This is interesting, now. Nobody is seriously developing a really good
shortwave portable radio that will satisfy high standards both for program
listeners and DX-ers. Instead, one or three Chinese companies are busily
cranking out millions of units of the same three or four models, each under
half a dozen brand names with similar model designations, and selling them
at prices who's relationship to production cost is more logarythmic than
mere doubling or multiples of three or four.

I am using old computer gear here, doing email on an old DOSosaurus era
setup, so going on EBay is sort of out of the question for this little
workstation. However, with a little help from a friend, I did check EBay
for some shortwave radios.

Under Tecsun BCL-2000, we found one seller in Shanghai, China, who was
selling the black model BCL-2000 for $42 dollars, "Buy it Now". Shipping to

the United States was listed at $38 and you could pay through PayPal.

There's a seller in Michigan, near the Detroit area, who offers the red
TecSun BCL-2000 for $69.99 as the "Buy it Now" price. Shipping in the
United States and Canada is $14.99, and he ships only to the US and Canada.
He says it is the "newer, improved model, made after April, 2003." It is
also said to be the same as the Grundig S-350 with the same frequency
coverage, including the expanded medium-wave spectrum, and comes with the
same accessories as the S-350. Also included is the 240-V to 120-V
step-down converter. The description from the seller in Shanghai mentioned
nothing about the inclusion of a step-down converter.

So, we have a seller in the country of origin who can buy this radio and
sell it at enough of a proffit to consider the effort worthwhile and charge
$42 dollars per unit and you pay shipping.

The seller in Michigan, who usually says he has nine, or maybe six, units
available sells it at a "buy it now" price for one cent less than $70
dollars and you pay shipping.

Radio dealers who sell the rebadged Grundig iteration of this radio claim it

to sell at full retail for $149.99 and your price today is $99.99, plus
something for shipping.

All these little coat-pocket- and shirt-pocket-sized things that are selling

for as little as $10 plus shipping in the USA must cost almost nothing to
make, maybe something like two or three dollars.
In the meantime, Every single shortwave-capable radio sold on the market now

has thin, unbalanced and weak audio quality. The big, expensive "Grundig
Satellit" 800 really doesn't sound any better than the S-350/BCL-2000, and
can actually be more tiring to listen to for a long period of time through
its own speaker.

I thought the shipping for a BCL-2000 from Michigan was rather high, but I
bought from him anyway, figuring I would get it faster from Michigan than
from China, and I knew the step-down voltage converter would be included,
something that was omitted from the description posted by the Chinese
seller.

The PayPal transaction was completed on a Saturday night, so he couldn't
have shipped it out before last Monday. I received it via UPS early on
Wednesday afternoon last week, shipping from the Detroit, Michigan area to
me in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Had he shipped it by UPS ground, I might
be getting it today, the following Monday, and my shipping cost might have
been closer to six or seven dollars instead of one cent shy of fifteen
dollars.

I've been rather busy, so I have not had the time yet to take out both the
S-350 and the BCL-2000 and compare them side by side. The only immediately
apparent physical differences seem to be the color, the logo on the front,
and the presence of a power supply inside the BCL-2000 that makes it a
little bit heavier. The Tecsun has a rubber plug to cover the RCA external
speaker jacks when they are not being used; the Grundig S-350 does not. If
the BCL-2000 is facing with the front panel facing you, there is an AC power

jack in the top left corner of the back of the radio. It accepts the exact
same type of plug as some of the older European portables of the late
1980's, such as the Grundig Satellit 400, or the Philips D-2999. The power
cord supplied with the BCL-2000 is a standard North American-style
non-polarized plug, and you then plug that into the stepdown converter,
giving you, Yuckie!, a wall wart. On the S-350, the cut-out for the power
plug and the vented area just under it is covered over by a glued-on thin
piece of what feels like thin flexible plastic, or plastic-coated cardboard.
Behind it, and I peeled back one corner, is that hole where the power plug
should be and a sizeable empty space where the BCL-2000 has its power
supply. There didn't appear to be any screw holes in the S-350's cabinet
where that plug would have been held in place, although it could probably
just be snapped in place. The extra power supply makes the BCL-2000 feel
slightly heavier than the S-350.

Except for the logo, the placement and shapes of all
the knobs and switches appear to be the same on both radios.

I guess I'll just have to take them both out and see if the BCL-2000 really
is any better than the S-350. THe jack, which must be for the 12-volt power

source, like a lighter adapter plug for use in a car, is also present on the

BCL-2000 as it is in the S-350, and it is in the same place on both radios.

I remember reading that the BCL-2000 has a true on/off switch instead of the
nondefeatable 90-minute sleep timer. That does not appear to be the case
with this one I bought. The power switch looks exactly the same on both
radios.
MOre later, after I have a chance to put both units through the test from
hell in the reception location from Hell.

