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#1
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![]() Comrades! I thank you in advance for any advice you give me. I would like to purchase a s/w radio that can be powered by a crank. There are at least 3, maybe 4-5 of them out there. I am most interested in the s/w strengths of the radio: sensitivity and then selectivity. AM broadcast is a 2nd interest. Next would come audio quality from the radio's own speaker. FM doesn't matter at all; doesn't even have to be there. From what I have read - here and elsewhere - the Grundig is the hands down winner. Does anyone have any different experience/recommendation? -- Col. I.P. Yurin Commissariat of Internal Security Stakhanovite Order of Lenin (1937) Hero of Socialist Labor (1939) |
#2
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I. P. Yurin wrote:
Comrades! I thank you in advance for any advice you give me. I would like to purchase a s/w radio that can be powered by a crank. There are at least 3, maybe 4-5 of them out there. I am most interested in the s/w strengths of the radio: sensitivity and then selectivity. AM broadcast is a 2nd interest. Next would come audio quality from the radio's own speaker. FM doesn't matter at all; doesn't even have to be there. From what I have read - here and elsewhere - the Grundig is the hands down winner. Does anyone have any different experience/recommendation? You're shopping for a $9.95 shortwave radio with a $20 handle on it. Don't presume too much in which brand is better. -ICU-Ping |
#3
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![]() "I. P. Yurin" wrote: Comrades! I thank you in advance for any advice you give me. I would like to purchase a s/w radio that can be powered by a crank. There are plenty of cranks out there Comrade, whether they are capable of powering a s/w radio is another matter altogether. There are at least 3, maybe 4-5 of them out there. I am most interested in the s/w strengths of the radio: sensitivity and then selectivity. AM broadcast is a 2nd interest. Next would come audio quality from the radio's own speaker. FM doesn't matter at all; doesn't even have to be there. From what I have read - here and elsewhere - the Grundig is the hands down winner. Does anyone have any different experience/recommendation? -- Col. I.P. Yurin Commissariat of Internal Security Stakhanovite Order of Lenin (1937) Hero of Socialist Labor (1939) |
#4
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N8KDV wrote:
There are plenty of cranks out there Comrade, whether they are capable of powering a s/w radio is another matter altogether. Didn't uber-crank Al Patrick have a long thread about powering his mighty B&H a while back? |
#5
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Larry Ozarow wrote:
N8KDV wrote: There are plenty of cranks out there Comrade, whether they are capable of powering a s/w radio is another matter altogether. Didn't uber-crank Al Patrick have a long thread about powering his mighty B&H a while back? Indeed he did. It went on -- like his jew-hatin' posts -- endlessly. -- Col. I.P. Yurin Commissariat of Internal Security Stakhanovite Order of Lenin (1937) Hero of Socialist Labor (1939) |
#6
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![]() N8KDV wrote: "I. P. Yurin" wrote: Comrades! I thank you in advance for any advice you give me. I would like to purchase a s/w radio that can be powered by a crank. There are plenty of cranks out there Comrade, whether they are capable of powering a s/w radio is another matter altogether. Good point. From the posts here, we can see that many of the cranks can *operate* a s/w radio, though! There are at least 3, maybe 4-5 of them out there. I am most interested in the s/w strengths of the radio: sensitivity and then selectivity. AM broadcast is a 2nd interest. Next would come audio quality from the radio's own speaker. FM doesn't matter at all; doesn't even have to be there. From what I have read - here and elsewhere - the Grundig is the hands down winner. Does anyone have any different experience/recommendation? -- Col. I.P. Yurin Commissariat of Internal Security Stakhanovite Order of Lenin (1937) Hero of Socialist Labor (1939) -- Col. I.P. Yurin Commissariat of Internal Security Stakhanovite Order of Lenin (1937) Hero of Socialist Labor (1939) |
#7
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Comrade.
