RADIXON WiNRADIO A RTEM IS WR- G69DDC, User Manual

Page 1: ...WiNRADiO by RADIXON WR G69DDC A RTEM IS TM Software Defined Communications Receiver User s Guide Ver 1 12 ...

Page 2: ...e Australia 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 G69DDC and Artemis are trademarks of WiNRADiO Communications All other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners Published in Australia 2 ...

Page 3: ...herals must be shielded and grounded Operation with non certified peripherals may result in interference to radio and TV reception Modifications Any changes or modifications to this equipment not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user s authority to operate this equipment Limitation of Liability and Remedies The information published in this book has been co...

Page 4: ...e the Artemis 18 Resizing the Application Window 22 Drop Down Menu Controls 23 Tuning the Artemis 24 Manual Frequency Entry 24 Tuning Knob 26 Keyboard Tuning 26 Multiple Receiver Operation 27 Point and Click Tuning 28 Dragging the Passband 28 IF Shift and Passband Tuning 30 Frequency Stepping 31 Frequency Display Offset 32 Receiver Selection 32 Mode Selection 33 AMS Mode 34 ISB and DSB Modes 35 DR...

Page 5: ...er 83 MW Filter 84 S meter 84 Top Menu Bar 85 File 86 Options 88 Memory 103 Scheduler 104 Logger 107 Plugins 108 Power Switch 108 Date and Time Display 108 Appendix A SDR and DDC Primer 110 Appendix B Troubleshooting 116 Appendix C USB and LAN Interface Diagnostics 120 Appendix D Dealing with Interference 121 Appendix E Waterfall Spectrum Palettes 123 Appendix F Recording File Formats 124 Appendix...

Page 6: ...logy As the name Artemis suggests a goddess synonymous with hunting this is not just a receiver it is a powerful radio communications instrument in a class of its own We have crafted it with meticulous workmanship utmost care attention to detail and dedication to excellence to make it suitable for the most demanding of applications We are proud to present you with this instrument and wish you much...

Page 7: ...ostics During normal operation its flashing can be disabled by a setting in the application software should it appear disturbing The power input socket requires 12 V DC with a tolerance of 1 V The power adapter must be rated for a minimum of 1 33 A CAUTION For best performance and safety we recommend using only the power adapter supplied by WiNRADiO which comes included with your receiver There ar...

Page 8: ...yback Sound card Any standard Windows supported sound card Interface USB 3 0 port OS Windows 7 8 or 10 32 64 bit The CPU speed directly influences the maximum selectivity and DDC bandwidth that can be achieved with this receiver The receiver may still be usable on slower computers but with some compromises for example using only one of the three receiver channels and or reduced maximum achievable ...

Page 9: ...the new icon that has been installed on your desktop Note also a shortcut to the user s manual file G69DDC User s Guide pdf that will also appear in your Start menu Finally connect your antenna to the antenna connectors SMA type at the rear of the receiver Having a good antenna is most important see more details in the chapter Connecting the Antenna Something to consider WiNRADiO also manufactures...

Page 10: ...n and the master volume inside the Device section Both controls need to be unmuted Click on the speaker icon and then click on the Mixer link to bring up the sound card control panel Different Windows versions may use a different method of bringing up this control panel in Windows 10 type mixer into the Windows Start Search box to access the Adjust system volume link To get started make sure the v...

Page 11: ... wire antennas In some cases signal reception may be significantly enhanced with improved grounding Unfortunately results are not always predictable due to variations in individual installations so some trial and error experiments may be required in the search for ultimate performance With long wire antennas good grounding is absolutely essential If you don t apply any external additional groundin...

Page 12: ...r to make a connection to the coaxial cable a number of options exist These include 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 com lwa which along with their other intended purpose the WR CMC 30 provides a convenient ground connection stud that will ...

Page 13: ...ram icon The receiver s virtual control panel will appear The control panel has some basic elements similar to conventional receivers and many new ones as well For example you will note the wideband spectrum analyzer at the bottom of the application that if the Spectrum button is engaged shows the real time activity of a wide spectrum making the WiNRADiO Artemis a true panoramic receiver The quick...

Page 14: ...d just under the AM mode selection button The numbers on the buttons represent the bandwidth in kHz To adjust the bandwidth continuously use the DEM BW control located at the top of the demodulator spectrum scope At this point you should be also able to hear the station The volume is adjustable under the Audio tab located just next to the tuning tab You can use either the slider or select the valu...

Page 15: ...d times smaller 1 Hz Another way of tuning is to use the up and down arrow keys on the PC keyboard The Alt Shift and Ctrl keys can be used to a similar effect as with the tuning knob to modify the frequency increment step If your mouse has a wheel as we would recommend you can also use this you might find it somewhat similar to using the tuning knob of a conventional receiver And again the Alt Shi...

