Need help finding a shortwave radio receiver for my grandpa
 

Hi. I know very little about shortwave radios, but my grandpa's
shortwave radio receiver went out on him and he's wanting to get a new
one. He doesn't have the Internet, so he wanted me to try and locate a
store online where he could call and purchase a receiver with the
following specifications and hopefully for the following price:

* Coverage: 100kHz to 30MHz (continuous)
* Single Side Band
* CW (Don't know what this means. Same as "continuous"?)
* RF Gain Control
* Desktop style
* Price: $350 or less

I did as much research as I could online to find models and brands
(Grudig, Sangean, Sony), but it seems that a lot of articles and pages
and posts speak of older receivers that were good, but are no longer
made. Seems strange, but I guess that happens all the time with
everything. Out with the "old", in with the "new". Right. Anyway, I
hope that you guys (and girls) will be able to help me find a model
that suits his needs. I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Ryan Cabanas

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi. I know very little about shortwave radios, but my grandpa's
shortwave radio receiver went out on him and he's wanting to get a new
one. He doesn't have the Internet, so he wanted me to try and locate a
store online where he could call and purchase a receiver with the
following specifications and hopefully for the following price:

* Coverage: 100kHz to 30MHz (continuous)
* Single Side Band
* CW (Don't know what this means. Same as "continuous"?)
* RF Gain Control
* Desktop style
* Price: $350 or less

I did as much research as I could online to find models and brands
(Grudig, Sangean, Sony), but it seems that a lot of articles and pages
and posts speak of older receivers that were good, but are no longer
made. Seems strange, but I guess that happens all the time with
everything. Out with the "old", in with the "new". Right. Anyway, I
hope that you guys (and girls) will be able to help me find a model
that suits his needs. I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Ryan Cabanas

Hiya... I dont know of any new out of the box desk tops for $350.00 and
under

Your lest espensive choices would be the Grundig Satellite 800 for about
$400 to $450. You can find it selling even lower then that at times. See
below.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...able/0800.html

And the Icom R-75 for about $500 to 550. This radio is discontinued from
Icom but you can still get it. I have one of these and I love it. See
below.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...rxvr/0175.html

If you want to spend less money, you'll need to buy a used radio.

Hope that helps !!!

Michael

Thanks everyone for your help.

I was able to find a Yaesu FRG-100 and a Grundig Satellit 800 on E-Bay
for about the price my grandpa wants to spend, if no one else bids. =)
Anyway, I just wanted to ask, do both of these models I've just
mentioned have all of the features that I listed in the original post?
I know that they meet the frequency requirements, are Single Side Band,
CW, are Desktop-style, ... but are they "Continuous" frequency tuning
and do they have "RF Gain Control"? I couldn't find these exact
phrases from their descriptions on www.universal-radio.com. Thanks for
the help again.

Ryan Cabanas

I don't know about the FRG-100 but the Sat-800 (an XLNT choice) does NOT
have an RF gain knob...



wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks everyone for your help.

I was able to find a Yaesu FRG-100 and a Grundig Satellit 800 on E-Bay
for about the price my grandpa wants to spend, if no one else bids. =)
Anyway, I just wanted to ask, do both of these models I've just
mentioned have all of the features that I listed in the original post?
I know that they meet the frequency requirements, are Single Side Band,
CW, are Desktop-style, ... but are they "Continuous" frequency tuning
and do they have "RF Gain Control"? I couldn't find these exact
phrases from their descriptions on www.universal-radio.com. Thanks for
the help again.

Ryan Cabanas

Grandpa would like the "800", I'm sure of it.

Darren

Well, that takes care of the Grundig then. I guess I'll just have to
focus on the specs of the Yaesu then. Thanks for the help Jim. I
appreciate it.

Ryan Cabanas

Jim Hackett wrote:
I don't know about the FRG-100 but the Sat-800 (an XLNT choice) does NOT
have an RF gain knob...



wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks everyone for your help.

I was able to find a Yaesu FRG-100 and a Grundig Satellit 800 on E-Bay
for about the price my grandpa wants to spend, if no one else bids. =)
Anyway, I just wanted to ask, do both of these models I've just
mentioned have all of the features that I listed in the original post?
I know that they meet the frequency requirements, are Single Side Band,
CW, are Desktop-style, ... but are they "Continuous" frequency tuning
and do they have "RF Gain Control"? I couldn't find these exact
phrases from their descriptions on www.universal-radio.com. Thanks for
the help again.

