Quick first impressions about my new Degen 1102.

It arrived seven days after being airmailed from Hong Kong. Seller was Lipyn
through eBay. Perfect condition. He delivered exactly as promised.

The radio arrived in a padded envelope. When I opened it, there was a small
white box on the end. Inside was a 220 to 110 converter.

The radio box was in full color and printed in Chinese. I opened the box and
there was a very well-laid-out tray containing the 220 power adapter on the
left, stereo earphones on top right, and the radio on the bottom right
wrapped in a plastic bag. I picked up the tray, and under it was a shortwave
antenna wire, a pack of three Degen brand Ni-MH 1.25V 1300mAh rechargeable
batteries, and an owners manual printed in English and Chinese. Very nicely
packaged!!!

I haven't taken time to read the manual yet. Sorry, but I'm a guy.
Instructions are for the weak-minded.

I picked up the radio, put in three AA NI-CADs and turned it on. It worked
fine, so I went outside and tested it against my DX-398.

On MW, the two were basically equal. Each one had frequencies on which it
beat the other. One thing of note, though... the Degen is extremely
directional. The DX-398 was a bit more forgiving. It's amazing that a radio
with a smaller ferrite bar can keep up with my DX-398. Of course, the 398
sounds better with more bass and everything, but that's to be expected.

On FM, again the two were comparable. Maybe the 398 won with the whip not
extended, but with the whip fully extended, there was no difference.

On SW, the Degen blew away my 398! Of course I realize that the 398 is
designed to work best with an external antenna attached. But that's not the
way I listen to a radio. In fact, most of the time, I like to keep the whip
unextended. When I fully extended both whips, the 398 came closer in
reception, but the Degen still shone.

I don't feel like writing more now. There are radio waves passing through my
house at this very moment, so I need to get my new radio turned on and tuned
in so I can find out where the waves are coming from and what they're trying
to tell me.

I love my new Degen 1102. Maybe I'll post more tomorrow when I get tired of
listening to it. Or maybe not.

"Corbin Ray" wrote...
[snip]
I love my new Degen 1102. Maybe I'll post more tomorrow when I get tired of
listening to it. Or maybe not.


Nice report Corbin.
It's a very cool radio.
I had to read the manual : )

Quick update on my 1102...

The SSB works very nicely. Of course I had to get out the manual to figure
out how to work it, but it works well.

I'm blown away by how much I'm getting on shortwave. It's like I've
discovered a new band tonight.

The speaker is really nice to listen to. It's not nearly as tinny as the
Sony 7600gr. But I thought I'd try a nice set of Koss headphones, and wow!
It sounds incredible on all bands, and FM with the bass boost is about as
good as it gets. In a comparison between my DX-398 with headphones and the
Degen with headphones, the Degen's wins hands down.

At this present time, I would put my Degen 1102 into the exact same level as
the Sangean 909, Grundig YB400, and Sony IC-SW7600GR. All have their unique
strengths and weakneses. But I was able to get my 1102 delivered to my door
for $68! So that puts the Degen in a class by itself.

"Corbin Ray" wrote in message
...
Quick update on my 1102...

The SSB works very nicely. Of course I had to get out the manual to
figure
out how to work it, but it works well.

I'm blown away by how much I'm getting on shortwave. It's like I've
discovered a new band tonight.

The speaker is really nice to listen to. It's not nearly as tinny as
the
Sony 7600gr. But I thought I'd try a nice set of Koss headphones,
and wow!
It sounds incredible on all bands, and FM with the bass boost is
about as
good as it gets. In a comparison between my DX-398 with headphones
and the
Degen with headphones, the Degen's wins hands down.

At this present time, I would put my Degen 1102 into the exact same
level as
the Sangean 909, Grundig YB400, and Sony IC-SW7600GR. All have their
unique
strengths and weakneses. But I was able to get my 1102 delivered to
my door
for $68! So that puts the Degen in a class by itself.


As something of a DX-398 buff, I have to ask where you think the
compromises are in the Degan? Or is it that rare product that really
does transcend its cost? You make it sound very interesting and my
finger has been twitching towards eBay! At that price, its SAF
(spousal acceptance factor) is a non-issue too.

I can attest to the fact that this radio is a "sleeper". You can't find
anything even close for $68.00. I can not get over the sheer number of
stations I can pull in with just the whip. This is what a portable should
be. I have owned several of the brands, and this is defintely the best
price/performance ratio I have seen. I don't even miss having a sync
detector on this radio. Yeah, its small (around the size of a Sangean 606),
so don't expect big sound but its not bad on the speaker either.


"T. Early" wrote in message
...

"Corbin Ray" wrote in message
...
Quick update on my 1102...

The SSB works very nicely. Of course I had to get out the manual to
figure
out how to work it, but it works well.

I'm blown away by how much I'm getting on shortwave. It's like I've
discovered a new band tonight.

The speaker is really nice to listen to. It's not nearly as tinny as
the
Sony 7600gr. But I thought I'd try a nice set of Koss headphones,
and wow!
It sounds incredible on all bands, and FM with the bass boost is
about as
good as it gets. In a comparison between my DX-398 with headphones
and the
Degen with headphones, the Degen's wins hands down.