Page 16: ... CPU load which will depend on this setting It may not be advisable to select a value resulting in more than say 30 CPU load as the computer may then become sluggish Should the computer become sluggish or even freeze as a result of this adjustment please reduce the demodulator filter length to a lower value Note also that the CPU load can be lowered while keeping selectivity high by reducing the D...

Page 17: ...r 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 If you experience any installation problems or are unable to tune to any radio stations at this point please refer to Appendix B Troubleshooting Should you encounter interference related problems with your receiver effective remedies do exist please peruse Ap...

Page 18: ...ation Here is a simplified functional block diagram of the hardware portion of the receiver The receiver operates in two separate frequency ranges Range 1 from 8 kHz to 80 MHz and Range 2 from 43 MHz to 8 GHz There are two antenna inputs on the receiver one for each frequency range Both antenna inputs are followed by a dedicated signal chain for its frequency range 18 ...

Page 19: ...r LNA and Preselector filter bank The received signal is then processed through superheterodyne processing featuring two frequency mixing and filtering stages The attenuator of frequency range 2 works very similar to that of the Range 1 It is adjustable from zero to 21 dB in 3 dB increments and serves to reduce signal levels in the proximity of strong stations The attenuator can be operated either...

Page 20: ...ted to 16 MHz due to limited throughput of the Gigabit Ethernet connection In the WiNRADiO Artemis receiver the chunk of the input spectra that is processed by the DDC can be recorded and played back by the PC making it possible to re receive signals located anywhere within that chunk The maximum width of the DDC chunk called the DDC bandwidth is 32 MHz when connected through USB 3 0 and 16 MHz wh...

Page 21: ...th This bandwidth represents the selectivity bandwidth of the 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 You can do this either by using the DEM BW control or by dragging the edges of the gray area in the demodulator spectrum You can also drag the gray areas sidew...

Page 22: ...ion of the three spectrum scopes simply drag the edges or corners or the internal boundaries separating the three spectrum scopes Below is an example of how the application window can be resized This was achieved by first dragging the right hand edge of the application panel to extend the panel horizontally then making more room for the DDC1 spectrum at the expense of the demodulator DDC2 spectrum...

Page 23: ...n with a little bit of inertia the faster you spin the faster the imaginary wheel will turn Clicking on an item will select it double clicking will select it and also close the list If you don t have a mouse wheel for example using a laptop with a touch pad instead of a mouse you can also use the keyboard up down cursor keys to navigate inside the list There is also another difference with this co...

Page 24: ...tering the digits The tuned frequency will then be displayed in the chosen units Any invalid keystrokes are ignored The same principle of changing the displayed frequency units is applied anywhere in the Artemis application where frequency is to be entered if you prefer to display or enter the frequency in different units simply terminate the entry with h for Hz k for kHz m for MHz and g for GHz F...

Page 25: ...ion of a particular frequency stored in memory This overrides the band description for that particular tuned frequency only It is also possible to change the naming and frequency allocations for entire frequency bands This can be done by editing the file called Bands csv in the program installation folder usually located at with a 32 bit operating system C Program Files WiNRADiO G65DDC Defs with a...

Page 26: ...tton As the knob rotates the frequency will change in 1 kHz steps Holding the mouse button down will accelerate the tuning The step size can be changed to 100 Hz 10 Hz or 1 Hz by pressing the Alt Shift or Ctrl keys respectively while clicking the tuning knob with mouse button The tuning knob can also be conveniently rotated using a wheel of a wheel equipped mouse or any other standard Windows supp...

Page 27: ...new frequency while keeping the other receivers tuned to their existing frequencies the software will dump disable one or both of the other two receivers This gives priority to the currently selected receiver except when one of the other receivers is currently recording or its frequency is locked by the user In such a case the new frequency will not be accepted and the recording or lock indicators...

Page 28: ... need to keep reprogramming when switching receivers Point and Click Tuning Pointing and clicking anywhere inside the three spectrum scopes will tune the currently selected receiver to the corresponding frequency Also when clicking on the spectrum the Shift or Ctrl keys can be held down which will round the tuned frequency to the nearest kHz or 100 Hz respectively However there are some ramificati...

Page 29: ...of the standard methods or you can switch the range using these two buttons which are located above right of the wideband spectrum Inside the DDC1 and demodulator DDC2 spectra it is actually possible to drag the respective DDC or demodulator filter passbands beyond the existing boundaries in both directions In such a case the receiver will tune automatically Dragging either one of the edges of the...

