RadioBanter - View Single Post

February 22nd 04, 09:29 AM

In article ,
says...
So you have the S350? Have you read its review in the new Passport to World
Band Radio? Being a novice, I bought a copy of that book recently. It has a
really lengthy review, and talks quite a bit about drift. I'm starting to

I have the Tecsun BCL-2000. With the exception of MW stopping before the
X-band and having a built in 220V transformer, it's identical to the
S350. I'm no expert at this, but my feeling is the "drift" comes from
three different sources. The S350 is an analog radio with a digital
readout. The tuning is controlled, literally, by some strings and
pulleys. Most of the "drift" comes from backlash and tension in the
strings. You turn the dial to the point you want and let go, but
there's still tension on the string. When that tension is equalized, it
sometimes pulls the radio slightly off the point you've tuned to. The
effects of this depend to a large degree on what band you're in and what
part of the band you have tuned. Overcoming this aspect of drift is
largely a matter of getting used to the way the radio works. If you
overtune slightly and then back off in the opposite direction a bit it
relieves most of the tension in the strings and it stays centered
better.

The second thing is that the digital readout is produced by a frequency
counter. I have no real evidence to back this up, but my feeling is the
frequency counter is somewhat temperature sensitive and may change
readings slightly as it warms up. This isn't necessarily a change in the
tuning position, just in the way the radio reports that tuning position.

Third would be real drift in the tuning circuitry, primarily due to
temperature fluctuations. The newer models contain engineering changes
to combat this by always keeping the circuits warmed up, though only
when the radio is running off the mains. This approach would be much
too hard on the batteries so it's not used when running on battery
power. I've used mine exclusively on batteries so I can't say if
running off the mains makes a noticeable difference.

Frankly, after having grown accustomed to the tuning mechanism, I don't
find the drift to be that much of a problem. The tuning is a bit fussy
and I'm sure it's not as rock solid as most of the digitally tuned
radios, but I think it's still a pretty good radio for the price,
particularly the Tecsuns available on ebay. (I got mine for under $70
delivered.)

wonder, though, if that radio would best meet my needs. What's this I read
about the "on" button only allowing the radio to stay on for 90 minutes???

Allegedly, all Tecsun models manufactured since spring of last year have
a timer defeat feature. You just hold down on the power button for a few
seconds when you turn it on and then it stays on until you turn it off.
Unfortunately, it has taken quite a while for these newer models to work
their way through the Grundig supply chain. (It's not clear if the
engineering changes weren't put into the Grundig models until later or
if they simply had a huge lot of radios to work through before getting
to the newer ones.) Most of the people buying from large retailers that
move a lot of product are reporting the recent Grundigs do have the
timer defeat feature. There have also been reports of people recently
getting older models from one of the ebay sellers of the Tecsun models,
though I bought mine from the same guy and definitely got a newer one.

The S350 is far from a perfect radio. It has a number of quirks and can
be a challenge to get tuned properly on the upper end of the shortwave
bands. But I rather enjoy the "retro" look and have been having a lot
of fun with it. Listening to major broadcasters, the sound from the
S350 is going to be better than anything short of the Satellit 800 or
the GE Superadio 3. (If you're interests are primarily MW, the SR 3
would be a good choice. There's still nothing in the portable market to
beat the sound from the 2-way system in the SR 3.)

-- Jay