On 1 Aug 2005 09:57:55 -0700, "Joe Analssandrini"
wrote:

Hello Mark,

I've seen some of "Lucky's" posts but, unless I've missed something, he
doesn't actually have the radio in hand as yet.

Does he?

"Lucky" - any comment?

Best,

Joe

He posted on 7/30 with a "mini" review.

From first impressions only, I like it a lot.

SHOCKER. It's assembled in India NOT China.

The build quality is actually superb for a rig classified as a portable. The
sync detector work very well IMO but remember I've only used one night, a
couple hours now. It also has double sideband like the HF-150. The PBT on a
portable is really a nice touch. The thing that amazed me was how well it's
implemented. They really took their time to do this one right. I think it
will be a big seller for them even at 5 bills. Prices will probably drop $75
by the holidays. This is also because of the build quality. This doesn't
stink from a cheap China clone factory product. Once people realize it's a
very respectabl built rig, they'll buy it.

The sound quality is very good and clean.
A real pleasure for BCB so far. Being able to knock between 7khz and 4 is
nice and comes in handy.

The bass and treble controls work very well especially with the bandwidth
choices of 7/4/2.3. I can't comment on the sensitivity yet cause I don't
have a PAL connector for the external antenna. Don't know why they chose
such a adaption. I have my main antenna hooked up to the whip for tonight.
There is choice of "DX" which acts as active antenna to boost signals.

You can chose from internal antenna {whip} to ext ant. with side switches.
One for FM and one for HF. The case seems to be made of some type of hard,
but rubbery feeling material. I think it could handle a moderate drop. The
eronomics are good on the very front though the buttons seem a tad on the
tiny side. But, I found that the knobs like the volume and PBT, bass and
treble to not be as recessed as much as I'd like. Turning the knobs sides is
very easy but if the radios back stand is pulled out and it's rested tilted
up, you feel there is not enough debt to them. You do get used to it pretty
quickly but it irritated me somewhat.

The whip can be rotated at a 90 degree angle so the it can point straight up
when resting on it's back. What I didn't like was the whip wouldn't stay on
it's side or at a 45 degree angle. When I let go of it it fell all the way
to one side. Perhaps it can be tightened a little to keep in exact position.

Now I didn't go thru the whole manual yet, but in ECSS the frequency seemed
to be off like 7kHz.. It didn't zero beat on certain known local stations
here in Florida. I don't have that with my other rigs. Looking thru the
menus I can't find a offset for it. Only an offset for the time and clocks.
I have to look into this more.

The AGC has a slow/fast and Auto mode which keep the AGC in fast mode
between tuning so you don't miss weak signals. Too bad you can't turn it
off.

That's about for now. I need to spend more time with it and read the
complete manual twice before I can really give more observations. The only
thing that really bothered me was the ergonomics. They should have made sure
there was a 360 degree recess all around any knobs.
It's not like it's a tiny portable with little real estate to work with.

If this was priced at $300, it would fly off the shelves. But, I think since
it's considered a "sat radio", people have to pay for added XM components
that they don't need. Like I said before, I believe XMSR helped Eton out to
some degree with the quality of this radio.

I'll tell you one thing this makes one hell of a portable if you got the
energy to power it. They say many of the fuctions drain battery life more
then the others so.
It's a pretty big portable. It's man's tote!

Lucky




==========
"Being diabetic is alot like having an un-invited
guest at a picnic, who keeps pointing out the potato
salad may have gone bad."--W.B. Willis