shortwave reception, february 2006
 

I have posted my reception reports for February 2006 on my shortwave weblog. I am located in Northern California, and primarily used Sony ICF SW7600GR and Eton E5 receivers.

This month's received stations a
* British Broadcasting Corporation
* China Radio International
* KBS South Korea
* Radio Australia
* Radio Canada International
* Radio Havana Cuba
* Radio Netherlands
* Radio New Zealand International
* Radio Slovakia
* Radio Taiwan International
* Radio Thailand
* Voice of America
* Voice of Croatia
* Voice of (North) Korea
* Voice of Russia
* Voice of Vietnam
* WBCQ

http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/2006/0...06-part-1.html

http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/2006/0...06-part-2.html

http://cobaltpet.blogspot.com/2006/0...06-part-3.html

shortwave reception, february 2006
 

Very nice.

Hey, weatherall, we haven't had any review/assessment of the E5 by
anyone in this group yet. What are your impressions of the E5? How
does its performance compare against the 7600GR?

junius

I'm working on it but I have only captured some basic details so far.

Positives:
* E5 with the "wide" setting seems to have clearer audio on shortwave than the SW7600GR
* Memory system is more intuitive on the E5 due to alphanumeric labeling and the use of F1-F7 for stations
* E5 has a non-muting tuning knob
* Direct frequency entry on the E5 is very nice; just type the frequency then the band button (am or fm)

Negatives:
* no sync detect in the E5, so fading is a problem
* E5's narrow setting seems too narrow
* really sucks down batteries (someone in a Yahoo group told me the Kaito/Degen 1103 does the same)

To really answer your question, I have not fully compared reception performance yet. The SW7600GR has the sync detect but that can make a signal noisier in some cases. I would be surprised if one radio proved to be noticeably stronger than the other.

shortwave reception, february 2006
 

In article ,
weatherall wrote:

junius Wrote:
Hey, weatherall, we haven't had any review/assessment of the E5 by
anyone in this group yet. What are your impressions of the E5? How
does its performance compare against the 7600GR?

I'm working on it but I have only captured some basic details so far.

Positives:
* E5 with the "wide" setting seems to have clearer audio on shortwave
than the SW7600GR
* Memory system is more intuitive on the E5 due to alphanumeric
labeling and the use of F1-F7 for stations
* E5 has a non-muting tuning knob
* Direct frequency entry on the E5 is very nice; just type the
frequency then the band button (am or fm)

Negatives:
* no sync detect in the E5, so fading is a problem
* E5's narrow setting seems too narrow
* really sucks down batteries (someone in a Yahoo group told me the
Kaito/Degen 1103 does the same)

How is the audio sound quality on the E5 with a good signal and the wide
bandwidth?

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Hi Telamon:
I'm listening to Radio Havana Cuba on 6000 khz right now (0519 UTC). Both the E5 and my SW7600GR are tuned to it. Both radios have their news/music switches set to music. The E5 seems to produce higher frequencies, but the SW7600GR produces more lower frequencies.

In an effort to explain this effect without knowing the exact frequency ranges involved, imagine frequencies on a 1-10 scale (from low to high). I'd say the SW7600GR frequencies are in the range of 2-6 and the E5 frequencies are in the range of 4-8.

Initially I had a slight preference for the E5's speaker output, but now I'm focusing on the lower frequencies from the SW7600GR and wonder why they are lacking on the E5.

I wish I had a good microphone so I could record output from both speakers and measure the frequency ranges that these two radios produce.

shortwave reception, february 2006
 

In article ,
weatherall wrote:

Telamon Wrote:
How is the audio sound quality on the E5 with a good signal and the wide
bandwidth?

Hi Telamon:
I'm listening to Radio Havana Cuba on 6000 khz right now (0519 UTC).
Both the E5 and my SW7600GR are tuned to it. Both radios have their
news/music switches set to music. The E5 seems to produce higher
frequencies, but the SW7600GR produces more lower frequencies.

In an effort to explain this effect without knowing the exact frequency
ranges involved, imagine frequencies on a 1-10 scale (from low to high).
I'd say the SW7600GR frequencies are in the range of 2-6 and the E5
frequencies are in the range of 4-8.

Initially I had a slight preference for the E5's speaker output, but
now I'm focusing on the lower frequencies from the SW7600GR and wonder
why they are lacking on the E5.

I wish I had a good microphone so I could record output from both
speakers and measure the frequency ranges that these two radios
produce.

The difference could be the speakers in the two units. How do they sound
with earphones? You could use the same earphones on both radios. I know
that the Sony 7600G sounds better on earphones.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California