RadioBanter - View Single Post

March 24th 04, 07:24 AM

In article ,
says...
I am looking for a feedback on the performance of Tecsun BCL 2000
from someone who owns it and experimented it's SW ability .

If you plan to really listen to SW rather than just tune around the dial
to see what you can find (and I'm not passing judgment on either
activity), you will probably find the BCL-2000 rather frustrating.
After tuning in a station, the radio will initially drift as the tension
in the tuning mechanism equalizes, and it will continue to drift to a
lesser extent even after that. You'll be re-adjusting the tuning every
10-15 minutes, possibly even more often on the upper end of the bands.
That's when the hysteresis in the slow tuning knob will start to annoy
you.

On the plus side, it's the best sounding SW portable south of the
Satellit 800. The performance on MW is excellent. Battery life seems
pretty good. The dial light will stay on permanently if you want it to
(a big plus if you listen in the dark).

I view the BCL-2000 as an outstanding MW portable at a great price. The
fact that it also tunes SW is a big plus, but SW is not its best
feature. If you mostly want to tune around the SW bands to see what you
can find and occasionally do some casual listening, you might be happy
with it. If you want to tune in the BBC and listen for an hour or two,
you would probably do better with something else. If the latter is the
case, the Degen/Kaito 1102 has been getting some good reviews. You might
also want to check ebay for a used DX-398 (rebadged Sangean ATS-909).
They've been going for $100-$125 recently.

-- Jay