Page 30: ...ositioning the demodulator filter precisely over the spectrum of the received signal while keeping the DDC passband located exactly where it is This makes it possible to quickly and visually tune to another station represented by a signal peak in the spectrum However it is not very suitable for the AMS USB LSB ISB DSB and CW modes if you only wish to adjust the filter passband position slightly fo...

Page 31: ...ng the right mouse button a red PBT indicator will appear next to the cursor to indicate you are in the PBT mode and showing the tuning offset at the same time To revert to the IF shift mode simply use the left mouse button again Frequency Stepping To make the chapter on tuning complete we need to fast forward a bit There is one more tuning facility located on the right under the Tuning tab all th...

Page 32: ...y offset and is located under the Options top menu bar As usual you can enter the display offset in Hz kHz or MHz by terminating the entered value with either h k or m respectively if you prefer to change the displayed frequency unit An option to invert the spectrum is provided for situations where the spectrum is inverted by the down converter Receiver Selection Clicking on one of the three Recei...

Page 33: ...ate between receivers in a similar way in which you would use the VFO function in a conventional receiver There is the additional benefit of being able to change complete receiver settings including demodulation mode bandwidth notch filter audio filter etc without the need to keep reprogramming when switching receivers Mode Selection The Mode selection buttons are located at the top right of the r...

Page 34: ... 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 This is to enable easy tuning by pointing and clicking near the peak in the DDC1 spectrum or dragging the filter passband area in t...

Page 35: ... and makes it possible to receive independent information in the two sidebands of an AM modulated signal with suppressed or partially suppressed carrier The desired audio output can be selected between the lower and upper side bands using two selector USB and LSB buttons accessible under the Tuning tab Note Both channels of an ISB transmission can be recorded simultaneously using the recording fac...

Page 36: ...ding and compression together with extending channel bandwidth This results in a dramatic improvement in broadcast quality For more information about this mode refer to www winradio com drm Activating this mode requires purchasing a license from the DRM consortium Selecting the DRM mode will provide details how to acquire the license After acquiring the license and installing the key when the DRM ...

Page 37: ...muted no noise at all coming from the speaker as the decoded signal would not render any usable audio The Artemis DRM decoder can also decode multimedia content which is audiovisual information that may be broadcast by some DRM stations If such multimedia content is detected in the incoming signal a special browser program is launched to display this information To receive a DRM station simply tun...

Page 38: ...tters operating in a suppressed carrier mode However any offset may be used and the values are automatically saved UDM Mode The UDM User Definable Mode makes it possible to define any set of parameters for a special application All settings including the actual demodulation mode may be selected and saved For instance a user may wish to have a special USB mode with a very wide demodulation bandwidt...

Page 39: ...tual tuning offset is visible and can be precisely adjusted Passband tuning makes it possible to finely adjust the demodulator filter position in the AMS LSB USB and CW modes without a whistle effect due to a misaligned BFO allowing you to avoid interference and finely tune the receiver for optimum reception Pressing the Reset button sets the passband tuning offset to zero Demodulator Bandwidth Pr...

Page 40: ...drop down list Another very convenient method of adjusting the demodulator filter bandwidth is a graphical one by dragging the edges of the shaded area representing the filter passband in the demodulator spectrum Continuous adjustment of the demodulator filter bandwidth makes it possible to adjust the bandwidth to exactly fit the actual spectrum of the received signal to obtain the best signal to ...

Page 41: ...ulator spectrum AFC Automatic Frequency Control When engaged the AFC button forces the receiver to automatically adjust its tuning to follow the frequency drift of the received transmission While this function is active the receiver will periodically check the received signal and correct the frequency in approximately five second intervals This facility is not recommended for LSB and USB modes wit...

Page 42: ...uning tab also includes Band selection controls These controls make it possible to choose which of the sidebands is to be listened to either the lower sideband upper sideband or both This is useful in situations where one of the sidebands is damaged by interference UDM Mode Selection If the UDM mode User Definable Mode is selected the AMS band selection controls are replaced with the Mode selector...

Page 43: ...encies can be adjusted using the Low and High controls The De em control is used to adjust de emphasis relating to the filter s slope from the highest frequency to the lowest which is particularly important for FM signals a typical de emphasis value for narrow band FM modulated signals is 6 0 dB oct However it can be also useful for AM signals Gently sloping the filter passband can sometimes make ...

Page 44: ...1 full volume To enter a value directly click on the display and type in the new volume level followed by ENTER 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 Finally another convenie...