Ryan Cabanas

The Icom R-75, which I also own, is an XLNT receiver having every feature
you wanted and then some. Unfortunately, it has just been discontinued but
new ones are probably still available somewhere. They, unfortunately, are
closer to $500 when purchased new.



wrote in message
ups.com...
Well, that takes care of the Grundig then. I guess I'll just have to
focus on the specs of the Yaesu then. Thanks for the help Jim. I
appreciate it.

Ryan Cabanas

Jim Hackett wrote:
I don't know about the FRG-100 but the Sat-800 (an XLNT choice) does NOT
have an RF gain knob...



wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks everyone for your help.

I was able to find a Yaesu FRG-100 and a Grundig Satellit 800 on E-Bay
for about the price my grandpa wants to spend, if no one else bids.
=)
Anyway, I just wanted to ask, do both of these models I've just
mentioned have all of the features that I listed in the original post?
I know that they meet the frequency requirements, are Single Side
Band,
CW, are Desktop-style, ... but are they "Continuous" frequency tuning
and do they have "RF Gain Control"? I couldn't find these exact
phrases from their descriptions on www.universal-radio.com. Thanks
for
the help again.

Ryan Cabanas

....Coverage: 100kHz to 30MHz (continuous) ....

Some radios may go down only as low as 150kHz, or omit some coverage
between 150 kHz and 540 kHz, or wherever it is that the MW band begins
these days. That may not be a big problem.

Thanks Jim. Yeah, I'm going to give him a call tomorrow and let him
know that prices have changed since the last time he bought a shortwave
(25 years ago). I'll let him know that the Grundig has everything but
the RF Gain Control knob and see what he wants to do. Don't think they
can afford $500 right now, though, so don't know about the Icom.
Thanks again Jim.

Ryan Cabanas

Jim Hackett wrote:
The Icom R-75, which I also own, is an XLNT receiver having every feature
you wanted and then some. Unfortunately, it has just been discontinued but
new ones are probably still available somewhere. They, unfortunately, are
closer to $500 when purchased new.



wrote in message
ups.com...
Well, that takes care of the Grundig then. I guess I'll just have to
focus on the specs of the Yaesu then. Thanks for the help Jim. I
appreciate it.

Ryan Cabanas

Jim Hackett wrote:
I don't know about the FRG-100 but the Sat-800 (an XLNT choice) does NOT
have an RF gain knob...



wrote in message
oups.com...
Thanks everyone for your help.

I was able to find a Yaesu FRG-100 and a Grundig Satellit 800 on E-Bay
for about the price my grandpa wants to spend, if no one else bids.
=)
Anyway, I just wanted to ask, do both of these models I've just
mentioned have all of the features that I listed in the original post?
I know that they meet the frequency requirements, are Single Side
Band,
CW, are Desktop-style, ... but are they "Continuous" frequency tuning
and do they have "RF Gain Control"? I couldn't find these exact
phrases from their descriptions on www.universal-radio.com. Thanks
for
the help again.

Ryan Cabanas

Yes, the Yaesu as well as the Icom would meet all those requirements
and then some. And they would look the most like a tabletop receiver
while taking up a minimum of space on the table.

Do you know what he had?

Perhaps what he would like is another radio similar to what he had.

TMT

Art Harris schrieb:

Volker Tonn wrote:


No. CW is just unmodulated AM-carrier



Oh? And how is an unmodulated AM carrier different than an unmodulated
FM carrier?


You can't make this listenable with a FM-receiver :-)

Morse code is just the most common way to *use* CW.



In shortwave/ham radio use, CW is understood to mean Morse code. I'm
sure that's how his grandfather meant it.


In shortwave use 'CW mode' means having a adjustable BFO to adjust the
listenig tone to a frequency the listener likes best.

"CW" was originally used to
differentiate "continuous wave" telegraphy from "spark" telegraphy
("spark" being a damped sinusoid).


Technically spoken CW is independent from any code. You're free to use
your own created code on the HAM-bands when you make the syntax available.
You can send 'morse' code in FM-mode very easy. But you have to have a
tone generator in the TX and you have the limitation not being able to
adjust the listening tone in the RX.
At least telegraphy -with morse code- was used first on 'telegraphy
stations' connected by wire....

Greetings,
Volker