The American Radio History website has just announced the addition of 75 issues of the late Monitoring Times magazine to their free downloads archive. These issues span 1983-1993, making a nice stroll down memory lane for many of us.
The Tecsun PL-680 is now available on eBay via my favorite Hong Kong-based seller, Anon-Co. Pricing is currently $105.99 + $18.00 shipping to UK/US, $29.00 shipping to everyone else.
SWLing Post reader, Murray, recently took the Tecsun PL-380 with him on a trip to view the solar eclipse and then to Morocco for an extended excursion. He writes:
We flew out of Billund Denmark for the [solar] eclipse flight. A couple of days after the eclipse we flew to Cassablanca Morocco, where we were to join our 2 week excursion.
Here is a shot of the radio [above] at our camp in the dunes south of Erfoud in south central Morocco. In total we spent 2 1/2 weeks in Morocco and the desert was the nicest Radio quiet location I have been in. No interference what so ever! And lots of stations. It was great. The battery consumption of the PL-380 was very good. Nice unit.
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts on the PL-380, Murray! It must have been bliss listening to the shortwaves in such an RFI-free area.
Like you, I think the PL-380 is a brilliant travel radio and one I often recommend (click here for my travel radio review). I also travel with the Tecsun PL-310ET and the new CCrane CC Skywave--all great compact portables.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Robinson, who shares this YouTube video comparing four of his receivers: the McKay Dymek DR33-C6, the East German made RFT EKD 515, Japan Radio Company NRD-301A, and his Watkins Johnson 8718A/MFPWJ WJ .
Jeff, over at the Herculodge, writes with some disappointing news:
What a shame John bought the WR-15 and thinks it stinks: http://herculodge.typepad.com/herculodge/2015/04/john-cannot-recommend-the-sangean-wr-15-radio-due-to-subpar-am-and-fm.html
Oh, that is a shame. An AM/FM radio with poor AM/FM sensitivity has little appeal (even if it has a great chassis).
John (the reviewer) mentions what sounds like a squelching effect during tuning as well–when a strong signal is received, volume increases with the “lock.” Perhaps a sign this Sangean receiver is powered by a DSP chip and isn’t analog at all?
I expected something better from Sangean. At least the WR-15 is one thing I can safely pull off of my Amazon wish list!
A few weeks ago, we published a short post about a credit card crystal radio from an eBay seller in the UK.
I purchased a kit–at $17-18 US shipped, it’s quite a modest investment for what might be a fun little project.
The crystal radio arrived while I was traveling during Easter break, but my free time has been so (extremely) limited lately, I was only able to unpack and try out this new arrival yesterday.
The biggest surprise for me was the fact that this isn’t really a kit–the board is fully populated and requires no soldering whatsoever. The board feels of very good quality.
All that is required is connecting the high-impedance earphone, earth/ground and aerial/antenna to the board. Since all of these components can be connected with the supplied alligator clip cables, getting it on the air took all of 20 seconds. I simply hooked up the ground and connected the aerial to my sky loop wire antenna.
I instantly heard a signal and station ID which confirmed it was our closest local broadcaster on 1010 kHz. This station isn’t of the blowtorch variety, but is the strongest one I receive on the MW band simply due to its proximity. Audio was quite faint through the earpiece, but I believe if I tinkered with antenna length and the two variable capacitors, I could improve reception.
SWLing Post reader, Richard Langley, received his crystal radio and had a very similar experience with reception.
With any crystal radio (especially one this small), performance is directly correlated with antenna length, availability of a good ground connection and, of course, strong broadcasters in your vicinity.
I plan to spend an evening tinkering with this little receiver and see if I can pick up some of the night time powerhouse AM stations on the east coast.
I can say this: if you’re looking for a simple, uber-compact emergency receiver for your go-bag, bug out bag or emergency kit, this one will certainly fit the bill. This crystal receiver and all of its components weight no more than a few ounces and could easily fit in compact pouch or sleeve.
Have any other readers have enjoyed tinkering with this little emergency crystal radio?
If you would like to purchase one, try searching eBay with one of the links below. The product will only appear in the search results if currently available.
(Photo source: Eton Corporation)
After posting the recent mini review of the Grundig G2 Reporter, Dave Zontow (N9EWO) notes:
I just completed updates on my reviews page regarding these models.
http://webpages.charter.net/n9ewo2/g2reporter.html
Owners should take note for the cure with excessive battery consumption when OFF . It’s not covered well in the owners manuals (if at all depending on the variant). One toggled in the menu’s, it pretty much squashes the issue.
Many thanks, Dave for your very detailed review of the Grundig G2!