I already own an Icom IC-R75 radio. It's fine for LSB. I am thinking
of buying a portable for AM listening. Are these the best portables
for my purpose? I don't want a big radio. The Sony SW77 is nearly $500
but the Sangean Super ATS-909 is about $330. These are what I'm
considering. Are these good choices? Is there something better? $500
seems a lot for a portable. Is it the best? Can someone help? I
understand that the Grundig is huge. I don't want to break my arm or
my back but I want something that sounds better than my Icom for AM. I
want to collect QSL cards.

Sara

You may want to consider a Grundig YB-400PE. It has better AM sound than
most portables and good sensitivity. Its a little weak on SSB, but with an
R75 available you probably don't care. The YB-400 is on Amazon right now
for $127.49 / free shipping.


"Sara" wrote in message
om...
I already own an Icom IC-R75 radio. It's fine for LSB. I am thinking
of buying a portable for AM listening. Are these the best portables
for my purpose? I don't want a big radio. The Sony SW77 is nearly $500
but the Sangean Super ATS-909 is about $330. These are what I'm
considering. Are these good choices? Is there something better? $500
seems a lot for a portable. Is it the best? Can someone help? I
understand that the Grundig is huge. I don't want to break my arm or
my back but I want something that sounds better than my Icom for AM. I
want to collect QSL cards.

Sara

From: (Sara)

I already own an Icom IC-R75 radio. It's fine for LSB. I am thinking
of buying a portable for AM listening. Are these the best portables
for my purpose? I don't want a big radio. The Sony SW77 is nearly $500
but the Sangean Super ATS-909 is about $330. These are what I'm
considering. Are these good choices? Is there something better? $500
seems a lot for a portable. Is it the best? Can someone help? I
understand that the Grundig is huge. I don't want to break my arm or
my back but I want something that sounds better than my Icom for AM. I
want to collect QSL cards.

Try a Grundig S350. Great audio, without the bulk of the SAT800. The S350 lacks
SSB, but you got the R75 for that.

BTW, with a screenname like that I'm betting $5 that you're not really a
woman...



Michael Bryant, WA4009SWL
Louisville, KY
R75, S800, RX320, SW77, ICF2010K,
DX398, 7600G, 6800W, RF2200, 7600A
GE SRll, Pro-2006, Pro-2010, Pro-76
(remove "nojunk" to reply)

Sara schrieb:

I already own an Icom IC-R75 radio. It's fine for LSB.

So the upper sideband is broken?

I am thinking
of buying a portable for AM listening. Are these the best portables
for my purpose? I don't want a big radio.

Well, how portable exactly does it have to be? Portables reach from the
rather tiny Sony ICF-SW07 to the monstrous "Grundig" Sat 800.

The Sony SW77 is nearly $500
but the Sangean Super ATS-909 is about $330. These are what I'm
considering. Are these good choices?

Well, at least they are no bad ones.

Is there something better? $500
seems a lot for a portable. Is it the best?

A halfway recent SW77 should make a very good DX machine for a portable,
though its sound has never been too great and its operation is
frequently commented on as being rather clumsy.

Can someone help? I
understand that the Grundig is huge. I don't want to break my arm or
my back but I want something that sounds better than my Icom for AM. I
want to collect QSL cards.

OK, so you want a typical SWL oriented receiver. I'd throw in a Grundig
Satellit 700 there, good AM reception (with a decent synch detector)
along with the typical excellent FM performance and sound. (The only
weird thing is the external antenna jack, the format of which is a bit
unusual even for Euopean standards.) These fetch over 300 EUR on Ebay
even here in Germany, but are well worth it. Generally, it's never a bad
idea to try out a new receiver before buying it, particularly with the
500$ ones.

However, before purchasing a new receiver, I'd max out the existing one.
(I could have saved a lot of money, had I adhered to this rule. Now my
poor AR7030+ is sitting here with no proper antenna and merely gets used
for listing to RTL Radio in the morning, while general listenuing is
done with the Sony 7600G I started out with, used on an AN-LP1 antenna.)
In this case, that means having the various mods for the IC-R75 done
(most importantly, the synch mod), not using the DSP if present (it's
good for communications use but not for broadcasts AFAIR) and purchasing
a decent PC stereo speaker system (or maybe you have some HiFi stuff
that could be used?) and/or some good headphones (these are pretty much
a must any serious SWL anyway).
In terms of the latter, look at what impedance the receiver mfr
recommends - with consumer class receivers, it's mostly around 32 ohms,
but may be higher for communications equipment. Myself, I use Sennheiser
HD590s, generally very good sound but impedance (120 ohms) is a bit on
the high side for my 7600G, one can't get entirely noise-free FM sound.
(On the AR7030, the noise level is lower and thus generally not
disturbing.) Thus, I'd stay in the 32..64 ohm range. For some
recommendations, you may want to read through this:
http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=2&subTopicID=14 and visit
http://www.head-fi.org/.

Stephan
--
Meine Andere Seite: http://stephan.win31.de/
PC#6: i440BX, 2xCel300A, 512 MiB, 18+80 GB, GF2MX AGP 32 MiB, 110W
This is a SCSI-inside, Legacy-plus, TCPA-free computer
Reply to newsgroup only. | See home page for working e-mail address.

SARA,

If what you want is a 'radio' for "AM Listening".

Then both the Sony ICF-SW77 and the Sangean Super ATS-909 by
RadioLabs may be too-much 'radio for your stated needs.

