Just curious how these too compare as I can get either here in Austin TX.
Not interested in the Sony because It'd have to be mail ordered.

TIA

pete nalda wrote:
Just curious how these too compare as I can get either here in Austin TX.
Not interested in the Sony because It'd have to be mail ordered.

TIA

Personally, I stay away from Grundig/Eton/Tecsun, because Eton/Tecsun
bought the rights to market products under the "Grundig" name, and they
are now made in China, not Germany ( I assume the YB400 falls under
this). I have heard nothing but positive about the Kaito 1103 and
Tecsun 1103 (check the reviews under Amazon and eham.net for all
three). You could order the Tecsun 1103, off Ebay, for considerably
less, unless you feel more comfortable picking up the Kaito 1103, in
person. I bought a Grundig S350, now returned to Radio Shack, and it
was the biggest piece-of-crap radio, I have ever owned...

It's actually Degen that makes the 1103. They're from China too. Why fault Eton though for selling China-produced radios?

The YB400-PE, aka the G4000A, is also larger than the 1103. The 1103 can decently fit into a jacket pocket.

cheers,

"pete nalda" wrote in message
...
Just curious how these too compare as I can get either here in Austin TX.
Not interested in the Sony because It'd have to be mail ordered.

TIA

I have one of each. I have had the YB-400 for quite some time. The 1103 is a
nice receiver for the money. But, the YB-400 is a superior radio in receive,
sideband, sound, tone, sensitivity & selectivity IMO.

The 1103 is fun, and is pretty sensitive, the audio is not great, but the
price is right.

One drawback to the YB-400 is the lack of a tuning dial, other than that,
it's a fine radio. Out of all my portables though, I still use the Radio
Shack DX-398 the most. I own a lot of them, but to me nothing equals the 398
in portables. It's also tagged as a Sangean 909, but that costs quite a bit
of cash.

I have both. The YB400 has decent sound but is
much less sensitive off the whip than the 1103.
Note that the YB400 is discontinued; I was able
to buy some more of them for about $50-$60 each
as closeouts to give as presents. That makes the
price about the same as the Degen 1103 direct
from China and a bit less than the Kaito 1103 in
the US. If physical size matters, the 1103 is much
smaller (as noted in another posting) and thus
handier, but the ergonomics (volume setting and
tuning and memory selection) are unique and
some may find them hard to get used to. The
YB400 has far fewer memories, but then I've
never filled in all the memories on my 1103. I
find it easier to recall frequencies themselves
than to recall what memory channel is what.

Audio quality is noted as being better on the
YB400 than just about any other smallish
portable; there's been a lot of discussion about
audio distortion in the 1103 on the 1103 Yahoo
group. I note some fuzziness in my 1103's
sound but it isn't enough to do anything about.

The 1103 is really good in getting weak FM stations;
the YB400 is decent, but not great. I have never
compared them on AM BCB (Medium Wave) DXing.

So I'd say: if sensitivity and picking up weak
signals is most important, get the 1103. If
listening to relatively strong signals for program
content and enjoyability is more important, go
with the YB400.

Or get both -- one can never have too many
radios! :-)

73, Will

In .com Will wrote:
SNIP
So I'd say: if sensitivity and picking up weak
signals is most important, get the 1103. If
listening to relatively strong signals for program
content and enjoyability is more important, go
with the YB400.

Or get both -- one can never have too many
radios! :-)

73, Will

Thanks for the info again and yeah so this really clinches it for me. I
want better sensitivity if that's what the 1103 provides. I don't care
about audio quality so much as I usually listen with headphones, or
through my home stereo. And with shortwave if the sound is good for
voice that's the main thing. I'm not in a position to buy both.