Page 45: ...ft ear and the third receiver with your right ear There are many possible combinations The mixer buttons are located at the bottom left of the audio tab If the Mix button is disabled the currently selected receiver will behave as if there was no mixer at all and you will simply hear audio from the receiver which you have currently selected i e the receiver that is in focus Enabling the mixer butto...

Page 46: ...Left on Right off Mix on Left off Right on Mix on Left off Right off RX3 Audio will come out for RX1 and RX2 only RX1 from the left and RX2 from the right channel RX3 will not be heard even though it is currently selected because neither the Left nor Right buttons are engaged Mix on Left on Right on Mix on Left on Right on Mix on Left on Right on RX3 Audio will come out for all RX1 RX2 and RX3 all...

Page 47: ...og domains reducing distortion and improving signal quality For more information about the VSC please refer to the webpage www winradio com vsc 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 butt...

Page 48: ...andwidth audio filter etc VSC can only be active on one virtual receiver at a time and is indicated by the letters VSC appearing on the corresponding RX1 RX2 or RX3 tabs You have to deselect VSC from the active virtual receiver before it can be used on another virtual receiver You can have the VSC installed and running in five minutes The Digital Bridge Virtual Sound Card and many other software a...

Page 49: ... The number of frequencies that can be stored in Artemis memories is limited only by the size of your computer s hard drive Storing a Frequency into Memory With each frequency you can store several additional attributes mode callsign description bandwidth squelch parameters audio filter parameters and a hotkey To store a frequency into memory the receiver must first be tuned to that frequency Next...

Page 50: ...odulation mode If you do not wish to store a particular demodulation mode with a frequency simply leave the Mode button disengaged in such a case the frequency will be recalled with the currently selected demodulation mode unchanged The squelch settings can be also stored optionally If enabled using the Squelch button the specified squelch settings will be applied automatically when the frequency ...

Page 51: ... previous assignment with a new one if you wish Note F1 calls the help menu so cannot be assigned to a memory Memory scan lockout This setting relates to the Scanner facility If this checkbox is ticked this will cause this frequency to be skipped while scanning Note that as although the Artemis does not have the scanner facility the memory format is the same for a range of WiNRADiO receivers and s...

Page 52: ...encies which have been set for Memory scan lockout are indicated by a symbol at the left hand side Editing a 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 52 ...

Page 53: ...ory To see the entire user memory structure you can use either the Recall button or the equivalent function Show user memory under the Memory top bar menu The User memory window will open 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 co...

Page 54: ...uency 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 If no matching frequency is found there then the ...

Page 55: ...memory file is called Memory r7m and resides in the following folder My Documents WiNRADiO G69DDC Opening the User Memory File When the WiNRADiO Artemis receiver application starts up the most recently used memory file will be opened automatically To open a different memory file select Load user memory from the File menu A dialog box will pop up allowing you to choose a memory file to load 55 ...

Page 56: ...selected from the drop down list Another way of changing the notch filter parameters is by dragging the stopband of the filter a blue shaded area with the mouse The stopband width can be adjusted by dragging the edges while the center frequency can be changed by dragging the center line which makes it possible to conveniently position the filter stopband over the interfering signal The Center butt...

Page 57: ... buzzing sound After applying the notch filter adjusting its center and bandwidth by dragging the 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 57 ...

Page 58: ...d from the S meter This is the most common form of squelch to use 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 ...

Page 59: ... and the word squelched will be displayed on the S meter Add a few dB extra to allow a margin for background noise fluctuation on the band Now when you tune to an occupied frequency if its signal strength is higher than the squelch level the receiver will be unmuted To adjust the noise squelch control first tune to an unoccupied frequency that produces only noise Note the Noise content value indic...

Page 60: ...nce is that in a conventional receiver this is implemented in hardware while with the Artemis it is a software function 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 Slow setting would be ...

Page 61: ...tion may appear On the other hand decreasing the AGC reference level will generally result in lower audio levels While in the automatic gain mode the actual momentary gain will be shown next to the word Gain as can be seen in the following illustration By using the Max gain control it is possible to limit the maximum gain that the AGC has at its disposal and preventing an excessive pumping noise b...

Page 62: ...s all the way up make sure that AGC is enabled 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 In LSB U...

Page 63: ...ging 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 Th...

Page 64: ...than the maximum buffer time allows will be discarded Pressing the Pause button activates this function The audio will be muted and the DDC2 spectrum will freeze The DDC2 signal stream will be saved into the 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 Paus...

Page 65: ...re buffer contents and terminates the pause mode The Pause button then becomes enabled again making it possible to start another pause session During playback of the paused signal the S meter the DDC2 spectrum and all demodulator controls will relate to the currently played back buffered signal However the wideband and DDC1 spectrum displays and the main frequency read out will all relate to the c...

