Doug's Beastly Panasonic RF-2600

I recall last year sometime your post comparing a pair of borrowed radios, a Panasonic RF-2200 and RF-2600, and your conclusion that you preferred the look, the heft, and most of all the reception (mainly FM, as I recall) of the 2600 which struck me at the time as near anathema as the RF-2200 seems have long been the Holy Grail of portable receivers.

I have both a SONY ICF-2010 and Pan RF-2200, so I really didn't NEED another radio of the same ilk. But a RF-2600 appeared on eBay (apparently only minutes before I went there) described as in excellent condition cosmetically and functionally, and with a BIN price of $100. Well, I'd seen a 2600 in fair to good condition go for something like $160 a few days earlier, so I just did not want to leave this fine specimen behind for someone else to pluck. So, relying on the calculus of # of radios you need = number you currently have + 1, I bought it.

The radio arrived yesterday and it is everything the seller described; if anything, even better than I expected. The cosmetics are near flawless, the antenna straight and true, the carry strap perfect, the LED readout bright. I installed 6 D cells, fired it up (on our classical station, 89.9) and was dazzled by the rich, resonant, room-filling sound coming out of the 5" speaker. Damn close to the audio of my GE Superadio II and bigger in every way than that of the 2200 and WAY bigger than the 2010's.

This thing, as you described it in your post, is a TANK: Heavy and substantial and giving off a high-quality vibe at every look and touch.

Now, reception. In a word: Superb. In both sensitivity and selectivity. The equal in every way to the 2200 on FM, ditto AM. As for long range DXing, I don't do it, so I really can't compare the two. Perhaps the 2200 would win this one due to its gyro antenna but, to me, it's irrelevant. I dabble in SW, and did a comparison this morning pitting the 2600 against the SONY 2010 from 5800 kHz through 9500 kHz with a 40-foot longwire attached by alligator clip. The 2600 more than held its own; in fact, it surpassed the 2010 on several stations, often with less background noise and, with its larger speaker, produced a more pleasant listening experience. No presets on the 2600, so the SONY is much easier to hop around on. 

I am not putting down the SONY, not at all. It has always been, and remains, one of my favorite radios. Perhaps it is just the combination of location, the room I use for SW listening, how well the radio adapts to the longwire, etc. A lot of factors at play here. But as a SW receiver, the 2600 shines. I couldn't be more thrilled with it.

For the same 100 bucks one would pay for a Grundig S350DL, I have 3x the radio (functionally and aesthetically) in the 2600. I know most Herculodegers out there are in love with the 350 but I have never been one of them. I sold mine a few weeks back. Reception was mediocre (89.9 never came in clearly and static free and SW reception was ordinary at best), the sound okay to good (though not as full and rich as that of the 2600) and the whole unit always just looked and felt light and cheap from the case to the controls to the overall heft, or lack thereof. Pre-emptive apologies to all those offended.

BTW: Can anyone out there tell me the function of the "SW Cal" dial (lower right hand corner)

Comments

[Ed S]

I bought my 2600 (the one Jeff reviewed) for $40 at a swap meet a few years ago, and just love the looks and sound, too. That florescent blue frequency readout just makes you smile, it's so techy-retro.
The SW Cal lets you peak/calibrate the display and the signal... tune in a Universal Time channel at 5 Mhz, 10 Mhz, 15 Mhz, etc, and adjust the SW CAL dial for peak signal volume. That's it.
Enjoy.

[Jeffrey McMahon]

I will take Doug's mint 2600 over any 350 anytime, any place.

[Andreas]

Beauty!

[Doug]

Thanks, Ed, for the SW Cal info; I will give it a go tonight. Agree totally on the blue-green LED readout. It is a delight unto itself, just fun to watch as you turn the tuning dial and, yeah, it does have that kind of "techy-retro" quality. I can see this becoming my favorite, go-to radio. I just love everything about it.

[Angelo]

Well bought at a hundred bucks, very well bought.
In a previous post, I mentioned that a Radio Shack clerk asserted that the 450 feels cheaper to him than the 350 (Grundigs). I'd say with any decent vintage Panasonic, you're way ahead of the game.

[Doug]

Agree totally, Angelo. Any of those vintage Panasonics are vastly superior in every way to anything in the new generation of AM/FM/SW portatops. Except, perhaps, the Eton E-1. But having no personal experience with it, I can't say.

I handled a 450 in a Radio Shack store last week and it is certainly at least AS flimsy and insubstantial as the 350, both of which have the heft of a Subway sandwich.

[Chris]

I have the GE 7-2990a, which is a rebadged 2600, and it is really a great set.

I'll echo the 450 sighting. Saw one at the mall in Athens GA yesterday, and it is on par with the 350. They had both radios on display right next to each other. Don't think I'll buy either unless it is an incredible deal.

[Bob Forrester]

I know your post on the Panasonic rf-2600 was a while ago, but I thought you'd might like to know this. The sw calibrate knob is for fine tuning ssb and cw reception. Since it changes the tuning of the radio it's probably a variable BFO but you can use it like an if shift. You turn it about 20 degrees to either side for upper or lower sideband. It wasn't my main radio so I "improved" the sw cal by replacing it with a precision 10 turn pot and a large turns counting calibrated dial. With that I was able to easily manually compensate for the drift that makes both the 2200 and 2600 useless on sideband or morse. I also fed the mpx out into an oscilloscope which acted like a band scope on SW. BTW the MPX out was for an optional stereo adapter, but I never saw one for sale.

[Bob Forrester]

I forgot that the 2600 did have a BFO pitch control, so the sw calibrate was probably meant to be a fine tuning control, but I do seem to remember that it moved the passband like an IF shift does. I'm sorry, but the details are a bit fuzzy after over 35 years.

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