Later:
It is a bit over a day later, and I spent about five hours between 11:00 PM
North American Eastern Standard Time and 4:00 AM in the morning playing with
both radios. I ran each on batteries, with both radios having batteries
taken from the same 8-pack of D-cells.

In addition to the features I've already mentioned, I noticed that the soft
vinyl wrap for the folds of the shoulder strap which makes a carry handle,
is about two inches longer on my BCL-2000 than on the S-350, so it's
"handle" is longer, but thinner than the Grundig's. All jacks, except for
that already mentioned AC power plug on the BCL-2000, and all buttons,
knobs, and switches are exactly the same on both radios.

The EBay seller says that the BCL-2000 is the same as the Grundig S-350 and
claims that frequency coverage is the same. He specifically lists medium
wave coverage as being from 530-1700 KHz. This is NOT! so. The S-350's
dial goes past 1700 quite a bit, and I listened a few minutes to, "Real
Oldies," on 1690 KHz from Chicago. There was a faint signal on 1700 KHz
that I did not try to hear long enough to ID. On the BCL-2000, the last
clear station at the top of the MW dial was a "sports news" station on 1640
and the dial went on up just a tiny bit above that. It might be able to
hear a station broadcasting on 1650 KHz, and that just barely with it coming
in at the very top of the dial's tuning range. Both radios seemed to tune
down to the same low frequency on the MW band. FM and SW coverage were
exactly the same on both radios.

My S-350 was bought used from a fellow who bought it new from a Ham Radio
Outlet some time last summer, so I think it is most likely one of what the
BCL-2000 seller calls the "new and improved model made after April, 2003",
(or was it February, 2003 he claimed?)

The difference in performance between these two samples was noticeable in
some respects, but so slight as to fall within the realm of quibbling or
knit-picking. The antenna hinge screw was a little tighter on the newer
BCL-2000. The whips were the same size, with the same number of segments on
both radios.

Note that my comparison is only among these two samples and in my location.
Both radios appear to be equally well built and well finished. Except for
the mistake in MW frequency coverage claimed for the Tecsun, everything on
both radios is as advertised.

The S-350 seems to have a very slightly stronger amplifier, putting out a
higher volume at maximum power on batteries than the BCL-2000, but that
would not sway me in favor of one radio over the other if that were the only
difference between them.

Both radios heard the same FM stations with the same clarity and selectivity
under the same listening conditions with the antennas used the same way on
both radios. Between 530 and 1640 KHz, both radios received the same
signals with the same strength, clarity, and separation among signals. The
wide and narrow bandwidth filters, the tone controls, and the gain control
worked exactly the same on both radios.

The biggest difference in reception performance with these two radios came
in the lower of the two shortwave bands, beginning around 2300 KHz. The
Tecsun was a little quieter in the interstation areas than the S-350. The
Grundig was slightly bothered by some stray external RF interference, and
played a very low level of a sound similar to the buzz that might come from
fluorescent lights with bad ballasts. I have no fluorescent lights in this
apartment. It was late enough that most of my immediate neighbors would
have long sense packed it in for the night. Since I am totally blind and
don't need to look at the dials, I had no lights on in the apartment. Other
items turned on included the stereo amplifier in the next room, the heater
fan, the exhaust fan on low over the kitchen range, a desk-top computer, a
laptop computer, all in the next room, and the fridge in the kitchen. The
cable TV box was turned off, but it was plugged in. Radio testing was
conducted on my bed, about 7 feet from the north-facing window. It might be
noted that, the Grundig Satellit 210/6001, which was plugged in to AC power
via a power bar sold for plugging in computer gear, exhibited more noise
interference in the frequency spectrum from 1610-4,000 KHz than did the
S-350 running on batteries. The Sat 210 also had some serious noise
interference at the very bottom of the MW band.

I like the Tecsun's extra power plug feature and the fact that it is
slightly quieter at the bottom part of the lowest shortwave band.

I do like the idea that the amplifier of the S-350 seems to be slightly
stronger with stronger audio output on batteries, and I do like the extended
mediumwave coverage. There actually is something to hear up there, at least
at night in this location.

I guess I could just about say that the two radios draw about even in a
head-to-head comparison. I'll probably keep both, unless somebody wants to
offer me something I might not be able to refuse for one of them. For
somebody in the USA and Canada interested in serious medium wave (AM
broadcast) listening, the nod has to go to the Grundig S-350, both for full
broadcast band coverage and for a slightly stronger sounding amplifier which
will cause you to perceive tht it may have slightly better bass frequency
response than the Tecsun BCL-2000.

If it's shortwave you're after mostly, and you live in range of tropical
band signals, the slight nod has to go to the slightly quieter BCL-2000.


Reply to:
Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA