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Old July 30th 18, 05:54 AM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
Michael Black[_3_] Michael Black[_3_] is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jun 2018
Posts: 31
Default Is Degen still a good buy?

On Sun, 29 Jul 2018, Frank wrote:

On Sat, 28 Jul 2018 21:15:19 -0700, N9NEO wrote:

Are the Degen/Kaito DE1103/KA1103 radios still a good buy?

I recall paying near $100 for them a few years back and they are being
sold for considerably less than that now.

Are there other similar radios I should be looking at?

thanks Bob N9NEO


Seems Degen changed the 1103 to DSP a few years ago, without changing
the name to something like DE1103DSP or DE1103A. I got a early model
DE1103 in 2006. It's a good performer and I thought it was a decent
value at the time although I never quite got used to the ergonomics and
I think the "analog" display is a waste of space. I don't have any
direct expirence with the DSP version but it's getting mixed reviews
online. If I recall correctly, the non-DSP versions were getting
knocked for quality issues starting around 2010 or so.

Of course, it's not likely they simply added DSP, likely they moved to an
IC that did it all, in which case it can't be anything but a very
different radio. DSP allows for some great specs, but the ICs floating
around seem to be for lwo cost rather than "great specs". Whatever the IC
in the Grundig G8, it has like one tuned circuit at the antenna, and
unless the rest is really good at strong signal handling, it's not going
to compare with something that uses more filtering at the antenna. Low
cost often means trade-offs, and this might mean you get a radio with
selectable selectivity that can be quite good spec wise, but a receiver
that overloads too easily, so the overall receiver isn't that different
from the usual low end receivers of the past.

For low end receivers, the DSP receiver in one IC is probably a step up,
but that doesn't mean they'll compare well to a more expensive receiver
using traditional methods.

Michael