Page 66: ...C2 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 gray shaded area in the wideband spectrum represents the DDC bandwidth The gray shaded areas in both the DDC and demodulator spectrum both represent the currently selected demodulator...

Page 67: ... To restore the original scale and reset the zoom use the 1 1 button The Spectrum centering button when used in the DDC1 and DDC2 spectrum scopes shifts the spectrum so that the demodulated frequency is in the center of the spectrum display or as close as possible In the wideband spectrum this button shifts the spectrum so that the DDC1 passband will be as close to the wideband display center as p...

Page 68: ...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 Spectrum Averaging The AVG control employs time averaging to sm...

Page 69: ...ll type display where the vertical axis represents time and signal strength is represented by a palette of colors The palette can be selected using the Palette control located above the display 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 m...

Page 70: ...s around that signal level thereby improving the contrast of this section within the overall waterfall display The check box inside the Gravity control activates the gravity settings or when unchecked restores the palette default state It is also possible for users to create their own color palettes For details please see Appendix F Waterfall Spectrum Palettes The waterfall display has its own set...

Page 71: ...n transmitted channels or signal sidebands etc 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 The capture area is 15 pixels either side of the cursor the actual frequency range will vary depending on the current zoom status Place marker this will place a marker to the current cursor...

Page 72: ...ncy Clear all markers this function removes all markers from the spectrum Information Buttons The information button in the DDC1 and DDC2 spectrum scope toolbox conveniently duplicates the functions Show measurements and Show data rates under Options When activated in the DDC1 spectrum the internal receiver and PC data rates are shown which is useful particularly for installation and research purp...

Page 73: ...ge antennas Peak Hold This feature is only available in the wideband spectrum scope making it possible to observe a spectrum for a long time and indicate any signal peaks that may have occurred in the past but have since disappeared In other words when this value is set the spectrum scope will record and display the signal maximum values and hold it for a user defined period of time specified in h...

Page 74: ...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 The input audio signal to the filter is shown in a darker color while the filtered output is shown in a lighter color Finally clicking the RF button while the audio spectrum is displayed will exit the audio spectrum mode and return th...

Page 75: ...equency range in approximately 3 seconds The sweeper makes it possible to set the resolution bandwidth of the sweeping smaller RBW resulting in a finer detail and the start and end frequencies in MHz 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 At top right there are additional spe...

Page 76: ...ese values can be reset using the Reset button The Real time button disables and enables real time display of the actual swept spectrum when disabled it does not affect the display of the computed minimum maximum and average spectra The Average button enables or disables the display of averaged spectrum averaged for the duration of the sweep The Follow button is applicable only when the spectrum i...

Page 77: ... for signals that exceed this threshold value In the activity graph these signals will appear as highlighted peaks crossing the horizontal line that represents the predefined threshold Starting stopping and pausing is controlled by three self explanatory buttons start stop pause The AVG option in the activity mode at the bottom of the window averages the specified number of spectra before they are...

Page 78: ...t activity memory group Change activity memory group specify the default activity memory group any listed frequencies which have been stored in the default activity memory group will be displayed with reduced brightness Filter set an activity threshold for displaying found frequencies this does not affect the activity search spectrum display Add to Exclusions add the selected frequency to the Excl...

Page 79: ...is accomplished using the file Save and Load buttons respectively Sometimes it is desirable to exclude certain frequencies from the activity search even when the signal level of these frequencies is above the specified threshold It is also possible to exclude multiple frequency ranges This is done using the Exclusions button To activate frequency exclusions in the activity search press the Enable ...

Page 80: ...modulator each of the three receivers can record demodulated audio independently and simultaneously and create separate audio files of three different stations DDC The DDC recorder can be very useful in situations where the spectrum is to be searched for interesting stations or even when just a single signal is of such significance that it needs to be repeatedly analysed with various receiver sett...

Page 81: ...d of having to type the path and file names If the toolbox button next to the file name is activated this will reveal a set of useful controls specific to the recorders The Prebuffer control sets the time for pre buffering which means that the recorder will include the specified number of seconds of recording before you press the recording start button This is in order not to miss the start of an ...

Page 82: ...the recorder will automatically assemble the related split sections and play them back seamlessly The split option should be used especially if the hard drive is using FAT32 rather than NTFS partitioning as FAT32 has a maximum file size of 4 GB The File format selection makes it possible to choose between RXW or DDC formats for the DDC1 recorder and WAV or WWV formats for the Audio recorder DDC2 d...

