Icom 7300 Panadapter Using Inrad RX7300, DXPatrol And HDSDR

>>>Why not grossly overstate and exaggerate a point to try and detract from it? Oh nm you took care of that already.

Actually, what you described as a glaring omission, was mentioned only a couple of times in the IC-7300 Yahoogroups, at least while I was subscribed to the group.
The lack of separate receive inputs was the number one complaint, as I remember, and coincidently enough one of the first, if not the first, after market accessory made available for the 7300. 16 bits ADC was mentioned a lot also. Capacitive screen , while I'm not a 100% sure it was mentioned there, it was mentioned in another forum.

And yes, the IC-7610 will likely add a few features missing from the 7300, while not offering everything that might be included in the yet to be designed 7810 or 7951.

As for lower prices, some people are waiting for HF chinese clones.

A single model will never ever please every segment of a market. This is why different models exist for almost everything, not only ham radio transceivers.

73 de Vince, VA3VF

 

A passive power splitter like that will always give at least a 3 dB "loss" for both outputs. One cannot remove 50% of the power from a signal and have 100% left. The 3 dB loss will thus affect the 7300 too. That being said, since most people agree the IC-7300 is a bit too sensitive, the 3 dB loss will probably just do you good.

 

If the RS-BA1 remote control software only had re-sizable windows, I would be a happy camper. The Remote control radio panel is very adequate and visually pleasing, with just a couple of non-usable buttons like th PSK Button and really just every button that is in grey. It is also very non-user friendly on having to use your mouse for functions that could have had sliders (or at least the option), for some functions but that is only my preference and others may like it the way it is. The biggest two dial-sets give me the most difficulty are the Notch control and the TWIN-PBT filter controls. Very difficult to control with a mouse. With all the 7300 sold and teh 7610 coming out, I hope they will eventually get to those functions. One more for hoping I could be able to resize the SPECTRUM SCOPE, so the nice pan-adapter display could be made large.. as well as the Radio display as well. It looks like it may have been written using X-windows or something like that.
Rich (KoPIR) I love your site and your videos. Thanks for your service to the Amateur Community.

73, N4'J'ay 'L'oves 'R'adio'

 

Rich, (KoPIR), I love using the ICOM RS-BA1 Remote Control application with my 7300 and my IC-756 proiii. Some little quirks, but the PAN display that is included with the Spectrum Scope is great to have. Along with HRD, my world is just about covered at the old age of 69. Thanks for all your information on your site... you community and your videos....you are truly what Amateur Radio Hobbyists should be and carry foward to for new Hams.
Happy 4th, 73

Jay, N4JLR 'J'ay' 'L'oves 'R'adio
Melbourne Beach Florida

 

A receiver can only be "too sensitive" if its noise floor is lower than the band noise. This is NOT the case with the 7300 when the IP+ is switched on from 15M thru 6M. The noise floor of the 7300 is HIGHER than the noise on these bands in most situations. Like all other direct sampling radios, the 7300 suffers a noise floor degradation of several db when dithering and randomization are enabled (Icom gives these processes the fancy name of "IP+", maybe they want you to believe that it's something that other direct sampling rigs don't have......it isn't)

 

Thanks Jay and nice to see your comments.

I have to be honest I haven't tried RS-BA1. I've seen some videos and read some posts on it. It would be great if they improved it like you say. I agree!

I like using HRD also with HDSDR it seems to all work together very well. I especially like the sliders in HRD and I can control AF gain, compression, notch, mic gain, nb depth, IF shift, RF gain, etc., etc.

I hope to see more improvement in the future for RS-BA1.

Best 73!

 

Yes agree with you, and I don't understand why arrl et al specifies the noise floor without IP+, while measuring dynamic range with IP+.

What I meant with too high sensitivity is the issue with front end overload. For most people (with today's high noise floor and strong interference on nearby frequencies), the strong-signal handling is more important than the receiver noise floor.

 

Do we have official word from Icom about what IP+ is supposed to mean/do? I unsubscribed from the IC-7300 Yahoogroups a long time ago, but back then, it was a point of discussion.

73 de Vince, VA3VF

 

I haven't seen any official documentation from Icom about the technical details of IP+, but it is pretty evident what it does. By oversampling one can trade bandwidth in the ADC for increased spurious free dynamic range. By sampling a 14 MHz signal with 60 MSPS (double what is needed) you can gain 1 bit in AD rolution (or 6 dB in dynamic range in an SDR). For this to work, one must introduce some noise before the ADC. This noise ensures that, for example, the sampled value of the analogue level 1.3 will result in 1 two time out of 3, and 2 1 time out of 3. This noise is called dithering, and that is what raises the noise floor when IP+ is enabled.

This whole thing works best on lower bands where sampling frequencies are much higher than the wanted signal, and the atmospheric noise is higher than the receiver noise floor.

 

Thank you very much for the explanation. Does it really translate to real, on the air, working conditions, or is it more of a lab theoretical gimmick?

 

Yes agree with you, and I don't understand why arrl et al specifies the noise floor without IP+, while measuring dynamic range with IP+.
What I meant with too high sensitivity is the issue with front end overload. For most people (with today's high noise floor and strong interference on nearby frequencies), the strong-signal handling is more important than the receiver noise floor.

Johan, you are correct, my apologies for misunderstanding your term "too much gain". Front end overload occurs when the instantaneous voltage that is generated by ALL of the signals that are being sampled overloads the ADC. Therefore, saturation of the ADC can vary widely, depending on how many strong signals are present at any given moment. In my opinion, the reviews and specifications are presented in the most favorable way by some organizations because the manufacturers of the equipment that is being reviewed are paying a LOT of money for advertising in the publications that are printing the reviews. I also don't expect a technical explaination from the manufacturers as to how a marketing term (for instance, "IP+") actually works, ESPECIALLY if it has any negative effects on the performance of their product. If anyone wants a good technical explaination of digital sampling, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyquist–Shannon_sampling_theorem

 

Yes, in contrast to for example noise floor figures like -140 dBm, oversampling can mean a great deal (both the positive and negative effects). Largely because most SDR's use 14-bit ADC's, and 14-bits alone is not enough to represent both the strongest and weakest signals in one band at the same time.
(14 bits represent about 80 dB spurious free dynamic range, which corresponds well with ARRL's measured dynamic range of 81 dB on the 7300 without IP+.)

 

Looking at getting a 7300
What is the best panadapter and what all is needed to get it on a larger screen?