Herculodge

Pure Evoke Flow Internet Radio Now Selling on eBay

 

 

 

Frank writes:

I had a real hard time finding one of these earlier this year and now 2 of them are listed on eBay, for a lot less than I paid. That said, I really like this internet radio and get a lot of compliments on its looks and sound.

Would have preferred it having a built in battery pack but that's the breaks I guess. I bought one on eBay, generic, and it works fine.

Thanks for the enjoyable blog.

 

Chris Carter Warns ESPN's Mike Greenberg: "Be Careful. Don't Go Urban"

 

This morning Chris Carter was a guest on ESPN's Mike and Mike radio show. I usually admire Mike Greenberg's adroit intellect as he navigates over all the issues of the day with robust complexity but sometimes he geeks out trying to make a big issue out of nothing. Such was the case this morning when he tried to say that Tony Romos' previous reputation as a joke and not a leader was due to his wearing his baseball cap backwards.

When he asked Chris Carter if Romo's backward baseball cap might be a factor in his compromised reputation, Carter seemed peeved. With a certain bluntness and impatience, Carter said the baseball cap is irrelevant and when pressed Carter became more annoyed, dismissed Greenberg's theory, then told the co-host: "Be careful. You're putting an urban element into this discussion."

Carter's distaste for Greenberg's misguisded questioning was blunt, transparent, and refreshing. I agree that Romo's problems were from performance, not his sartorial choices. His recent show of courage, playing in pain last night as Dallas beat Washington, seems like a turning point in Romo's reputation.

CC Radio 2 in Europe

Ante writes:

I know CC Radio 2 made a lot of noise at the time; the ultimate love for it, however, faded over time. Here are two photos of that radio but with Sangean and Roberts labels. Unfortunately, I don't think it has gained much popularity in Europe either, even though reviews of the radio are generally positive.

Gerald's Toshiba RP-2000F: What a Work of Art

The Toshiba RP-2000F, looking for all the world like a "Transformer." With an FM whip that pivots, rotates and spins,  appears as though it might be robotic. Stunning purple brushed aluminum face plate make this one of the most beautiful portable multibands ever produced. 

As i have posted in this forum before, Toshiba, Sanyo and others were driven to excellence in order to compete with Panasonic and Sony.

This model certainly doesnt disappoint as it stands tall (literally at 10"X8"X3") along side the big two from Japan. It  was produced to compete directly with the RF2200 from Panasonic and the ICF 5900 from Sony.

Introduced in 1977, the RP 2000 features standard shortwave bands, FM and AM. It has spread dial crystal marker tuning calibration as does its competitors. The set tunes very accutely on shortwave and falls just short of the Panasonic on AM reception. FM is the strenghth here as that massive FM whip snags signals with ease, surpassing the 5900"S FM efforts and equalling the 2200. As far as presentation, layout and overall beauty, its just stunning.

 

I have seen but few of these in ten plus years of monitoring Ebay. Of the five or so ive seen in that time, all but one had the japanese FM scale, 88 to 96 mhz only. Condition was also lacking in the ones id seen as some didnt       have intact antenna's, etc. I was fortunate to find this pristine model (with full FM scale) at a local garage sale, paying 45.00 dollars for it!

 

Keep looking, you never know what    pristine rarity awaits on someone's garage shelf or attic. And dont overlook other Japanese makes of the late 60's and 70's they are of excellent quality.

 

Ed's Lafayette Radio

 

