Herculodge

Sony ICF-A101 From Japan for $200 on eBay

I'm intrigued by this Japanese Sony ICF-A101. A bit pricey though. Is it vintage or new? It's sold new in box and it's digital, but its styling looks older. 

iPod Compatibility Problems Reported on the New JVC Kaboom

The new JVC Kaboom, currently $255, has, as of posting, eight reviews for an average of 4 stars. Generally, the reviews are positive, but the most concerning review brought up compatibility issues. The reviewer brought the Kaboom to work and it didn't fit with 6 different iPods. Worse, this reviewer called Kaboom customer service and the rep said to find an older iPod.

Making a new iPod radio that isn't compatible with new versions? That's insane. 

Colin Cowherd Explains Why an 18-Game NFL Season Will Water-Down the Game

A few days ago I heard Colin Cowherd argue that an 18-game NFL season would dilute the product. He explained that good teams will separate more from bad teams so that the good teams would have their seasons locked up well a month before the season ended. 

The result? You'd have more meaningless games with second- and third-string players. It's like putting "pre-season" on the back-end. 

I fear Cowherd is right and that greed will go too far in compromising a good product. 

How to Turn Off the Beep on Your Grundig Satellit 750 and Other Radios

Thanks, Gary:

(from Yahoo Satellit-750 group, message #1148)

 To turn off the beep: power off the unit. power-on the unit THEN press 0 for 3 seconds it should turn the beep off. ----------- (someone else commented that it might be closer to 5 seconds) Apparently this only works with a newer version of the Sat 750. For the early ones, some folks on the Yahoo group have disassembled the radio and physically crushed the beeper. Why they released any units that can't have the beep canceled via firmware, I have no idea. BTW, on the PL-380 the beep can easily be eliminated. I suspect the PL-390 is the same.

Kevin Reports Strong Performance on His Black Tecsun PL-390: An Update

Thanks, Kevin S:

In record time, my black Tecsun PL-390 arrived from Joyce at Ebayer "Anon-co" today. Quickly unwrapping it and running it through its initial paces, I am quite pleased indeed! 

On AM, as indicated by the pictures of the longer ferrite (posted on the Yahoo Ultralight group), it is quite a bit more sensitive than the PL-310. Stations that are intelligible on the 390 are but mumbles on the 310. 

All 5 DSP bandwidths are there for selectivity. A quick series of checks show that the sensitivity is essentially that of my trusty Sony 7600GR! It's short of the sensitivity of my treasured Sony Sony S5W, but not by as much as I thought it would be. And yes, the PL-390 has just the touch of audio soft-mute like the PL-380, not the 12-15 dB of the PL-310. 

On FM, the whip antenna is 35" long, compared to the 22" whip on the 310. As a result, low-band FM is noticeably better. Even in the upper band, where I had to shorten the 390's whip to resonate near the proper frequency, the 390 still has a readability edge. With the DSP FM section, it is probably the best FM portable on the marker right now! On Shortwave, it's very sensitive, easily better than the PL-310, PL-380 and Sony 7600GR on the few stations I checked. On Longwave, it's not up to the 7600GR on sensitivity, but substantially better than the PL-310. Plus, it doesn't have the horrible soup of images from local MW stations to contend with, as does the 7600GR.

Ergonomically, the two stereo speakers sound much better, as would be expected. The buttons have a much smoother action to them (on my 310 and 380, I have to work at it more to get the buttons to work). Plugging my mp3 player into the AUX IN jack, the audio is quite good: not up to my specialized PA2V2 headphone amp, but still allows Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2 to be at good volume levels on my power-hungry Grado headpones.

The PL-390 has a big orange button for "Light/Snooze", meaning it is much more usable as a clock/radio. The manual is in English. In sum, this appears to be a very well-rounded radio in all aspects. I would definitely recommend it!

Update:

It's a few weeks now since I've had the PL-390 and still love it. In close comparisons with my Sony 7600GR, the PL-390 is somewhat more sensitive all over the MW band, and of course runs circles around the 7600GR on FM.

In answer to Brandon's question, yes the DSP bandwidths are for LW/MW/SW.  Anon-co (Ebay seller) now ships a free USB cord for battery charging!

Thanks, Kevin S:

Squeezebox Radio Accessory Pack with Battery Now Available

Thanks, Ante:

The Squeezebox Radio Accessory Pack with Battery is finally available on e-bay and on www.logitech.com website. I am still hesitant to buy this radio, as Logitech doesn't seem to be successful in fixing its terribly buggy software. 

All the best,

 

Ante

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Logitech-Squeezebox-Radio-Accessory-Pack-w-Battery-NEW-/160473900473?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item255cfd65b9

New Uniden Homepatrol Scanner on Universal Radio

Thanks, Paul:

New: Uniden Homepatrol Scanner at Universal Radio. Slated for release in October. 

Kevin Reports Strong Performance on His Black Tecsun PL-390 in an Excellent Review

(Re-post)

Thanks, Kevin S:

In record time, my black Tecsun PL-390 arrived from Joyce at Ebayer "Anon-co" today. Quickly unwrapping it and running it through its initial paces, I am quite pleased indeed! 

On AM, as indicated by the pictures of the longer ferrite (posted on the Yahoo Ultralight group), it is quite a bit more sensitive than the PL-310. Stations that are intelligible on the 390 are but mumbles on the 310. 

All 5 DSP bandwidths are there for selectivity. A quick series of checks show that the sensitivity is essentially that of my trusty Sony 7600GR! It's short of the sensitivity of my treasured Sony Sony S5W, but not by as much as I thought it would be. And yes, the PL-390 has just the touch of audio soft-mute like the PL-380, not the 12-15 dB of the PL-310. 

On FM, the whip antenna is 35" long, compared to the 22" whip on the 310. As a result, low-band FM is noticeably better. Even in the upper band, where I had to shorten the 390's whip to resonate near the proper frequency, the 390 still has a readability edge. With the DSP FM section, it is probably the best FM portable on the marker right now! On Shortwave, it's very sensitive, easily better than the PL-310, PL-380 and Sony 7600GR on the few stations I checked. On Longwave, it's not up to the 7600GR on sensitivity, but substantially better than the PL-310. Plus, it doesn't have the horrible soup of images from local MW stations to contend with, as does the 7600GR.

Ergonomically, the two stereo speakers sound much better, as would be expected. The buttons have a much smoother action to them (on my 310 and 380, I have to work at it more to get the buttons to work). Plugging my mp3 player into the AUX IN jack, the audio is quite good: not up to my specialized PA2V2 headphone amp, but still allows Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2 to be at good volume levels on my power-hungry Grado headpones.

The PL-390 has a big orange button for "Light/Snooze", meaning it is much more usable as a clock/radio. The manual is in English. In sum, this appears to be a very well-rounded radio in all aspects. I would definitely recommend it!

Thanks, Kevin S:

Are Harry Shearer's Days Numbered at NPR? He Accuses NPR of Being Cowards and Hypocrites

While walking the babies around the neighborhood this morning, I listened to Harry Shearer on his Le Show talk about how NPR was censoring his documentary about why New Orleans got flooded and he said "today might be my last show" for essentially biting the hand that feeds him and accusing NPR of being cowardly and hypocritical with their "guidelines," which compel them to not talk about Shearer's documentary. Guns are drawn. 

Sangean PR-D9 Weather Radio Available for Pre-Order on Amazon

Thanks, Ante, for apprising us of the Sangean PR-D9's soon availability.