USER HINTS FOR YOUR G3031 Bob Grove

USER HINTS FOR YOUR G3031
Bob Grove

(1) If you have the Professional Demodulator, pay attention to the slider between the up and down buttons of the IF bandwidth adjustment. It allows continuous control of the selectivity for the signal you are receiving.

(2) With the Professional Demodulator you can optimize the filter shape factor by going to Setup on the demodulator panel and setting the filter length to 255 (maximum) for both the IF and post-mixer filters. You will need to do this separately for each mode. This is especially helpful in narrow-mode reception like CW.

(3) While synchronous AM mode (AMS) may offer some AM reception enhancement, there's a better way to monitor AM DX: Exalted Carrier Selectable Sideband (ECSS). Switch back and forth among DSB, USB or LSB for the best reception; you can fine-tune the main dial for the most natural-sounding audio.

(4) Since your G303i tunes all the way down to 9 kHz (the lowest frequency allocated by the FCC), its excellent sensitivity allows you to hear LF DX beacons and see their signals pop up and down on the real-time spectrum display. You can use these signals to practice tuning the IF bandwidth adjustment to exactly the requirements for their bandwidths.

(5) For optimum CW reception, set the IF bandwidth to 50 or 100 Hz, and the filter lengths to 255 under the Setup CW tab. This allows reception of weak signals near the minimum detectable signal (MDS) threshold of the receiver (approx. -135 dBm, or under 0.1 microvolt).

(6) While G303i was properly tuned at the factory, component aging leads to minor changes. You can calibrate the frequency accuracy with new, down-loadable software from WiNRADiO.

(7) Proper settings for the SAGC and AGC; should they be used together? Normally use both the software-defined AGC (SAGC) and hardware AGC, each nominally set to medium ("MED"). If the audio output level is too high with SAGC ON, reduce the "SAGC Reference Level" under "Set-up," thus reducing the drive to the audio output. If AGC "pumping" distorts CW or data reception, or if background noise bursts between signal pulses are annoying, you may wish to disable the SAGC. Under weak-signal conditions the AGC may desensitize the receiver during noise bursts; disable the AGC and adjust the manual IF gain control. If intelligibility of the weak signal still seems distorted, disable the SAGC as well.