This weekend was a good one for "picking" radios. I went to the monthly TRW Hamfest and the Old Torrance Street Fair. My best find was a vintage 6-Band portable from 1969, back when radios had names and not model numbers, apparently--it's called a "Starfire VI" ...not sure if there were 5 preceding Starfires, but I doubt it!  The brand is Lafayette Radio; some of you may remember that brand.   Lafayette Radio was a venerable national CB-shortwave-parts chain of stores that pre-dated Radio Shack. For many decades, along with Allied Radio, they were the only game in town as far as electronics went. Lafayette published thick annual catalogs that generations of of hobbyists and kids, myself included, would drool over endlessly. I spent many of my hard-earned and birthday dollars in a New York branch of Lafayette (Jamaica, Queens) in my youth. In fact, I still have a copy of their 1969 catalog which features this very radio...see scan. At $79.95 in 1969, this radio was impossibly expensive--in 2010 dollars it would cost an incredible $495!! No wonder I had to build my radios then from kits that cost less than 25 dollars--and $25 is what I paid for this radio yesterday, ironically.   Looking like a knock-off of the Zenith Trans-Oceanics and Sony Earth-Orbiters which I now own, the "Starfire" isn't built to the same degree of bullet-proofing and fit-n-finish. But it does have a real black leather-clad cabinet which is still, 42 years later, in amazingly rich and supple condition. It has a flip-up map/cover which is ingeniously fastened with magnets. It has very much of a late 60's, early 70's vibe with its all-analog dials and display. And it uses cool pushbuttons for band selection, a nice change from the customary Zenith/Sony rotary band-selector dial.   Obviously made during the The Number-of-Transistors Wars, the Starfire boasts EIGHTEEN transistors, maybe the most of any of my transistor radios. And how does it work? Fantastic! The two 4" speakers deliver decent (but not stereo) audio quality...not the equal of the Trans-Oceanic, or an 80's boombox, but as good as a Sony Earth-Orbiter. Only has a single tone control, alas. But on AM it is as sensitive as my Super Radio II (inside I saw TWO 8" ferrite bars!), and on shortwave it is very good-- no frills except a "Fine Tuning" dial and tuning meter. It includes a VHF band that would later be known as the "PSB band." I was glad to find the dial light still works, and as an extra surprise, the Instruction manual was tucked inside the battery compartment!  That doesn't happen often. By the  way, it uses four "D" cells and can be powered by an external adaptor. (In 1969, D batteries cost only 15 cents each! Whoa.)   I will likely sell this on eBay soon--probably to someone who lusted over it in the Lafayette Radio catalog when they were young and couldn't afford it. A great nostalgic piece still in beautiful condition!

 

I Let This One Get Away: Invicta Russian Diver Retrograde 5211

 

 

With less than a half hour ago, I was "sure" to win this Invicta 5211 (silver model) for $160 but someone at the last second (I was outside with my children) bid a dollar higher.  Rare to see these on eBay or anywhere. I'd let to get this someday. One of my all-time favorites.

If it's any consolation, I have the blue version. 

 

Amazon Selling Sangean CL-100 for $59.99

 

Excellent price for the Sangean CL-100. 

Herculodge Review of the Sangean LB-100 Lunchbox Radio

(Re-post)

A few months ago, I spent $104 on the Sangean U3 worksite radio and was, in spite of warnings about its bass-heavy speakers, exceedingly pleased with speaker sound and AM/FM sensitivity. 

Even before I bought the U3, I wanted the Sangean LB-100, which had been praised by many, including Val and Peter, but was unavailable in the US market until recently.

So for about $75 and free shipping on Amazon, I bought the LB-100. I fretted the possibility that the LB-100's AM might not be up to par with the U3, an observation made in Russ' review. 

But a side by side reception comparison results in what appears to be identical, and very impressive AM and FM. 

One thing I don't like about both the Lunchbox and the U3 is that the non-rotation screw-in FM antenna doesn't give you any option to perform fine-tuning when wanting to get in a troublesome station (all worksite radios have such an antenna built like this to be rugged). Not that you need to adjust the antenna much. The FM sensitivity is so good that such adjusting isn't necessary. However, for weak FM stations like 89.3 and 88.9 it would be nice to have a rotating FM antenna. As strong as the FM is on both radios, I can't grab the weakest FM station I know of, 88.9, on the U3 and the LB-100 like I can with the Redsun RP-2100 (CCrane CSW) or the Grundig S350.

 

Now for AM reception. Very sensitive. The sound is very appealing through the 5-inch speaker, just like on the bigger U3. If the U3 has a slighter advantage on AM sound, it might be because of its bigger speaker. I'm not sure if it's the speaker or the bigger ferrite, but I'm giving just a scintilla of edge to the U3, but we're really splitting hairs here. On the LB-100 570 and 710, prone to birdy, came in loud and clear. The Sangean PR-D5 with is 8-inch ferrite proved no better than the LB-100 and the LB-100's overall sound is not surprisingly much better. 

