Two other special favorites and then I'll quit:

The synchronous detector is the best that I've ever used. In fact,
though I've owned most of the receivers with a sync detector, this is
the first that I've used as my primary DXing mode. Two reasons ---
first, by being synced on the carrier of choice, it actually
suppresses some sideband splatter and hash from adjacent signals
(wow!) further, even with signals out in the open, it seems to improve
signal-to-noise or intelligibility of weak signals. In my Okie terms,
"It hears better!"

Lastly, an attribute of most serious DSP receivers --- virtually
vertical sidewalls on the IF envelope. With any analog IF filters,
even the vaunted Collins mechanical filters, the actual window that
you are receiving the signal through is shaped like a truncated
equilateral triangle. Where your main DXing filter may be 2.7 kHz wide
at 3 dB down, it may be 15 or more wide at 30 dB down. The result of
that is that you use narrower filters that you really want to, to
conquer adjacent channel QRM --- AND since you have to use a wide
enough filter to let intelligible audio in, you also allow loud
adjacent splatter, etc. in "under the filter skirts."

With a total DSP package, from demodulation on down, the IF filtering,
of course, is done in the software. Hence, filter skirts that are
pretty-much VERTICAL. In my case, I can use say a 4 kHz wide virtual
filter rather than a 2.8 physical filter in the same conditions. Since
my 4 kHz filter lets in much more of the audio of my DX target (than
does a 2.8) I hear more intelligible audio. This would be true, all
things being equal, of any set that used virtual IF filters, not just
the Black Box receivers like the 313. Purists will argue that other
problems in the digital realm degrade this advantage, and to a degree,
they are likely correct. However, I can still keep my filters open
wider with this radio than with any of the excellent analog sets that
I've owned.

So, while the 313 black box won't be to everyone's taste, it lets me
hear more stations, better and easier than any set I've ever had
before. I may someday buy another main DXing set, but I'll guarantee
you that it will be a software-defined receiver.

P.S. I started MW DXing in the winter of 1953-54 and I love to use
classic tube communications gear. I especially love sitting and
staring at it while I listen and MOST OF ALL, I love tuning a really
well weighted, gear driven tuning knob. For years, I owned a mint 1942
SX-28A. Tuning that set was almost a sexual experience. I sold the SX-
28A to help me afford a totally rebuilt SP-600 --- turning that
counter-weighted knob and those beautiful brass gears WAS orgasmic. I
love DXing with those sets, and I was so sure that I'd miss a tuning
knob on the 313E that I invested in an outboard accessory tuning knob
(USB connected) that I used for about three evenings. I can just hear
more stuff more easily with this cold little box; and, in the final
analysis, my hobby is hearing DX and getting QSLs, not turning knobs,
counter-weighted or otherwise, JHB (John Bryant, WA, IRCA via DXLD 6-153)

dxAce
Michigan
USA

Drake R7, R8, R8A and R8B