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Old August 4th 07, 03:06 PM posted to rec.radio.shortwave,rec.radio.amateur.equipment,rec.antiques.radio+phono,alt.radio.broadcasting
Steven Steven is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Oct 2006
Posts: 105
Default Question about GE Superadio III and batteries

On Aug 3, 9:28 pm, wrote:
On Aug 3, 5:37?pm, (Dennis M) wrote:





Hello radio enthusiasts,


I own a General Electric "Superadio III" that I purchased new back around
2001. I've never had any problems with it until this June when I was
vacationing on the beach down in Florida. The FM band suddenly went out and
only a low static sound could be heard, but the AM band seemed to pick up
as normal. Turning the radio off and back on again didn't fix the problem.
But when I tried it indoors the next day, the FM seemed to pick up fine.
But when I was at a local beach yesterday, the same thing happened.


My question is, could weak batteries possibly cause this kind of behavior?
The 6 "D" batteries it uses were put in around 2003 or 2004, and I've just
replaced them with fresh Duracells (it also has an AC cord, BTW). I just
assumed if it was the batteries, normally strong stations would begin to
come in very weak -- not just not be received at all.


Or, could intense heat in the direct sun possibly cause this problem? This
radio has pretty good reception when it's working properly and I'd hate to
think it's gone south. TIA for any input.


The radio is Chinese-made garbage - the Eton/Grindig/Tecsun radios are
garbage too...- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


For two dollars that I gave for one, the bandwidth switch is a big
help, even and the varactor does slip around if you aren't there well
enough on AM and either switch AFC on or off.

That AFC is sloppy and seems to be a big part of it's DX so-called
atrributes. It's really good for zeroing in on weak, mostly LOCAL AM
stations and improving them against splash or harmonics.