Unlike the U3, which has a clock, headphone jack, and aux port, the LB-100 has none of these and is, in spite of being digital with 5 presets for AM and FM, a very bare bones radio, a sort of 1980 Ford Ranger truck, which didn't even come with a radio. 

You might want to pay an extra $25 and get the added features of the U3 and as Russ has pointed out enjoy a bigger ferrite AM antenna (though I personally didn't hear any difference in AM between the two).

One thing Russ pointed out is that the footprint on the LB-100 is not small at 8x8 inches. I was going to use the LB-100 in the kitchen but its size may make me change my mind and take it to the work office or use in one of the bathrooms.

I do want to commend Sangean on the battery compartment (takes 4 C batteries). This is not one of those latches that you snapped broken because you breathed too heavily on the hinges. This hinge uses a big screw and looks like it was built to last. 

Conclusion: At the $75 price point, the LB-100 has a rugged look, a loud yellow color, excellent fidelity, and strong AM and FM reception. Recommended. 

 

Jay Allen: How to Reduce AM/SW Interference

 

Jay Allen goes over the ways you can rid your house of AM and SW interference. 

Herculodge 28 Radio Pet Peeves Updated

(Re-post)

 

1. Radios that have lots of gizmos but the producers put a sad little ferrite AM antenna inside it as a sort of afterthought.
2. Radios with so much AM and/or FM drift you have to connect a big ugly external antenna to them.
3. Why doesn’t Sangean put the wonderful 200mm ferrite AM antenna in all of its radios, such as their WR-11?
4. Why do brand new Tivoli Songbooks cost upwards of $200 on Amazon but are less than $100 on eBay? Is Tivoli trying to price itself out of the market?
5. FM wire antennas. I wish the telescopic antenna was a standard feature on all radios.
6. Even worse than wire antennas, radios that use their AC cord for their FM antenna like the old Bose radio I used to have.
7. Why did Sangean stick such mediocre speakers on their otherwise very good PR-D5 model?
8. You pick up a medium-size radio and it feels suspiciously light in your hands. You pick up a similar sized vintage Panasonic or Sony and it weights three times as much. This is telling you something, not good, about the lighter radio.
9. Radios with LCD lights so bright that they could illuminate an airport.
10. Radios with remote control but no other interface for controlling the radio.
11. HD radio because it requires messy external wires, antennas, and STILL gets lousy AM at night and in rainy conditions.
12. Being teased for several months by an appealing radio like the Redsun 3100, hearing about its “imminent production” on various message boards and then discovering it’s nothing but vaporware.
13. Headphone jack in the back of the radio.
14. Weird volume setting that fades every time you turn the station and then restores to original setting after a few seconds like on the Sangean CL-100. 
15. Speaker so bass heavy that you get distortion even at low volumes like on the Sangean K-200. 
16.  One of my pet peeves is medium to large sized radios without separate bass and treble controls. The Sangean PR-D5 and LB-100 are good examples, but there are many others (Gary).
17. Lack of a stereo/mono switch on a radio capable of receiving stereo FM. Radios are more sensitive when receiving mono FM than they are receiving stereo FM. Two examples of radios with this flaw are the CCRadio-2 and the Grundig Sat 800 (Gary).
18. I'll add one - radios that run on "C" batteries when they would run just fine on smaller "AA" batteries (Brandon).
19.  the scarcity of stereo in both portable and table top radios. Even when the speakers are of only moderate quality, the sound of music on FM is tremendously improved by stereo capability. Just compare the Sangean Sonido to the PR-D5 (Tim).
20. My peeve is the general dearth of quality radio program production. The BBC World Service sets the gold standard. Balanced exposition on a seemingly endless variety of subjects. NPR/PRI do some good work but their perspective is much more narrow (Keith, citing more of an overall radio crisis than a peeve but who am I to exclude this radio "peeve"?).
21.  Peeve: Itty bitty teeny weeny little miniscule diminutive buttons, especially when marked with tinier print! (Thanks, Bill)
22.  Radios with whip antennas that don't tilt and swivel (thanks, Gary).
23.  Radios that display the time rather than the frequency when listening to a station. I think the CCRadio-2 does this. Either show both the clock and the frequency, or let the user set whatever default is preferred (thanks, Gary).
24. Why did they put a detented tuning knob on the Sangean ATS-909? It doesn't enable you to quickly go through the bands. 
25. Why can't you get rid of that annoying beep every time you do something? The ATS-505 lets you turn it off without mods. 
26. Why is the Grundig G6 memory system too easy to overwrite? 
27. Why did Tecsun make the stand on the PL-660 so flimsy
28. Why did Tecsun make the antenna on the PL-660 so loose and floppy? (Thanks, Jules, for 24-28)
29. Radios where you can't turn off the lights. Many have a back light on/off switch but in most cases the lights still come on when you tune it or do something else even if the light is set off. That's fine but also have a real off setting. (The Tecsun PL-660 is one of the few that has a real off setting as well as a smart off setting. Why can't other radios do this too?) In the good ole days radios did not have lights at all. One radio I have even has a light on the power adapter that plugs into the wall. 
30.  power adapters that get hot. 
31.  tinny sound. The whole purpose is to listen to it. 
32. insufficient tactile feedback so you can't use it in the dark with having it light up. 
33. radios which lose your presets when you change the batteries. 
34. hideous blue background screens on internet radios 
35. internet radios with no ethernet connection. 
36. only available in black. I never take my radios to a funeral. 
37. expensive add-ons (overpriced case, AC adapter, etc.)

