Herculodge:

« May 2014 | Main | July 2014 »

June 30, 2014

I'm Digging the 22mm Endmill Watch Bracelet for My Orient Saturation Diver

I like my Orient Saturation Diver on the Super Engineer II bracelet, but I'm even more drawn to the Endmill bracelet by the same company Strapcode as it's less busy. Could be a switch.

Posted at 09:19 PM in Manly Watches | Permalink | Comments (4)

On Balance, Citizen Is Making the Most Appealing Watches Out There

If out of my watch collection totalling eleven, if nine were lost or stolen and I was left with my EcoZilla BJ8580 on a Suppa bracelet and my Citizen Promaster BN-2029, I could survive as I waited for my home insurance policy.

The bold toolish styling of the aforementioned watches with their decent lume and Eco-Drive technology (solar means no battery changes) makes them appealing on looks, quality, and durability. If you're looking for nice watches in the $500 ballpark, it's hard not to consider Citizen.

Posted at 05:10 PM in Manly Watches | Permalink | Comments (1)

First Look at the 2014 Citizen Promaster Aqualand BN-2029

Was I going to get flop sweath from a regretted watch purpose? Was the Citizen Promaster Aqualand BN-2029 going to be too big in a ostentatious Las Vegas kind of way evidencing a man taking steroids to overcome his shortcomings?

My anxieties were pretty bad. The eBay seller sent me the wrong watch last week and I had to go through the hassle of sending him the $200 watch to get this $530 monster.

Right out of the box I knew I was in good shape. The purported 53mm plays more like a 50mm since the bezel is 49mm and you don't get the full 53mm unless you add the depthmeter and crown on the left and right.

Then there was the matter of the rubber strap. I'm very picky about those as many cause my wrists to itch and sweat. However, this one is soft and kind. The strap is long so that there is a little overlap, not much, as I fit it over my 7.5 inch wrist.

I love the deep dish dial and analog crown setting. I haven't tested the lume yet. I'm wearing it as I write this and the watch feels light on the wrist.

This looks like a keeper.

From an earlier note:

Not a radio controlled watch. You set the time like a conventional analog watch as shown for the J250 movement manual: http://c06.coacdn.com/calibersWPC/518_US-EN_full_instructions.pdf

Posted at 04:45 PM in Man Points Advice | Permalink | Comments (5)

Terrestrial Radio Is Romantic, But . . .

Addressing Bill's romantic love of terrestrial radio, StarHalo writes:

It's fishing versus eating fish; I do enjoy fishing, but I eventually want to eat the fish (and a lot of it.) Given a finite amount of free time, the choice between listening to some mindful and inspiring content as opposed to trying to dig out a legible signal from noise is not so fair a comparison

Posted at 12:52 PM in Radio Lovers Can't Be Cured | Permalink | Comments (2)

Internet Radio Can be a Super Radio But with Some Caveats

Bill writes about his misgivings with Internet radio:

If all you care about is sound quality, Internet Radio can be your new Superadio. However, it is not a Superadio in several ways. The following occur to me:

It is true Internet Radio doesn't need any wires or outside antennas... except of course you need the whole blasted Internet. You need either a wired, WiFi, or cellular data connection to the Internet for it to work at all. Hard as it may be for those of you who are urbanized to understand, there are places not far from you where these signals are just not available.

That's without adding in power failures, cell system slowdowns, disasters, emergencies, or just simple holidays when the cell system is overloaded, and so on. The Superadio continues to work fine however many other people are trying to tune into the same signal. The same can't be said for internet radio.

The Superadio is a buy-and-forget solution. Once you've bought your radio you have no ongoing expenses except batteries or line electricity to power it. Streaming Internet Radio requires an ongoing Internet connection, which costs money. Granted you probably have this anyway. In my case, though, for pure portable operation I have to fall back on a cell phone whose data is, effectively, limited. Heavy audio streaming is going to eat up my data. Radio won't.

For the tinfoil hat crowd, it is harder for The Man to know what you're listening to with a radio, or that you're listening to anything at all. It can still be done but Internet Radio leaves footprints all over the place, showing what streams you heard. That might be a serious non-paranoid concern for some people, I suppose.

(I find a radio easier when I just want to tune something in casually, without having to work at it or decide in advance just what I want to hear. That's just a matter of taste, though, so it doesn't really count as an advantage.)

Posted at 06:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

June 29, 2014

Neil Happy with His Tecsun PL-600

I have just received my Tecsun PL-600 today and I am really impressed!

My Sony ICF 7600D is showing its age (being a purchase in the 1980's)and wanted something I can take outside with me and leave the 'old girl' safe at home.