Page 83: ...as a real time transmission Attenuator The Attenuator is used to reduce the signal coming to the ADC and therefore the receiver s sensitivity This is useful in situations where strong signals cause overload Overload is indicated by the words ADC CLP appearing in the S meter The attenuator is variable from zero to 21 dB in 3 dB steps It can be engaged by pressing the Atten button which will also en...

Page 84: ...ged using MW filter button it significantly reduces sensitivity in the region under 1 8 MHz i e the region of AM broadcast radio The purpose of this function is to reduce interference from strong broadcast stations and so improve the reception of weak shortwave signals S meter The WiNRADiO Artemis receiver is equipped with a very sensitive and selective Signal Strength Meter S meter which makes it...

Page 85: ...te that the actions of both the attenuator and preamplifier are compensated for by the S meter This means that the S meter always displays the true value of the signal strength at the antenna input within the available measurement range Top Menu Bar The top menu bar contains numerous ancillary functions of the Artemis Did you know The word file was used publicly in the context of computer storage ...

Page 86: ...9ddcswp Activity monitor data refer to the Activity search chapter has the extension g69ddcact Spectra are all saved as images using the BMP JPEG or PNG format They can also be printed Memory Export and Import The Save user memory as and Load user memory functions can also save or load the user memory in CSV format comma separated values making it possible to export frequencies in this commonly us...

Page 87: ...lter de emphasis 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 525MHz To save or load a CSV file simply specify this as a file type in the respective window for example User memory can be cleared using the N...

Page 88: ...mber of user settings making it possible to customize the receiver s look and behavior adjust its numerous operational parameters activate various test and measurement displays calibrate the receiver as well as restore factory defaults for user definable parameters 88 ...

Page 89: ... network mask This dialog is only available if the receiver is connected via its USB port to allow you ro configure the parameters to connect via Ethernet The receiver must be turned off using the power button on the bottom right of the application panel to be able to change the network settings Otherwise the dialog is displayed in read only mode with a short explanation 89 ...

Page 90: ...it possible to observe the CPU load which will depend upon this setting It may not be advisable to select a value resulting in more than say 30 CPU load as the computer may then become sluggish 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 operator requirements Should the computer become ...

Page 91: ...ul for installing the receiver and debugging possible interface problems see Appendix C However as the flashing LED may be distractingz the behavior of this LED in its normal receiver ready state can be controlled by the user making it possible to keep the LED continuously on or off to suit the user s preference Display Offset This feature makes it possible to introduce a fixed offset to the displ...

Page 92: ...l Time This can be selected by the user via this option It is also possible to select 12 or 24 hour time display format or the default format determined by the Windows locale settings 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 the exact wording will depend upon ...

Page 93: ...able 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 The Load and Save buttons allow the user to load and save shortcut settings from to a file VSC Set up The Virtual Sound Card VSC is a software option designed to transfer digitized aud...

Page 94: ...lting from the receiver filtering and demodulation process is sent to a Windows multimedia output device i e in most cases the PC sound card Prior to this the audio data is buffered in order to avoid potential drop outs due to other background processes taking place in the PC which may cause an irregular data rate While the buffering removes drop outs it introduces a certain delay latency to the o...

Page 95: ...e range automatically reduces to 50 Hz factory default value from the signal frequency The reason for such a 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 lock range as a compromise value if it is too small then you may l...

Page 96: ...evice 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 The Do not use PC speakers button can be used to stop audio from being sent to any audio device installed i...

Page 97: ...ke it possible to indicate the ADC input level in percentage of the entire ADC range Frequency error of the received signal assuming the receiver is tuned to the correct frequency AM modulation depth for AM modulated signals Frequency deviation for FM modulated signals SINAD signal plus noise plus distortion to noise plus distortion ratio and THD total harmonic distortion For SINAD and THD measure...

Page 98: ...ty you can measure the sensitivity of the WiNRADiO Artemis receiver very easily All you need is a calibrated signal generator For example to measure AM sensitivity connect the signal generator to the antenna input and turn on AM modulation the modulation depth is usually set to 30 although some manufacturers prefer to quote sensitivity figures at higher modulation depths for example 60 or 80 Set t...

Page 99: ... audio filtering makes a substantial difference to the SINAD results Show Waterfall Timestamps Invoking this option makes the DDC1 waterfall spectrum display show time stamps making it possible to relate spectrum events to absolute time Show Last Clicked Marker If this option is selected all the spectrum displays including sweeper and activity displays will show a marker at the position of the las...

Page 100: ...uency will be shown as Peak offset To calibrate the receiver to the peak frequency click on Calibrate to peak If successful the peak offset will show as zero Press OK to complete the process Hand Off Receiver The Artemis receiver software offers a special Hand Off feature which makes it possible to utilize other available WiNRADiO receivers such as the WR G313 180 the WR G315 the WR G39DDC or anot...