 

Posted at 05:54 AM in Radio Lovers Can't Be Cured | Permalink

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COMMENTS

 

Interesting. I thought it was just me. I'm always accidentally replacing a memory with the station I just punched in.

Posted by: Ken K. in NJ | August 26, 2011 at 06:29 AM

My comment above was about #26, the Grundig G6, but somehow the cut&paste got truncated.

Anyway, I don't really agree with two of the pet peeves:

#5-FM Wire antennas. I find the wire antenna acceptable (and even preferable) when a sticking-up real antenna looks out of place, such as the JVC stereo system in the family roon, and my Horizon Solo in the Living Room. In both cases the wire does a perfectly fine job and is tucked away where it's not visible.

#18 Radios that take C batteries instead of AA's. I'll take a C battery radio over an AA battery radio any day if the radios are of similar size. The C's last much longer, and seem to provide more power to the speakers.

Posted by: Ken K. in NJ | August 26, 2011 at 12:38 PM

A few of mine: (1) radios where you can't turn off the lights. Many have a back light on/off switch but in most cases the lights still come on when you tune it or do something else even if the light is set off. That's fine but also have a real off setting. (The Tecsun PL-660 is one of the few that has a real off setting as well as a smart off setting. Why can't other radios do this too?) In the good ole days radios did not have lights at all. One radio I have even has a light on the power adapter that plugs into the wall. (2) power adapters that get hot. (3) tinny sound. The whole purpose is to listen to it. (4) insufficient tactile feedback so you can't use it in the dark with having it light up. (5) radios which lose your presets when you change the batteries. (4) hideous blue background screens on internet radios (5) internet radios with no ethernet connection. (6) only available in black. I never take my radios to a funeral. (7) expensive add-ons (overpriced case, AC adapter, etc.)

Posted by: A. Black | August 26, 2011 at 01:26 PM

I didn't mean to truncate Ken's comment. Sorry.

Also, I agree with Ken that C and D batteries are preferred. I'll take long-lasting big batteries anytime.

Posted by: Jeffrey McMahon | August 26, 2011 at 03:09 PM

These are great!

To toss in my thoughts on battery sizes:

While I agree that the longevity of C's is preferable to AA's, I'd rather have AA's. I've got about a million and a half battery powered items, most either take AAA's, AA's or D's. About 3 take C's. They're kind of like the redheaded stepchild of the battery family, and I wouldn't mind seeing them go away permanently.