FR 200 Report featured in the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited
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Dxers Unlimited
Dxers Unlimited weekend edition for 25-26 September 2004
By Arnie Coro
radio amateur CO2KK
Hi amigos around the world… You are now listening to the weekend
edition of your favorite radio hobby program, Dxers Unlimited coming
to you from Havana… I am Arnie Coro, radio amateur CO2KK and as always
its my pleasure to share with
fellow hobbysts a bit more than a quarter of an hour of on the air
time… Here is item one: Yes, Hurricane Jeanne about to reach
the coast of the state of Florida as this show goes on the air, the
storm was moving almost due West from
its earlier position near Great Abaco island in the Bahamas.
Once again amateur radio operators in the possibly affected areas
are getting ready to provide much needed emergency communications.
According to the Cuban weather service analysis, Hurricane Jeanne may
strengthen while moving from the Bahamas
to Florida over the high temperature seas. Item two: Equinoctial
propagation in full swing right now, and yes, we are getting some
nice , but rather short lived 10 meter band openings, as the maximum
useable frequency curve barely touches the 28 megaHertz amateur band.
According to my HF propagation forecasts this almost surely the last
autumn equinoctial season of this solar cycle when we are going to
enjoy 10 meter band openings, so amigos, if you already are enjoying
your own amateur radio station, by all means make yourself a simple 10
meter band antenna and test the flavor of one of the nicest amateur
bands of them all… It won't take much power to operate on 10 meters,
and the antennas are quite small sized by HF standards !. Item three:
Our full length report titled "Testing here a Grundig portable
receiver, model FR 200", a radio that can be powered from four
different energy sources…
and yes, it does work quite well… stay right on this same short
wave frequency for Arnie Coro's first review of the Grundig FR 200
emergency radio receiver… I will also provide short wave listeners
that enjoy picking up and QSLing amateur radio stations with some of
the most recent DX available on the HF bands, and as always at the end
of the program, you should have your tape recorder or notepad ready to
pick up our exclusive and not copyrighted propagation update and
forecast…
Jose Costa Pupo is my sound engineer and producer at RHC
studio 6 in downtown Havana, I'll be back in just a few seconds after
a short break amigos !
…..
You are listening to the weekend edition of Dxers Unlimited, and today
our technical topics section will be devoted to a rather low cost,
simple to operate four bands emergency radio receiver by
Grundig, the FR 200. I have tested this receiver for about a week now
and among my findings that I will like to share with Dxers Unlimited's
listeners is the fact that for its price, the FR 200 seems to be an
excellent investment,as it can provide users with a nice
little radio for traveling, as well as a rugged set that may be a
very good help during emergencies. Of course that there are a few
things that could be improved, but my perception is that the designers
of the FR 200 very cleverly stayed away from sophisticated digital
circuits and kept everything on this radio
absolutely analog electronics!!!. The wise decision has kept the
current demand of the FR 200 to very reasonable limits, making
the crank generator option not an engineering stunt , but a practical
useful application. By the way, for those of you that by now may
be asking why the Grundig FR 200 is called a four energy sources
radio,here is the answer… It can be powered EVEN WITHOUT ANY BATTERIES
, by the crank up generator… and one nice
feature of this power source, is that you can wind the crank either
way without fear of damaging its mechanism… In other words
the crank-up generator will produce enough electricity to operate
the radio without any batteries and no matter which sense of rotation
the generator is cranked !.As you can guess this is an
excellent feature, because in the middle of an emergency anything that
you do wrong can leave equipment out of service at the most
critical moments…
So, you can power the FR 200 by just cranking it… and listen
to broadcasts on FM, AM or two short wave bands…
The other power sources are an external wall wart DC supply that most
deliver 4.5 volts, a set of four double A penlight cells, and
the internal nickel cadmium battery pack, cleverly picked up
by Grundig engineers to be a very common pack used extensively
by cordless phones, and thus easily available.
Regarding the power supplies, there is certainly one source missing,
and you all have guessed already, I am sure … No, the
FR 200 doesn't have a solar panel to charge up its nickel cadmium
battery pack or to operate the set when in full sunlight.
But let me tell you that this is something that can be easily
solved, as I have just tested here, by feeding a small one Watt
solar panel's output to the external power input jack of the FR 200.
Here in Havana, where sunlight is plentiful the year round, the
solar charger addition worked quite well, when I discharged the
internal battery pack with a resistor in order to see how long
would it take for solar energy to charge it !.
If you already own a Grundig FR 200 or similar receiver designed
mainly as an emergency radio, I invite you to send me your comments
about how the radio works for you, and any tips or
ideas that you may have about its use.. Send them directly to me via
e-mail … send mail to , again , and if you
don't have an e-mail system available, just send me an AIR MAIL
postcard to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana, Cuba… Dxers
Unlimited review of the Grundig FR 200 emergency four band , four
power sources radio will continue in a few seconds..
…..
Si amigos, after Hurricane Charlie struck the western part of Cuba and
especially Havana province, located to the south, east and west of the
nation's capital,we at Radio Havana Cuba have experienced problems
with our short wave broadcasts. The difficulties involve
mostly the need to rebuild the electricity power distribution system
of Havana province, severely damaged by the category three
hurricane force winds. We also had to deal with several antenna
towers that could not stand the fierce winds and simply collapsed
after the gusts far exceeded their design safety margins.According to
my own experience as one of the founders of our station in 1961,
Hurricane Charlie that crossed the island on the 13th of August of
2004 caused the worst damages ever to our installations,damage that
was concentrated on towers, antennas and feedline systems. Fortunately
none of our short wave transmitters suffered any damages, as they were
very well protected in concrete
buildings that can stand even category 5 hurricanes.
But, again, for those of you that have asked why we have taken so
much time to bring back our full transmission schedule, the answer
is very easy to explain, we have had to wait for the repair crews
to complete restoring the electricity distribution network, and we had
also to work on doing some antenna repairs, of which several
are still in progress.
Now, more about the Grundig FR 200 four band , four power sources
radio. My tests of the receiver point to a problem that may,
in my opinion, by solved with a little better mechanical engineering…
The FR 200's dial mechanism has a significant backlash…although it has
both a fast and a slow motion option in the form of two concentrical
controls, the fact is that especially on the higher short wave band,
the one covering up to the 13 meters
or 21 megaHertz international short wave broadcast band, the dial
mechanism backlash is quite a problem when tuning up a weak station.
As any low cost receiver user knows, analog dials of these radios
don't provide accurate frequency calibration, but I found out that the
slide rule markings were quite helpful in finding my favorite
19 meter band morning frequencies.
The FR 200 is quite sensitive with its telescopic whip antenna ,but
don't attempt to directly attach an external antenna as the receiver
will overload immediately, causing severe cross modulation that
will make reception almost impossible.
This radio is obviously a receiver designed with one specific purpose
in mind, to provide is user with a reliable source of
information even under the worst possible circumstances, and it
certainly accomplishes the main goal…
But, as I found out, and you may also achieve similar results
using this radio as a second set, one that can be taken when
you are traveling, going on vacations or participating in
your radio club's DX camps. Its low relative cost, makes it
a wise acquisition for the short wave listening enthusiasts.
If you ask me what features could be added to improve the
Grundig FR 200 I would start with, as expected, the improvement of its
dial mechanism, and the second step would be adding
a beat frequency oscillator, a BFO, in order to be able to pick
up both single side band voice and C W Morse Code signals !.
Again I invite your comments about the FR 200 and similar
crank up four or five way power radios, including those that
make use of the clockwork Bayliss DC generator, another version
of crank up radios that is totally different from the approach used
by the Grundig FR 200 amigos !... Send your comments to
, or VIA AIR MAIL to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba,
Havana, Cuba.
….
Here are now some nice DX tips for those able to monitor the
amateur radio bands or operate on them as licensed amateur
operators… First a few ham radio operations from Africa…
KENYA, 5Z. Alex, 5Z4DZ has been on the air using using RTTY that is
radio teletyp eon 20 meters from around 1830 to 2130z.
MOZAMBIQUE, C9. Carl, C91EP has been QRV on 17 meters around 1700z.
QSL via Swedish station SM0EPU.