Page 101: ...models internal PCI card version it may be more convenient to use a separate speaker connected directly to the receiver s audio output socket Colour scheme The entire color scheme of the Artemis can be changed If the dark blue of the default skin does not suit there are more to choose from to suit the user s personal preference Restore factory defaults If you get lost by too much experimenting hel...

Page 102: ...WiNRADiO G69DDC User s Guide 102 ...

Page 103: ... the Recall button under the memory tab The top menu bar function Memory contains the following facilities Show user memory makes it possible to display and edit the entire frequency memory structure Memory Search Range is used to adjust the accepted offset from stored frequencies In this example only stations that fall within 1 kHz of the tuned frequency are shown in the callsign display 103 ...

Page 104: ...o 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 New button at the bottom left This opens the New task window 104 ...

Page 105: ...d to The next items are Start time and Start date This is when the task will 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 endin...

Page 106: ... set the demodulator filter bandwidth DEM BW an identical control to the one in the demodulator window For DDC recording type this control can be used to select the DDC recorded bandwidth For Audio recordings the Mode Squelch and Audio filter controls also become enabled making it possible to set these parameters similarly as they are set under their respective tabs during normal receiver operatio...

Page 107: ...t the same time These are specified by simply tuning one or all of the three receivers RX1 RX2 or RX3 to the desired frequencies A simple dialog box then makes it possible to specify the file path and name into which the logging will be made in 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 a...

Page 108: ...rocessing facilities It is also possible for users to write their own special application plug ins For more information about XRS plug ins please refer to www winradio com xrs Power Switch The Power switch located at the bottom right corner of the application window controls the receiver s power When it is off the receiver circuitry will be powered down When you exit and restart the WiNRADiO G69DD...

Page 109: ...modes derive their information from the PC clock The time difference is determined by a setting in your Windows Control Panel Date and Time setting Time Zone tab Did you know Coordinated Universal Time is abbreviated UTC The International Telecommunication Union wanted Coordinated Universal Time to have a single abbreviation for all languages English speakers and French speakers each wanted the in...

Page 110: ...rs and oscillators Following the final down conversion the resulting signal is applied to a demodulator and then to the audio output circuits These receivers depend only on hardware for their performance and functionality In the currently prevailing nomenclature of the SDR industry they are formally referred to as SDR Tier Zero receivers meaning that there is no involvement of software at all Firs...

Page 111: ...ment such software control yet still retain most of their other functionality defined by hardware are often classified as SDR Tier One or Software Controlled Radio Second Generation SDR The second generation SDR receivers bring the radio computer integration a step further by including an analog to digital converter ADC into the essential functionality of the receiver This came about primarily as ...

Page 112: ...me input a software routine will always produce the same result not depending in variations and aging of components such as diodes resistors and capacitors Another advantage of this concept is in the ability to present the IF signal in a real time spectrum display Being able to see a signal and its neighborhood in addition to merely hear it has brought about a major paradigm change and increased a...

Page 113: ...e it possible to eliminate some if not all hardware based heterodyne processes and introduce the concept of digital down conversion where the local oscillator and a mixer can be replaced with a single software reconfigurable hardware component Modern ADCs can achieve a sampling rate of 200 MHz and beyond The Nyquist theorem says that the maximum frequency that can be sampled needs to be smaller th...

Page 114: ... located within the receiver module Here the 100 MHz analog spectrum of the ADC is reduced by decimation to the bandwidth of 32 MHz or less This effectively reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred to the PC for further processing The data produced by primary DDC is sent from the receiver to the PC either via the USB 3 0 or the Gigabit Ethernet LAN interfaces The second decimation t...

Page 115: ... at its optimum For example with desktop PCs it is relatively easy to fit internal SATA disk drives However with external USB interfaced disk drives it is important to remember that If the external hard drive is USB interfaced and connected via a USB hub shared with the Artemis the total USB data transfer speed has to be shared thus reducing the performance of both devices So far we have discussed...

Page 116: ...iver is turned on The blue LED should flash Compare the LED flashing pattern with the table shown in Appendix C If the flashing pattern is 5 meaning USB connected driver not installed please reinstall the driver Disconnect the receiver from the USB port first and reinstall the software from the supplied CD ROM Then reconnect the receiver Windows should detect this and start the usual new hardware ...

Page 117: ...und 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 AGC under the Gain tab is enabled and set to medium speed The squelch is disabled the Enable button under the Squelch tab is disengaged The sound card output is properly connected to speakers or headphones and both the WiNRADiO Application and Devi...