I remember reading a review of a number of such models. I thought it was at Radiointel, but I can't find it there, so I must be mistaken. If your Google skills are better than mine maybe you can track it down. As far as I can recall it agreed with what you've seen, that the Grundig is about as good as they get. I. P. Yurin wrote: Comrades! I thank you in advance for any advice you give me. I would like to purchase a s/w radio that can be powered by a crank. There are at least 3, maybe 4-5 of them out there. I am most interested in the s/w strengths of the radio: sensitivity and then selectivity. AM broadcast is a 2nd interest. Next would come audio quality from the radio's own speaker. FM doesn't matter at all; doesn't even have to be there. From what I have read - here and elsewhere - the Grundig is the hands down winner. Does anyone have any different experience/recommendation? |
#8
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This might be it, I can't remember:
Two part article - http://www.tjtdesign.com/radios/windup.htm http://www.tjtdesign.com/radios/radio3.htm Larry Ozarow wrote: Comrade. I remember reading a review of a number of such models. I thought it was at Radiointel, but I can't find it there, so I must be mistaken. If your Google skills are better than mine maybe you can track it down. As far as I can recall it agreed with what you've seen, that the Grundig is about as good as they get. |
#9
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Larry Ozarow wrote:
This might be it, I can't remember: Two part article - http://www.tjtdesign.com/radios/windup.htm http://www.tjtdesign.com/radios/radio3.htm Larry Ozarow wrote: Comrade. I remember reading a review of a number of such models. I thought it was at Radiointel, but I can't find it there, so I must be mistaken. If your Google skills are better than mine maybe you can track it down. As far as I can recall it agreed with what you've seen, that the Grundig is about as good as they get. Thank you, comrade. Greatly appreciated. -- Col. I.P. Yurin Commissariat of Internal Security Stakhanovite Order of Lenin (1937) Hero of Socialist Labor (1939) |
#10
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The Grundig is good. The dial readout is compressed, but it has a fine tuning
knob and a good logging scale. A while back I gave a report on another one. Don't waste your money on it. Here's my report: Report on Cheapie Dynamo Radio While scanning a new Johnson Smith catalog, I noticed two SW radios at $19.98 each. I had to have them to see what they could do. I've already posted a (glowing) report on the jWIN. This report is about the Sonnet. Sonnet 12 Band AM/FM/TV/SW Dynamo Rechargeable This receiver, with an analog dial, has good sensitivity and sound, and a very good tuning knob (but no fine tuning as the FR200 has). But then it goes downhill from there, beginning with the poorly translated-to-English instruction paper. The calibrations for the AM (MW) and FM bands seem okay for the radio involved. I think the calibrations for TV1 (VHF Lo) and TV2 (VHF Hi) are okay. The channel markers for the former are shown as Channels 1 through 5, instead of 2 through 6; the latter, Ch. 6 thru 12 instead of 7 thru 13. G Oh, and some very strong FM images come up in TV1. LOL Fortunately, in my area there's only Ch. 2 TV in VHF Lo. I have no idea what the calibrations for the eight SW bands are. The stations I know of, US BC and WWV, I could not find anywhere, day or night. This sucker would need my calibration effort as I'd done with the $9.95 B&H radio. First I'd have to compare this receiver with one of my digital display receivers, to identify what I hear on this one, just to establish bench marks on each band. Here are the SW band ranges: SW1 5.90 --- 6.30 SW2 7.05 --- 7.50 SW3 9.50 - 10.00 SW4 11.50 - 12.05 SW5 13.45 - 13.95 SW6 15.10 - 15.60 SW7 17.50 - 18.10 SW8 21.45 - 21.95 There is some extension beyond both ends of each band. There are jacks for headphones and external 3-volt power. I hadn't checked to see whether the FM headphone audio was stereo or at least dual. The radio comes equipped with two easily replaceable, standard duty AA size NiCad cells, rated 700mA/h. The text and table seem to disagree, except cranking the thing should be done at 2 turns/second. No matter. The maximum shown in the table is 38 minutes of operating time with volume at maximum -- after 10 minutes of cranking. So, assuming 10 minutes of cranking gives a full charge for an hour's operation at normal volume, that's still 5 times as much cranking as the Grundig FR200 requires. (This thing reminds me of a lifeboat radio, which requires one person to crank and another to operate. LOL) Although the 200 costs twice as much, at least its dial calibration is close. I know, I checked one. (I didn't buy one because its dial resolution was compressed because too much frequency range was covered in each band.) Alternate internal power is provided by two D cells. Now the size of the cells required raises a flag, too. Someday, I'm going to install a new pair of standard Duracell's and then make an operational check, albeit not as severe as the owner of that B&H did with his. G I'll just run it a comfortable speaker volume until the volume drops off and it motorboats when the volume is turned up. I know that the standard Duracell D cell (not the new hopped up one) is rated at 2500 mA/h, or 3-1/2 times that of the provided NiCads. I reckon that to equal about 3-1/2 hours of continuous operation. By the way... The width of the D cell access was so narrow that I had to force in the second cell. I was afraid I was going to damage something. I hope I can get them back out okay! (I did. I needed them for a flashlight. LOL) Also, I didn't try the generator operation. Maybe someday I'll get out my test equipment and try to find out where in the spectrum the band ranges are. The radio, now that I have it, might be useful someday. At least I can listen to TV, even though I haven't watched TV in months. And I own several, from 3-1/2 inch (I guess I like that number) to 60-inch. Bill, K5BY |
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