Now an operation from a not too frequently heard European country,
that will be ending on Sunday
LIECHTENSTEIN, HB0. Ekki, DF4OR, Tilo, DJ5BX, Rainer, DL1ZBO and
Peter, DL1FX are QRV as HB0/homecalls until September 26. Activity
is on 80 to 10 meters using CW, SSB and other digital modes.
and from Asia,
THAILAND, HS. HS0AC club station members will be QRV as HS72B during
the CQ WW RTTY contest.
And now amigos as always at the end of the show, when I am
here in Havana, Arnie Coro's Dxers Unlimited's exclusive
and not copyrighted HF propagation update and forecast.
Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels, the sunspot
number has dropped to about 15, something that was expected
by scientists, as solar cycle 23 continues its downward trend
towards its minimum., the effective sunspot number on
Saturday was 33, and there is a very low ionospheric noise
level, something that will surely help AM medium wave band
Dxers during the next several days… see you all at the mid
week edition of the program amigos, and don't forget that
your comments about the show are essential to keep it
providing you with what you really want this radio hobby
program to be… send mail to or Via Air Mail
a postcard to Arnie Coro, Radio Havana Cuba, Havana , Cuba


Al Patrick wrote in message ...
Have one. Don't use it often. Got it for emergencies. It is an
excellent little emergency radio that works off multiple sources,
including human energy. Get it! Not as nice as the 7600GR, YB400,
etc., etc. - under normal times. It may be far better than what we
normally consider to be the best of the best when there is no electric
power and no batteries! That time will come! For $40 you have something
that most of the "better" radios can't provide - under certain conditions.

Al

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David wrote:

If anyone owns the Grundig FR200 on the newsgroup I have a few questions.
How is it on the AM radio band? I read where it performs very well reception
wise. Also, I was reading that the NiCad battery inside can actually be
charged by a cordless phone charger. Is this true and will it damage the
FR200 in any way? Apparently it has a NiCad similiar to some cordless phone
batteries. I may get one for camping/emergencies of its is worth it. Any
info appreciated.