Page 118: ...nel or on the amplified speakers you are using Make sure that AGC under the Gain tab is enabled Try to adjust the Gain parameter under the Audio tab excessive audio gain can cause distortion I can hear the audio and tune the receiver but the software is very sluggish sometimes it may even freeze Close all other programs to reduce the CPU load Go to Options top bar menu and select Filter Length Thi...

Page 119: ...erference in your surroundings it could be fluorescent lights a lamp dimmer or other household appliances Your PC could be the culprit Unless you are able to suppress the interference at the source the only solution is to install a better antenna preferably an outdoor one Computer networks are especially noisy and if your PC is connected to one you will almost certainly need an outdoor antenna If ...

Page 120: ...ent connected radio off 4 One short flash followed by a long one USB or LAN client connected radio on ready 5 Two short flashes followed by a long one USB connected driver not installed 6 Three short flashes USB or LAN connected driver installed application not running For the normal Ready state as indicated by pattern 4 one short flash followed by a long one the front panel LED can be controlled ...

Page 121: ...y receiver needs to be connected to an antenna and antennas can t discriminate between useful signals and interference The interference from your computer can either radiate directly to the antenna or it can be conducted to it along the outer conductor of the lead in cable Even in professional radio receiving stations a lot of care and effort is always needed if this type of self interference is t...

Page 122: ...cmc30 which is well proven to cure most common mode interference problems In extreme cases two or more chokes can be used placed strategically along the antenna lead where suitable grounding points exist Long wire antennas while most commonly used also appear to be most susceptible to problems related to ground loops If you encounter such problems we would also suggest experimenting with magnetic ...

Page 123: ...ayed by the waterfall the bottom line corresponds to the minimum signal strength min_SS Each line contains a set of decimal RGB values separated by spaces 0 0 0 represents black 255 255 255 is white The incoming signal strength values are mapped to this color space as follows If the attenuator is off the minimum signal level is 150 dBm the maximum level is 0 dBm If the attenuator is on the attenua...

Page 124: ... RXW recording the recorder panel shows the original time of the played back signal and the DDC spectrum scope shows the original DDC frequency If Waterfall timestamps option is enabled the DDC waterfall also shows the original time in its vertical axis All DDC files are stereo as they are stored in the I Q form and 24 bit for DDC bandwidths below 3 2 MHz and 16 bits for 3 2 MHz and wider DDC band...

Page 125: ...wwv file format which also stores the actual time frequency mode and the RMS signal strength These additional data can be viewed in special WWV players such as the WiNRADiO WAARP The following standard naming conventions apply to files created by the DDC and audio recorders If the Insert Frequency and Date Time checkbox is checked in the recorder toolbox a file with a name such as rec 12 345678MHz...

Page 126: ...h new created file this counter will be incremented If you engage the Split button and the file size reaches 2 GB the existing file will be automatically closed and named rec 12 345678MHz 001 001 ddc where the sign denotes these split sections and recording will automatically continue into a file named rec 12 345678MHz 001 002 ddc If you manually stop and restart the recording it will continue to ...

Page 127: ...ors may not be installed depending upon the customer s requirements 1 Frequency reference output optional 2 Frequency reference input optional 3 Antenna input frequency range 1 1 kHz 88 MHz 4 Antenna input frequency range 2 43 MHz 8 GHz 5 Power input connector 12 V 6 Gigabit Ethernet Interface LAN with PoE capability 7 USB 3 0 Interface 127 ...

Page 128: ...ile The name of language file starts with Language and continues with language name the file extension is lng e g Language French lng To create your own language information file make a copy of Language English lng replacing English in the file name by other language name and place this file into the program installation directory e g C Program Files x86 WiNRADiO G69DDC Defs Open the new language ...

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Page 130: ... intended to be sold Illustrations pictograms and using international abbreviations for country names may help reduce the need for translation Range 1 8 kHz to 80 MHz Range 2 80 MHz 8 GHz It can be used in Europe without restriction FCC Compliance This device trade name WiNRADiO Communications Receiver model number WR G69DDC complies with FCC part 15B and ICES 003 Operation is subject to the follo...

Page 131: ...ng ceases It is also understood that characteristics of this equipment will require retesting Please direct all communication regarding this matter to Compliance Manager Radixon Group Pty Ltd 45 47 Islington Street Collingwood Victoria 3066 Australia Tel 61 3 9417 3417 Fax 61 3 9417 3556 131 ...

Page 132: ...posed of separately from the municipal waste stream via designated collection facilities appointed by the government or by the local authorities 3 The correct disposal of your old appliance will help prevent potential negative consequences for the environment and the human health 4 For more detailed information about the disposal of your old appliance please consult your city office waste disposal...

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