Herculodge

Kevin Raper Reviews the CCRadio-2 and the CCRadio-EP

Thanks, Gary:

 

Here is a recent review of the CCRadio-2 by Kevin Raper:

http://www.thebdr.net/articles/ops/test/CiO-CCRadio2.pdf

Earlier he reviewed the CCRadio-EP:

http://www.thebdr.net/articles/ops/test/Tools-CCrane-EP.pdf

 

Amazon Reviewers Unhappy with the Tivoli Model 10

Thanks, Ante:

According to Amazon reviewers this Radio seems to have lot of problems! Wow, and all of that at the price of $ 200! Unbelievable!

http://www.amazon.com/Tivoli-Audio-Model-Clock-Table/product-reviews/B0040IUJHC/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

Reader Shares His Impressions of the Sangean RS-330

(Re-post)

Thanks, Dave:

For twenty years or so I have used first the Proton 320, then the Sangean 330, as my clock radio. After several years the tuning mechanism on the Proton began not to work well. 

Main strengths of the Sangean are the rich sound from the speaker, the alarm controls, and the overall solid build. FM reception is OK but not great. I live in Las Vegas and get sometimes imperfect reception of the local classical music station (which has an admittedly weak signal), even with dipole antenna attached. AM reception is OK; at night I can pick up KCBS 740 in San Francisco. 

But AM reception is not nearly as good as with the Sangean PR-D5.

For FM reception the Grundig G8 may be the best radio I have ever had. It easily surpasses the PR-D5 and may be better than the Sony XDR-F1HD.

 

 

Manly Watch Sighting: New Invicta Corduba Scuba

 

 

 

$123 and shipping for this 48mm Invicta Corduba Scuba with rubber strap. Very nice for the price. 

Sony ICF-5500 for $99.97 and Free Shipping and a Mint Sony SF-94L

 

 

Decent price for an apex performer, a Sony ICF-5500, described in good condition. 

I am intrigued by this mint Sony SF-94L, described in mint condition. Does anyone know about its performance. My guess is it's a winner. 

Richard's Very Imperfect Tecsun CR-1100

I bought my first CR-1100 some time ago, probably 1-2 years. It started turning itself on random numbers of days or hours after I had last used it, but after 6 months or so it fixed itself. I did buy a second one, thinking I would use it as a kitchen radio. Either one clearly tunes weak FM stations I can't hear at all on other portables, so I use them mostly on FM. AM is OK with good audio, but not a lot of distant stations. If there is RFI, you don't hear it in the AM audio too much but it will overload the front end, or at least that is my guess, based on how mine behave.

Paul S's Advice to Radio Makers Regarding SW Switch

 

 

Regarding Mischa's first look at the Degen 321, Paul S writes:

I just noticed that the SW-Band switch is on top of the receiver where one would expect the AM ferrite bar to be placed. This might cause some concerns regarding some noise and insensitivity. Generally, there should be quite a few wires associated with these kind of slide-switches. I think there is a proximity problem here.

NOTE TO DEGEN/TECSUN/KAITO... Place the SW-band switch in a different location away from the ferrite bar.

Paul S. in CT

 

Gary's Review of the Tecsun CR-1100: Mixed Bag

 

 

The Tecsun CR-1100: A Mixed Bag

Based on the recent reviews of the CR-1100 and the price drop, I decided to try one.

The audio quality on the CR-1100 is good, with a clear, crisp sound quality, even on AM. The bass is full, but not bloated. The tone control has quite a bit of effect on the high frequencies. The CR-1100, even with the tone control turned fully counterclockwise (minimum treble), has a much clearer sound on AM than the PR-D5, the latter in comparison sounding like it has a thick towel in front of the speakers.

The buttons and knobs on the CR-1100 seem responsive, and the English labels on the unit I received are appreciated. The build quality seems good, keeping in mind that it's a cheap, lightweight, plastic radio.

The CR-1100 has fair sensitivity on AM. It's more sensitive than a PR-D7, but less sensitive than a PR-D5, except at the high end of the AM band.

