"Pete KE9OA" wrote in message
...
Hi Mike,
It is not a matter of stupidity to use an internal loopstick antenna. It
is quite possible to design a portable radio with a loopstick antenna that
has MW performance that at least equals a good communications receiver
that has an external amplified loop antenna connected to it. I have just
finished up a prototype this evening that does just that. It is an easy
matter to have facilities to switch the antenna out of the circuit the way
that Grundig has done with their Satellit receivers for several years. It
is also very easy to bypass the switching altogether and merely wind a
small coupling loop around the ferrite for an external antenna connection.
5 to 10 turns of Litz wire would do the trick.
The E1 is a very good radio, and I will probably pick one up in the next
year or so. Is it worth the money they are asking for it? Probably. Will
the price come down after the initial wave of sales. Hopefully.
The radio does have XM circuitry, and I know that XM radio was a big
purchaser of the Analog Devices AD607 demodulator chip that I based my
Sync detector on, so if this is the case, this could be a very good radio
indeed.
A friend of mine did play his E1 over the phone and it did sound
good.......quite a bit of gain. He told me that he didn't have any IMD
problems, so it sounds like a winner.
Pete
"mike maghakian" wrote in message
...
it sounds like the E1 is better than I thought it would be, this one
could go down in history as a classic. I wonder if the Degen 1108
will be even better since it will have the E1 to jump off of.
many of the complaints I have read seem to be of the "misunderstood"
nature and if the designer was present to answer them would actually
make sense.
I believe that even though the set has XM circuitry, it is a bonus
for american users and that the set was really designed for a global
market and that is the reason for the antenna connector that is a
pain for the US user. notice the choice for the FM range in the setup
options.
I have a feeling that they left out the ferrite antenna because the
set is too big to rotate and they wanted it to be more
omnidirectional for the average user and that anyone that cared to MW
DX would not be stupid enough to use a built in rod and would use at
least a hardwire connected select-a-tenna for max signal gathering.
with a set of this awesome performance, ECSS is a waste of time. ecss
is overrated because of the work involved in accurately tuning the
signal for proper audio fidelity reconstruction and PHASING ! with
the sync performance that is available ECSS sould be forgotten and
use that selectable sync.
even though I have no immediate plans to buy an E1, I will still
study the manual. when I can get one for around $300 used, I will
pick one up.
Good morning Pete
I agree. The more and more I use this radio the more I LOVE it. It's a
pleasure to use. Just a pleasure. The sync on it is fabulous. Couple that
with the superb PBT and it's just fantastic. The display is just great to
look at.
The sensitivity is right up there with the better rigs. The radio also has a
"DX" button for extra gain on weak signals. I think the DSB {double side
band} actually works as good as the Lowe HF-150 even though in the beginning
I thought the Lowe was much better. It still is a bit better, but it seems
to do more on this radio then the 150.
I can hear the difference using it. With the 150, it seems the lock range is
much tighter. You have to really hit the needed signal perfectly to get it
working and it's easily lost. With the E1, it's easier to use that feature.
As Mike pointed out, ECSS isn't really needed on this rig though I still
like to use it for fun and when it's neccessary.
Now, many people are saying they will wait for later production runs before
buying. I have a contrarian view on this.
That Eton knows the first batch out will spread the news on how good or bad
their radio is and tell the tale. That these first users and reviewers will
set the tone for future sales.
They know what happened with the 800 and they know people will be looking
for the same thing to happen again. So, I decided to go with the first
batch. I know they payed very, very close attention to QC on this one imho.
I would be more skeptical to buy later runs then the very first batch out.
If they only added DRM, it would have been a monster. But, I have a feeling
XM had something to say about it. Why give people so many more options then
going with XM sat programming? But, they had to include AM/FM and SW. I bet
their is a easy mod for DRM once the radio gets dissected by the pros like
you!
Have a good one Pete!
Lucky