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Bowman1
Exiled on Main Street
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Posted: 5/24/2012 1:01:02 PM

THE IMAGE ABOVE IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT
I've been looking as SDRs now for a while, and was seriously considering the Perseus when I heard about the RadioJet.After looking at the specs, and reading some very positive reviews out of Europe, i decided I would pick one up when it finally got released in the states. My wait ended last week when that magical brown truck stopped by last Friday with my new purchase. While it's too early to give this radio the official Arfcom 'GTG' rating (turns out the learning curve is a little steeper when it comes to SDRs than other radios), I can tell you that this thing is very impressive. The ability to 'see' what you're hearing and custom configure your filter to match the desired signal is a very powerful tool. Combine it with what seems like a very sensitive receiver like this one and you may have a world beater. It's also very trippy for an old shortwave listener like myself to hear DRM for the first time. It's still a little hard to get my head around near FM quality signals coming into Iowa from New Zealand, but they do.

Here's a screen shot from the Universal Radio website:



This isn't my video, but here's a guy putting the RadioJet through it's paces. He's a little further along the learning curve than I am. (I bet he knows how to embed videos on arfcom too )

Bonito RadioJet vid on YouTube

All in all, I'm very pleased with my new purchase.
Pour me another drink and pass the ammunition.

WTF is wrong with our nation when doing what's RIGHT is considered "above-and-beyond"? - Hollywood387
RedHotChiliPepper
I'm on a goat
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Posted: 5/24/2012 2:55:17 PM
Iowa?


click cut and it goes beep boop boopidy beep beep and cuts it
Bowman1
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Posted: 5/24/2012 3:54:15 PM
Yup, where the tall corn grows.
phurba
Sardonic pragmatic redneck nerd
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Posted: 5/24/2012 4:13:16 PM
"Good software replaces expensive hardware". And the radio is $755 and the software is $73

Not knocking the product at all (I love my SDR) but they might want to reconsider the phrasing there
This post should not be construed as an indication that I would like to murder people.

ugh. you get caught in ONE furpile, ONE time and this is what happens...... - SouthEndXGF
DanTSX
Max Hardcore is not a crime!
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Posted: 5/24/2012 10:59:03 PM


Thanks for the review. SDR really fascinates me. Tuning across a visual waterfall display and having multiple tuning aids, bandwiths, etc at your fingertips is really much easier than trying to find an old smokey HF receiver, and keeping it running.

I'll be jumping in at some point.
WANTED: Someone to go back in time w/ me. Not a joke. PO Box 322 Hartford,CT 06132. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.
Jazzemt
Me?
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Posted: 5/25/2012 7:40:55 AM
Good luck with this. I have a copy of radiocom from them that I cannot get to work to save my life. Tried 6 different computers and multiple radios and still does not work with any radio I plug in to it. Their support is horrible to abysmal at best. After tons of emails they told me to stop emailing them and call a guy in the states that volunteers to help set up the software and radios. I gave up. Spent a good chunk of money on the software and I basically have some adapters and a cd.
"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true." كاف
Bowman1
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Posted: 5/29/2012 10:41:39 AM
Originally Posted By Jazzemt:
Good luck with this. I have a copy of radiocom from them that I cannot get to work to save my life. Tried 6 different computers and multiple radios and still does not work with any radio I plug in to it. Their support is horrible to abysmal at best. After tons of emails they told me to stop emailing them and call a guy in the states that volunteers to help set up the software and radios. I gave up. Spent a good chunk of money on the software and I basically have some adapters and a cd.


I haven't heard anyone say anything good about Bonito's RadioComm software. Did anyone anywhere ever get that POS to work? I found the reviews on eHam while I was researching this unit and they definitely made me think twice. After seeing the good 1102s reviews coming out of Europe though, I decided to pull the trigger. Other than some software that refused to register (my issue, not theirs), I haven't experienced any issues. I will say that they responded to my registration issue pretty quickly though, and were even helpful. Maybe they've gotten better? I hope so for my sake. The really good news about this is that Bonito has opensourced the controller .DLLs, so I am hoping third party control suites will be available soon. It would be nice to have other options besides the Bonito suite.

All in all, the radio still impresses me. I need to get off my fat ass and do a serious comparison between the RadioJet and my R8, but right now I'm inclined to give a slight edge to the RadioJet. That's high praise indeed.