I did present all of your comments yesterday, and it seems that a small desk
top unit might be the first way to go, with a rotating loopstick on top,
similar to the way Palomar does it with their antenna. Depending on price,
we may go with an LCD graphics type of display, so that BW, tuning step,
RSSI, and frequency will be displayed. Tone controls could also be an
option. If we can find a reliable source of Sync Detector chips, that could
also be an option, but usually, these types of devices are on allocation
with the larger radio manufacturers. I went through just this type of thing
when I was working for one of the research divisions at Motorola. If we
weren't buying 10,000 devices a week, vendors of some of these specialty
items were not interested.
It was interesting; you look at some of these vendors such as CTS, our in
Sandwich, Illinois. I needed some OCXOs for a critical project. I was told
by one of their engineers (I am not going to name him) that they were not
interested in selling us only 30 units, at 400 dollars each. Same thing
with the Oak Frequency Group.
Murata pulled the same thing on one of the smaller radio manufacturers in
this country; their rep told that company that they were going to
discontinue all ceramic filter production. I called their headquarters down
in Smyrnia, Georgia, and asked them about this. I asked them if they had
another source where we could purchase our ceramic filters from (Motorola),
since they were discontinuing their filter line. They changed their tune.
The point of all of this is that unless you are a very large entity, most
companies don't want to deal with you. Exceptions are Analog Devices,
Mini-Circuits, Phillips, Coilcraft, and a few others. The companies that DO
want to deal with smaller entities will provide us with the wherewithall to
put this radio into production. I still need to find a reliable source of
4kHz and 6kHz ceramic filters. A couple of you mentioned the use of
Mechanical Filters...............this is a possibility, but we are talking
about 86 dollars each for these filters, unless you buy at least a couple
hundred at a time. The price then goes down to 50 dollars each. An example
of this is Palstar.....................when Paul provides the optional
Mechanical Filter for his radio, at a slightly higher price, he isn't making
any money on that filter. I know what he pays for those filters. Another
thing, these are the same filters that some of the other manufacturers are
selling as options in the $120.00 plus range.
In conclusion, I want to thank all of you for your input...........I am
listening, and presenting this information to my employer. We will be
moving carefully on this project; we want to make sure that we come out with
a product that people want to buy. I do believe that a portable unit will
also be on the horizon, but that will probably be our next product.
I have also contacted the National Radio Club, to see what some of their
members might be looking for. My next move is to
put my feelers out on my website.

Pete


RHF wrote in message
om...
MJC,

You ar right the CCRadio (Grundig S350?) are nice size radios.
- - - The Sangean ATS-909 and Grundig YB-400 are simply to small.


Pete,

If a Portable Radio, I would prefer something the Size and layout of
an Panasonic RF-2200 and nothing smaller than a Sony ICF-2010.

If a Desk Top Radio, then I would prefer something the Size and layout
of a JRC NRD-515 (Drake SW2?).

TBL: Basically, a Radio that's Size and layout is "Human Engineered"
for Big Old Fingers and Tired Old Eyes.


~ RHF
.
.
= = = "MJC"
= = = wrote in message ...
To answer your first question about size and portability, take a look at
the CCRadioPlus. It is a perfect mixture of size, portability, reception
and
sound quality. It works off both AC and battery, and it's battery life
is
exceptional off of C cells. It's sound is as good as any table top radio
(or
better).
As for all the rest, I think everyone else here has already listed
all
the desired technical features and if you manage to incorporate them all
into the package as I described (like the CCRadioPlus), you'll have a
winner.
The only concern then is if you will be able to offer it at anything
reasonable in cost. We all know you can't set something for nothing so,
as
the designer, you're the one who'll have to figure out the best
compromise
of cost and features that will sell well on the open market.

MJC

"Pete KE9OA" wrote in message
...
My employer has given me the go ahead to design a new product. If
there is
enough interest, I will design a new MW receiver for the market. What
would
you be more interested in......................a small table top type,
or
a
portable?
Performance wise, I am talking about something like that of an
AOR7030.
I don't think that I would be inplementing Sync Detection, but a
couple of
I.F. bandwidths could be possible. Definitely, double conversion, and
digital readout, with good audio quality.
Would you want any presets? How about target price? Do you want a
built
in
antenna, or external antenna only? High and low impedance antenna
inputs?
How about a built in tunable preselector?
E-mail me directly, and we will see what happens. Any of you who have
built
any of me receivers know what I am talking about...............I plan
to
take the design to the next couple of steps up in performance.

Pete