After many reviews and YouTube videos, I am glad I made the choice of the 600 over the 660, and it was more than just the $30.00 price difference. (600= $90.00 & 660 = $120.00 AUS. for an 'air-band.)(I tried the 'Air-band' mod and it did not work, as the radio was made in March 2012. Oh well!)

The sound is great. I love the sound on the FM band, which is worth the outlay just on this feature alone!

The plastic flap thing on the back is a big issue with this radio. Also, you cannot lay the radio flat in its back and extend the antenna upright, like you can do on the Sony 7600 series of radios, but I can work around this quite easily.

The controls do take a bit of getting use to, but once I have played around with the features a little, I was able to 'tamed the beast' and have had great use from the unit.

The manual is a little 'quirky' in some of the instructions, but is not no-where near the bad 'Asian-English' translations used. (No offence is intended to any non-English speaking people)
I may have written this too early in the history of the life of this radio and may find fault in the 'new' radio. Hopefully, it will pull its weight. I am not expecting this to be a 'better' radio than the 7600, it has been worth the cost so far. When the sun goes down will tell how it does go on the SW bands.
The comments about the 600 vs. 660 radios have proved to be valuable in my selections, so thank you for your comments.

Posted at 10:30 PM in Radio Lovers Can't Be Cured | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sony Pre-Ultra Light Radios?

Thanks, RTC:

There has been much to-do about the Sony SRF-39 "Ultralight" over the years.
The latest was a newspaper article on the clear case FP jail version...

the article inferred that maybe this version was more durable,i.e. the variable cap
was not subject to the dreaded "Rice Krispie" snap crackle and pop defect on AM
due to use of poor (cheap) paper dielectric material.

Unfortunately that has not been seen here...brand new FP versions have it,as well
as new vintage Malaysia-built SRF-39's which are supposed to be good.
It appears the defect is found in all these caps,whether they're in a 39,49,59,SW-10,11 etc.
Just comes with the territory.

One result of the article was to run the ebay price of the FP version
up from the usual $20 or so to well over $100...they are back to normal now.

But now for a just-discovered secret:it's possible to -maybe- get around the variable
defect by use of a pre-ultralight Sony:

srf-19w

Back around 1987 Sony came out with the SRF 19w and then 21w.

srf-21w

If they look similar,they are.Who knows what Sony was
thinking (they did the same thing with the first-generation
SRF-33w and 22w BTW).
But both have performance that is very very close to
the 39 family Ultralights.The variable however appears to be a
different type since these were made in Taiwan.

No snap,crackle or pop was heard on these.

What was heard was excellent sensitivity/selectivity.

Use of a 3 volt supply gives the audio real punch,too.

On FM they do very well,especially on low power
stations.
The 39 family has afc problems with adjacent
stronger stations.
Not these,they slice and dice quite nicely.
Typically they go for $15-30 on ebay.

What to look for:

The top dial cover was hot glued on;if the
pointer sticks check for this.

The off-on switch is a real pain to remove and
put back on...it's like they wanted to make
it as hard as possible!

Tuning is a little "firm" due to use of dial cord...
these may have been the last to use dial cord
since the follow-on SRF-29 had the current
plastic pointer setup.

All things considered they are worth a go.

Posted at 08:38 PM in Radio Lovers Can't Be Cured | Permalink | Comments (5)

A web-connected device linked to a hi-fi Bluetooth speaker is the new SuperRadio.

Addressing the search for today's new "Super Radio," StarHalo writes:

A web-connected device linked to a hi-fi Bluetooth speaker is the new SuperRadio.

I've been listening to KKNE out of Honolulu, HI using an iPad playing through a Sony BTX500; the reception is better than is physically possible with a radio receiver, and the sound is better than the SuperRadio 5268, all with no antenna and no wires..

Posted at 09:24 AM in Radio Lovers Can't Be Cured | Permalink | Comments (5)

Panasonic Retro RF-562 Selling on eBay for Under $55 with Free Shipping

Val has apprised us of the Panasonic RF-562 analog radio, selling on eBay today and reviewed by Nathan about a year ago, posted here at Herculodge. Nathan says it's a solid performer but that the treble is too high for music.

Posted at 08:34 AM in Radio Lovers Can't Be Cured | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 28, 2014

Is AM Good Enough on the Sony ICF-801 to Make It the New "Super Radio"?

Val reviewed the Sony ICF-801 analog radio over a year ago and recently I've seen it on Amazon Prime for $99.99. I'm intrigued by its good speaker sound and FM, but is its AM good eough to make it "super"?

I ask this because now that the GESRIII is gone for $40 and the new RCA version has so many quality problems, it would be nice to have a new "Super Radio."