The first station I tuned to after turning on the CR-1100 was KFI 640. I was very surprised to hear nasty distortion on audio peaks. Tuning around, I found that this occurred on all of the stations I tried. The effect is similar to microphone overload, which produces a buzzy sound. I noticed that my PL-380, another Tecsun DSP-based radio, has this same distortion, but only when using the 6 kHz or 4 kHz AM filters. Presumably the CR-1100 is also using one of these wide DSP filters. If the CR-1100 had allowed switching to the 3 kHz filter, as can be done on the PL-380, this distortion could probably have been avoided.

I also noticed a fluttering volume level on some stations. This, and the distortion noted above, imply that the AGC is too fast. Listening to the same stations on my PR-D5 or WR-2 produced neither the distortion on audio peaks nor the fluttering level. On the stations with the worst distortion, even turning the tone control on the CR-1100 to the full counterclockwise position did not get rid of the distortion. Due to this raspy distortion, I found the CR-1100 very unpleasant to listen to on AM.

I observed that on AM the CR-1100 is very sensitive to electrical interference (RFI). Sometimes this interference caused a fluttering audio level as well, due to the fast AGC issue noted above. Placing my PR-D7 in the same location, I could hear the interference, but it was not as noticeable, and there was no fluttering.

The CR-1100 has some spurious tones on AM, but it's much better than the PL-380 in this regard, probably because it has a longer ferrite bar which is located father from the noisy circuitry in the radio.

One oddity in the audio circuitry: lowering the volume lowers the bass in a step fashion well before minimum volume is reached. I believe somebody alluded to this in a review on Amazon.

The CR-1100 has good sensitivity and very good selectivity on FM. The antenna can be swiveled and tilted to optimize the signal. On some signals, I found my CCRadio-SW to be more sensitive. The selectivity of the CR-1100 is far better than that of the PR-D5, the latter being pretty bad at separating closely-spaced FM stations.

On FM, the CR-1100 does seem to be more sensitive to the proximity of one's body to the radio. On some stations, there was nothing heard until I moved a few feet away from the radio. My CCRadio-SW seems less affected by this.

From my perspective, the CR-1100 is quite good overall on FM. On AM, the audio distortion, susceptibility to RFI, and marginal sensitivity make it unpleasant to use. The sound quality is very good for this class of radio. It's too bad Sangean can't build a PR-D5 that sounds as clear as the CR-1100 does on AM.

Mischa's First Look at the Degen DE-321

 

Interested in the DSP/analog combination, I ordered a Degen 321 2 weeks ago, and it arrived a few days back. I want to share my first impressions with you. It's really small. As small as a Tecsun R912, only a lot less deep. The sound is more mellow than the R912, which I consider a good thing. It doesn't feel rock solid, but it doesn't feel flimsy either.

Tuning is a bit hard, the wheel doesn't rotate smoothly enough to my taste. It's not a major problem, but it leaves something to be desired. FM sensitivity and selectivity is good, but I expected that because of the DSP.

MW sensitivity is the most disappointing aspect of the DE321: it doesn't come close to, for example, the Grundig G8 and the well-known Tecsun DSP ultralights (or the R912, for that matter). I suspect a (too) short ferrite bar.

With An-200 Loop Antenna

MW sensitivity seems excellent, though. I just experimented with the AN-200 loop antenna, and that works very well sensitivity-wise (but feels like cheating to me). SW sensitivity is remarkably good. I compared it to the Kaito 1102, and it's quite close, to my (positive) surprise. It lacks the 60m and 75m band, unfortunately. It was also a nice surprise to find that the analog tuning scale is really spot-on; I haven't found that on any of my analogs thus far. I don't know whether it's just my particular radio, or whether all DE321's share this treat.

 I should add that drift is virtually non-existent on the DE321: I fell asleep yesterday with a CRI French broadcast, and woke up half an hour later with the same station, still perfectly clear.

All in all: rather a mixed bag, with MW sensitivity as the major drawback, but SW performance as the most appreciated feature. And it looks cute as well:). For its price, it's worth buying it, in my opinion.

GE 7-28810 Superish Radio Selling on eBay

 

 

Stacking up almost equally in performance to the GE SRI and II (see post below), this superish GE 7-28810 is now selling on eBay (not the one reviewed, at least I don't think). 

Thanks, Paul, for the heads up.