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Only last week a reader had asked me about a good analog shortwave receiver for her grandfather. Among a few other receivers (including the Sony ICF-SW11) I had recommended the original Sony ICF-7600 with the caveat that it’s a little long in the tooth (i.e. vintage), but would likely give him years of enjoyment if in good shape. I’ve only used this analog version of the ‘7600 once, but recall that it seemed quite sensitive.
This morning, I noticed the ‘7600 above–it comes with the original box and is being sold by a Seller with 100% positive feedback. I almost purchased it just to do a mini review, but am currently trying to downsize my collection, not add to it! (I also have a Tecsun S-8800 on the way for review.)
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tom Ally, who writes:
[Grundig/Eton] radios are going back down in price. [This] isn’t the lowest price I have seen for the Grundig Satellit 750, but now is a good time to get this model if you don’t have it as that is not a bad price!
Stampfl was founded by Heinz Stampfl (HB9KOC)–I’ve been following his work the past few years, especially fascinated with his SDR designs which are (sadly) only experimental and have never been put into production.
I’ve written Heinz more than once encouraging him to put these on the market. Of course, it’s an easy request coming from a consumer who doesn’t have to front the production costs and inherent overhead!
Heinz, if you’re reading this, why not do a Kickstarter campaign for one of your fine SDR designs?!
Many thanks to Jon Hudon of SDRplay who shared the following on the SDRplay Facebook page:
One of the SDRplay user community, Jukka, has started an interesting discussion on what he has called ‘propagation-triggered recording’ – he outlines the concept, and what he is doing, on our forum – see http://www.sdrplay.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1839
The idea is that you monitor signals to determine if conditions are particularly good and can thereby trigger an I/Q recording of a whole band during that particular propagation high point -Jukka welcomes more comments on this idea.
Many thanks, Jon. I would certainly be a fan of this as so many times I’ve missed fantastic band openings while travelling. It would be nothing short of brilliant to come home to automatic SDR spectrum recordings taken during prime propagation. At the moment, propagation is so dismal, rare openings are worth recording!
I own this radio. Its performance on AM and shortwave is better than my Kaito 1103 and Sangean ATS-909x. My Grundig Satellit 750 beats it on SW. The 8800 is a bit better on AM than the 750, though.
The 8800 and my GE Super Radio 1 are just about equal on AM. The 8800 beats my Panasonic RF-2200 on SW, but not on AM. I didn’t compare it to my other radios on FM, as I really don’t listen to that band nor have any interest in it.
I did try out the FM band, though. It seems to have good sensitivity. The speaker provides good sound quality, but not “Super Radio” good. Display looks outdated. Not a fan of those amber/yellowish displays with spotty screen coverage. Not even close to the display on my 909x. But then again, no other radio comes close to the 909x’s display. Why can’t manufacturers implement nice bright white lit displays like the 909x?
The remote works ok. By the way, all comparisons were done utilizing each radios’ own built-in AM and telescopic antennas for SW. Overall, I can compare it more closely to the RF-2200, but with 8800 having slightly less sensitivity on AM and better on SW. The two even look almost the same. The 8800 seems to be an updated and refined modern design borrowed from the RF-2200. The RF-2200 has a more robust solid built, though. Overall, I give the 8800 a score of 7.5 [out of 10].
Thank you for your input, Hymefly. I’m pretty impressed the new S-8800 even comes close to the performance of the Super Radio 1 and the Panasonic RF-2200. I’m very curious what the price will be when the S-8800 hits eBay.
I have one unit here and also being an owner of the PL-880, [I would describe it as] a better PL-880 with more features.
DSP filters on SSB: 0.5 – 1.2 – 2.3 – 3.0 and 4.0 kHz
DSP Filters on AM: 2.3 – 3.0 – 4.0 and 6.0 kHz
Long telescoping Antenna L = 92 cm
BNC Antenna socket
AM External antenna (500 Ohm ) on panel….with an internal /external antenna switch.
Main and fine tuning [much] like the PL-880 , but all metallic buttons, bigger and of better quality.
VFO main tuning knob is large and has a good feeling.
Line out is stereo ( 2 channels ) L and R
Separate bass and treble control
2X LiH Batteries 18650 ( no external power supply possible, no 12V socket). Batteries can be charged while the rx st still in use.
On this S-8800e–my first impressions:
Very sensitive on longwave… ( PL-880 was not )
Very good copy of ssb stations
RX does not get so quickly overloaded as the PL-880 does…
Quite bigger than the PL-880 => 27 cm X 17 cm, about 7cm thick.
Wow–many thanks for sharing your first impressions, Bertrand!
I’ve been waiting quite a while for the S-8800 to be released. I will have one on order soon and will do some comparisons with the PL-880 and PL-660.
As you discover more about this receiver, please share your impressions with us!
Anyone else have the S-8800? Please comment!
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