For those who do not know about the Sangean Super ATS-909 by
RadioLab: Here is a Link to a Descriptive/Reference WebPage:
REFERENCE= http://www.radiolabs.com/products/re...s/super909.php

For simple Shortwave Band "AM Listening" and Radio 'portability'
you may wish to consider the Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun
BCL-2000. Here is a YAHOO eGroup for the Grundig S350 Radio.
GROUP= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grundig-S350/

yilgr ~ RHF
..
..
= = = (Sara)
= = = wrote in message . com...
I already own an Icom IC-R75 radio. It's fine for LSB. I am thinking
of buying a portable for AM listening. Are these the best portables
for my purpose? I don't want a big radio. The Sony SW77 is nearly $500
but the Sangean Super ATS-909 is about $330. These are what I'm
considering. Are these good choices? Is there something better? $500
seems a lot for a portable. Is it the best? Can someone help? I
understand that the Grundig is huge. I don't want to break my arm or
my back but I want something that sounds better than my Icom for AM. I
want to collect QSL cards.

Sara

RHF schrieb:

For simple Shortwave Band "AM Listening" and Radio 'portability'
you may wish to consider the Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun
BCL-2000.

It may be nice for what it is, but such a single conversion rig is
definitely not what I'd recommend for halfway serious SWLing. After all,
images and intermod are easy enough to obtain on dual conversion rigs...
If that kind of performance is wanted, a Sony ICF-7601 would fit the
bill.

Stephan
--
Meine Andere Seite: http://stephan.win31.de/
PC#6: i440BX, 2xCel300A, 512 MiB, 18+80 GB, GF2MX AGP 32 MiB, 110W
This is a SCSI-inside, Legacy-plus, TCPA-free computer
Reply to newsgroup only. | See home page for working e-mail address.

Sara wrote:

I already own an Icom IC-R75 radio. It's fine for LSB. I am thinking
of buying a portable for AM listening. Are these the best portables
for my purpose? I don't want a big radio. The Sony SW77 is nearly $500
but the Sangean Super ATS-909 is about $330. These are what I'm
considering. Are these good choices? Is there something better? $500
seems a lot for a portable. Is it the best? Can someone help? I
understand that the Grundig is huge. I don't want to break my arm or
my back but I want something that sounds better than my Icom for AM. I
want to collect QSL cards.

Sara

Try to find a used Drake-SW8 with a serial number that starts with a '6'
or higher. This model will have the improved sync' detector like the one
in the Grundig-800 which is modeled after the SW8 circuit design. The
SW8 is portable but it's larger than the usual portable. However it's
much smaller than the '800'.


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http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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SG,

I NEVER CALIMED IT WAS A "SERIOUS" SWLING RADIO [.]

The Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun BCL-2000 is simply a FUN Radio.

It is a good 'portable' Radio to learn on and develop some basic
AM/MW/BCB DXing Skills and learn about the Shortwave Bands and
SW Broadcasting. Plus enjoy nice sounding FM Sound.

The Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun BCL-2000 is the right-sized,
very portable, and last a long time on a set of Batteries.

Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun BCL-2000 is everything that most
GE Superadio III users wished a GE Superadio IV would have become.

GS350= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grundig-S350/

The On-Line Resource for GRUNDIG S350 News and Information;
Ask Questions, Get Answers, Modifications, Up-Grades and more...


~ RHF
..
..
= = = Stephan Grossklass
= = = wrote in message ...
RHF schrieb:

For simple Shortwave Band "AM Listening" and Radio 'portability'
you may wish to consider the Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun
BCL-2000.

It may be nice for what it is, but such a single conversion rig is
definitely not what I'd recommend for halfway serious SWLing. After all,
images and intermod are easy enough to obtain on dual conversion rigs...
If that kind of performance is wanted, a Sony ICF-7601 would fit the
bill.

Stephan
..

Exactly right. The choice between a Grundig S350 and a GE Super Radio III
is clear -- the S350 wins hands-down in every category. However, nobody
ever claimed it was the pinnacle of the engineering arts for portable radios
;^)

As for the choice between the Sony SW77 and the RadioLabs Super ATS-909,
there is an excellent thread on the DX398/ATS-909 Yahoo group, beginning
with this post: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DX398/message/6275 and
continuing for the next few messages.

It's the best discussion I've seen on the relative strengths of the two
radios.

-- Stinger

"RHF" wrote in message
om...
SG,

I NEVER CALIMED IT WAS A "SERIOUS" SWLING RADIO [.]

The Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun BCL-2000 is simply a FUN Radio.

It is a good 'portable' Radio to learn on and develop some basic
AM/MW/BCB DXing Skills and learn about the Shortwave Bands and
SW Broadcasting. Plus enjoy nice sounding FM Sound.

The Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun BCL-2000 is the right-sized,
very portable, and last a long time on a set of Batteries.

Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun BCL-2000 is everything that most
GE Superadio III users wished a GE Superadio IV would have become.

GS350= http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Grundig-S350/

The On-Line Resource for GRUNDIG S350 News and Information;
Ask Questions, Get Answers, Modifications, Up-Grades and more...


~ RHF
.
.
= = = Stephan Grossklass
= = = wrote in message ...
RHF schrieb:

For simple Shortwave Band "AM Listening" and Radio 'portability'
you may wish to consider the Grundig S350 "Super Radio" Tecsun
BCL-2000.

It may be nice for what it is, but such a single conversion rig is
definitely not what I'd recommend for halfway serious SWLing. After all,
images and intermod are easy enough to obtain on dual conversion rigs...
If that kind of performance is wanted, a Sony ICF-7601 would fit the
bill.

Stephan
.