SWLing Post reader, Tom Stiles, has posted a video overview of the new Eton Field
radio:
Many thanks for sharing, Tom! Let us know how the new Eton Field Radio 550 compares with its predecessors: the 450 and 350!
You can follow Tom’s videos on his YouTube Channel.
My Eton 550 switches from MW to SW on its own. Very annoying to say the least. The radio was given to me as a gift. I honestly only use it to listen to baseball games on the local AM station and for a $100+ radio it’s a little annoying that it keeps bouncing around. Any suggestions?
Exactly what my friend’s 550 does (see previous comment). So this is more than a glitch affecting one set.
After I posted, I did open up my friend’s radio to see whether I could get access to the switches and controls for the purpose of applying DeOxit, but I found that further major disassembly would be required — the internal circuitry and controls were virtually sealed behind a plastic panel — so I did not go any farther. Unrelated: The MW ferrite antenna had come loose from its clamps, and the antenna windings were loose on the bar. I glued the windings back in place and secured the clamps. That did not cure the original problem, of course.
Looking for help with this radio, owned by a friend, which has begun misbehaving after about a year. His description:
“My Eton Grundig Field shortwave radio (http://www.etoncorp.com/en/productdisplay/field-bt ) has been acting up the past few weeks. On its own volition, it will switch bands from one to another. And, this morning, while still on (we were listening to WAMU- FM), the sound just stopped and we couldn’t turn it on or off, nor could we change the station.”
Any ideas? It’s out of warranty. He was going to trash it, but I thought it might just need a drop of contact cleaner in the power switch or might respond to a reset procedure or…?
Nice intro review for this new and exciting Etón 550 radio. I was surprised how the display and its readings (signal stength, Timer A and Timer B, etc.) are exactly the same found on my Roadstar TRA2350P (also sold as the Redsun RP2100), which also has a similar layout and format but with an AM IF output and right and left line outputs. The back lighting is no doubt very different and nicer on the 550. In some countries in Europe, the new Etóns will be sold under the Soulra brand but the Etón brand will also be available from what I heard. Here in Madrid, the guys at Radio Center (radiocenter.es) — probably the best amateur-shortwave shop here — told me last week that the new Etón line won’t be available until late November or December because there was a quality control problem in their first units. They really didn’t know exactly what the problem was but that it was being corrected.
It’s too bad they dropped the AM IF Output on the Eton 550. On the Grundig 450DLX and the Redsun RP2100 (aka CCRadio-SW) this allows connection to a TG37 SSB BFO adapter, to allow the radio to tune SSB signals.
Great, look forward to an A/B test. Thanks.
Thomas, did you ever do a comparison between the Tecsun PL-310ET and the PL-380? Which is better?
No, but I will put it on my list of shows to do. Thanks for the suggestion,
Tom
And, Paul, in case you were talking about me, I’ve certainly been meaning to do a comparison between those two. I’ve been using both, but haven’t done a proper A/B comp. It’s on my list! 🙂
And, Tom, if you do it too, all the better!
Cheers,
Thomas
Thanks for the posting. I am working on a comparison of the new Eton 550 to the older Grundig 450 right now and it should be available later today on my YouTube channel. This show will be followed by the “Report Card” review of the 550 later.
Thanks for your support.
Another Tom
The same radio will be available in Europe using the Soulra brand. It will include an additional feature important for European listeners: DAB+ reception.
Here is a link to a page describing this model: http://www.soulracorp.com/productdisplay/field
I’ve noticed, while looking at the manual for this online, the display diagram showed both a DAB symbol and one for air band. Do you think it is possible that Eton is going to make their next satellit radio a step up off the Field 550?