The Panasonic RF-1010 (AKA Cougar 101) is a rare Japanese portable radio. It covers the following bands:
FM 76 to 90
AM,530 to 1620
SW1 3.9 to 5.2
SW2 5.9 to 7.4
SW3 7.9 to 10.0
SW4 10.0 to 12.2
SW5 12.3 to 15.6
SW6 17.0 to 30.0
First thing I did was take the radio apart and locate the two tuning coils which control the FM band range. I was able to adjust it to cover 88.0 to 103.9 by simply adjusting those 2 coils. Surprisingly, despite that taking it far beyond its designed alignment, reception is still respectable - sensitivity being average and selectivity being above average. The SW tuning coils were mostly marked so I made some minor adjustments to get it closer to true calibration with the markings on the tuning dial, though perfection was nearly impossible.
Everything works including the tuning meter and the dial light. The tuning meter is very useful with a full range of movement. The switches and knobs could use a touch of de-oxit, though I haven't done that yet since they're all pretty decent.
Sound quality is good and this thing can really put out some sound. The tone control is a bit unusual in that max treble is in the middle. On the left is "soft" and on the right is "news" - as best my ears can tell taking it to the left reduces treble but maintains bass while tuning it towards news reduces both treble and bass but increases the midrange. Talk radio sounds great on this thing.
As far as AM reception, AM is where this radio really shines - its super sensitive (and calibration to the tuning dial is spot-on across the entire spectrum). Selectivity is excellent and its bandwidth is perfectly set - just wide enough to sound good but just narrow enough to greatly reduce the 10khz whine heard at night on most AM radios.
Shortwave is above average but not as good as my higher-end shortwave portables. That said, broadcast shortwave stations sound great. It also has SSB. Without a separate knob for fine-tuning the SSB, it is SUPER TOUCHY and quite challenging to tune in a SSB broadcast. However, once you get it set, its surprisingly stable, probably the most stable SSB reception I've seen on an analog portable. One disappointment is that it seems to be only a single conversion unit as I get images on the middle and upper bounds of the shortwave spectrum.
I give it an overall rating of a B+
--------------------------------------------
-Brandon
Comments