At this present time, I would put my Degen 1102 into the exact same
level as
the Sangean 909, Grundig YB400, and Sony IC-SW7600GR. All have their
unique
strengths and weakneses. But I was able to get my 1102 delivered to
my door
for $68! So that puts the Degen in a class by itself.


As something of a DX-398 buff, I have to ask where you think the
compromises are in the Degan? Or is it that rare product that really
does transcend its cost? You make it sound very interesting and my
finger has been twitching towards eBay! At that price, its SAF
(spousal acceptance factor) is a non-issue too.

In article ,
T. Early wrote:

"Corbin Ray" wrote in message
...
Quick update on my 1102...

The SSB works very nicely. Of course I had to get out the manual to
figure
out how to work it, but it works well.

I'm blown away by how much I'm getting on shortwave. It's like I've
discovered a new band tonight.

The speaker is really nice to listen to. It's not nearly as tinny as
the
Sony 7600gr. But I thought I'd try a nice set of Koss headphones,
and wow!
It sounds incredible on all bands, and FM with the bass boost is
about as
good as it gets. In a comparison between my DX-398 with headphones
and the
Degen with headphones, the Degen's wins hands down.

At this present time, I would put my Degen 1102 into the exact same
level as
the Sangean 909, Grundig YB400, and Sony IC-SW7600GR. All have their
unique
strengths and weakneses. But I was able to get my 1102 delivered to
my door
for $68! So that puts the Degen in a class by itself.


As something of a DX-398 buff, I have to ask where you think the
compromises are in the Degan? Or is it that rare product that really
does transcend its cost? You make it sound very interesting and my
finger has been twitching towards eBay! At that price, its SAF
(spousal acceptance factor) is a non-issue too.


I live in northern NJ, close to a lot of MW transmitter sites. A few MW
stations bleed 100 or more KHz above their nominal frequencies. It looks
like the front end is getting overloaded in the same way that people have
described SW overload when using an external antenna. I have only two
other radios that exhibit this phenomenon so strongly: the Degen DE105,
and a Kaiwa KA-818 ... both "cheap" portables. Several other radios I own
- Grundig, Sangean, Sony, etc - do not have this problem around here.
On stations that do not suffer this kind of bleed-through, adjcent-channel
selectivity is excellent; thanks to decent bandpass filters and dual
conversion design (though I wonder if that applies to MW, despite the
blurb on the box).

I suspect one of the design compromises is in the usual trade-off with
portables: sensitivity vs. dynamic range. The DE-1102's sensitivity is
remarkable. Just tonight I happened to hit the power button while the
radio was sitting in the box, antenna completely collapsed and retracted.
It was tuned to 5975 KHz, and I was able to clearly copy BBC .. noisy, but
perfectly readable. The price is for this is increased susceptibility to
overload.

You don't get something for nothing! The 1102 is a remarkable performer
for the price; especially if you get a Degen version from China. (I think
I read in one review that the factory price comes to about US $34). But there
are some aspects of its performance, under difficult conditions, that a
"better" receiver may do better with. My two cents'worth.

But there
are some aspects of its performance, under difficult conditions, that a
"better" receiver may do better with. My two cents'worth.

*FINALLY*........I was about ready to throw out my fifteen plus radios and just
go get this piece, sounds like it'ss THE radio to have. I wonder how it
stacks up to the Drake? ;-) Steve? You there? LOL

Since this is newer than the three units he compared it with could it be
that the difference is in circuit integration? He mentioned it weighing
less also. Combining more IC's might make it a bit lighter and perhaps
more battery efficient as well.

Newer, thinner IC technology; i.e. micron thickness?

Concerning cost -- Could it be that cheap SLAVE LABOR?

Just a few possibilities.

Al

========

T. Early wrote:

As something of a DX-398 buff, I have to ask where you think the
compromises are in the Degan? Or is it that rare product that really
does transcend its cost? You make it sound very interesting and my
finger has been twitching towards eBay! At that price, its SAF
(spousal acceptance factor) is a non-issue too.

In article ,
Al Patrick wrote:

T. Early wrote:

As something of a DX-398 buff, I have to ask where you think the
compromises are in the Degan? Or is it that rare product that really
does transcend its cost? You make it sound very interesting and my
finger has been twitching towards eBay! At that price, its SAF
(spousal acceptance factor) is a non-issue too.


Since this is newer than the three units he compared it with could it be
that the difference is in circuit integration? He mentioned it weighing
less also. Combining more IC's might make it a bit lighter and perhaps
more battery efficient as well.

Newer, thinner IC technology; i.e. micron thickness?

Thinner plastic, smaller magnet in speaker ....I don't think IC's weigh
all that much.

You make it sound very interesting and my
finger has been twitching towards eBay! At that price, its SAF
(spousal acceptance factor) is a non-issue too.

Hey T Early, I spoke with someone and hopefully this weekend I'll do (as he
said he did) a 'side to side' test with the 398.

Now my 398 is stick and run to a sloper or a buttload of wire, all I gotta do
it throw a switch. I run mine on rechargeables, and we be 'joyed' to unplug
the external and sit it on the lazt susan with that old nasty looking GE P-780.
..http://www.transistor.org/collection/ge/ge14.html

http://www.transistor.org/feature/jutson/feature.html

or imo, this is the best one.
http://www.transistor.org/feature/jutson/details.html