Saki,

( First, are you the same as " H H Munro " ?? ;-) )

- Let us know what you think of the Kaito 1102;
- Thinking of getting one ( eventually )

dan

In article , saki
writes:

Subject: *gulp*
From: saki
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 20:01:17 +0000 (UTC)

(Michael Bryant) wrote in
:

From: Steve

Hi Mike, check this out, same radio, new, "buy it now" for $41.90

Yeah, eveeryone says that Liypn is the guy to buy from. Even with the
$38 dollar air shipping charge from mainland China the cost is still
reasonable at about $80.

This is correct. I just got my black Tecsin BCL-2000 on Friday; Liypn
shipped it the previous Saturday. Wonderful turnaround.

I'm playing with it this weekend (also with a Kaito 1102 I just got last
week as well) and am very impressed with both radios.

Hooked up my 70' magnet wire (used normally for my R75) and the Tecsun
didn't overload, no distortion, and got great signals at very nice
fidelity.

It's certainly a nice "fun" radio to have.

----

On 2004-02-14 said:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
Can anyone explain this to me???
Tecsun BCL-2000 being sold online
at http://store.yahoo.com/sports-imports/5bashrainred.html
FM/AM/SW Digital 5 Band Shortwave Radio in Red or Black BCL2000
Regular price: $189.95Sale price: (You save: 32%)
I cannot fathom the selling price or the statement about
"regular price"
I want to express shock and dismay, but all I can do is
sit here and shake my head!!!
This radio is like $80 including shipping on eBay.
The Grundig S350 is only $99 plus shipping, online. And
the same price plus tax in a retail store. Right???
----SNIP----

What was that the ancient Romans used to say about, "Caveat emptor"? I
think it's rediculous to claim a retail price of $149.95 for something a
Chinese seller can advertise on EBay for $42 all the time and sell at a
proffit. Of course, by the time you pay him $38 for shipping to the USA or
Canada, you have an $80 radio, and that may or may not include a stepdown
voltage transformer, which effectively turns your built-in power supply in
something that ends up plugging in via a wall wart. That's the Tecsun
BCL-2000. The seller in Detroit has it with the stepdown transformer for
$69.99 plus $14.99 for shipping within the US or to Canada, giving you a
radio delivered to your door for $84.98. Then, you can buy what amounts to
nearly the same radio with extra MW coverage and a Grundig brand name on it
for $99.99 everywhere that sells it plus sales tax, and/or shipping and
handling.

Saying that the "list" or "regular" price is $149.99 or $189.95 is sheer
market puffery designed to convince the gullible that they are getting
something more than they are paying for. Stick something in a big shipping
crate, or even a shipping pallet on an airplane, and cost of transporting a
single radio from anywhere in the world to the USA drops to very little. It
is easy to see why the stuff is made in China and not Europe, Japan, or
North America. The proffit margins on the transactions can double twice or
more, whereas the margin used to be measured in percentage points--maybe 10,
or 20 percent on the high side.

I mentioned last week that a handfull of mostly Chinese companies are
flooding the world market with scads of cheap radios, just a few slightly
varying models sold under a dozen or more brand names, but nobody is
spending any money on really high-quality, good-sounding radio gear for the
shortwave listener. I was asked if I had heard of the Eton 900, or whatever
it is going to be called. Yes, I've heard of it, and based on what I've
heard, it will prove my point. What are its proposed dimmensions--13 by 7
by 2 inches, weight, four pounds, aprox. This is even a little smaller and
lighter than a Grundig Satellit 700. D batteries are at least 1.5 inches in
diameter, so if it uses D batteries, it won't take more than four. That's a
6-volt amplifier design. A 2-inch thick radio is going to have a speaker
with a small magnet. Don't look for any decent audio quality there.
Judging from the thin, wimpy sound and abysmal audio capabilities of the
amplifier and speaker in the much bigger Satellit 800, I don't expect to
hear good quality audio out of the Eton 900/Satellit 900/Eton E1-XM or
whatever they're going to call it. Even though they will cut the labor
costs by up to 80 percent by making the radio in China instead of even a
cheap-labor European country like Portugal, much of the money is going into
making the unit XM radio-capable. The large XM boom box is really a crappy
sounding piece of audio gear. I know two people who bought them and
returned them the next day, including one who easily comfortable listening
to a radio with a sound quality like a Sangean ATS-909. I'll bet that E1-XM
won't sound much if any better than a Sony ICF-SW77 which is about the same
size and weight, and uses C batteries instead of D batteries. I would
really be surprised if it has audio quality even close to that of a Grundig
Satellit 400 or Satellit 700. I hope my skepticism will be proven to be
overly pessimistic, but I don't plan to get my hopes up at all. Even so,
it's not here yet. We can't go see and hear one anywhere, and we can't
order one yet at any price and expect to have it delivered to our door
within the next two weeks or so. If we're lucky, we might get a chance to
play with it, review it, and read people's comments based on experience by
some time before the end of this year.

In the meantime, the 32- or 33-year-old Satellit 210/6001 still rules the
bedside table and sings or talks me to sleep many nights, and the nice
little S-350 or the equally nice little BCL-2000 will probably be my main
travelling shortwave radio. I wouldn't want to risk getting the Sat 400 or
the Sat 700 killed or stolen. I think the E1-XM would be a better radio had
it been an E1-Sir, as in Sirius Radio, and it would be even better if it
could do Sirius and/or XM in the same box along with current
state-of-the-art traditional off-air radio with current top-end portable
radio coverage and tuning features.

Reply to:
Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA

On 2004-02-14 (Diverd4777) said:
Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
----SNIP----
Here's there particulars..
Sports Imports, Ltd.
PO Box 60245
Potomac, Md 20859-0245
Fax: (301) 299-0185
----SNIP----

Wow! No voice telephone number; no email address; no website.
I wonder what else they sell. Hmmmm! Sports Imports, LTD. Somebody
should fax them and let them know that most other sellers undercut by price
by at least an additional 32 percent.



Brent Reynolds
Atlanta, GA USA
Home phone: 1-404-814-0768

Saki,

( First, are you the same as " H H Munro " ?? ;-) )


Now THERE'S an esoteric reference... being a long-time Sake/Munro reader, I
must state my appreciation at seeing this one, Dan-
Linus

(Diverd4777) wrote in
:

Saki,

( First, are you the same as " H H Munro " ?? ;-)

Nope, just a fan. Saki was my cat's name, named after the great H.H.
mimself. I took her name as a login for my initial Unix account and have
used it for almost all my accounts since.

- Let us know what you think of the Kaito 1102;
- Thinking of getting one ( eventually )

I like the sensitivity so far, which is better (or so it seems from cursory
examination) than my old Sony ICF-7600 (the 1991 model). I was looking for
something a bit more portable and practical.

The 1102 has a very nice feel to it (solid case) and logical operation
(except for the battery charger, and I eventually figured it out with help
from another 1102 owner). The blue backlight is very nice too.

Not a challenger for a tabletop of course, and it would probably be
outperformed by the 400PE or ICF-7600GR, but I wanted something smaller
than both those options that would still pick up what are "essential"
stations for me. The 1102 can get RNZI and Tunisia as well as DW and Radio
Netherlands, so that's enough for me. Very good MW and FM fidelity as well.

----