Small Portable Radio's?

[Lebkuecher]

I had the Grundig S-350 long ago so am still a fan of that type of receiver and cabinet design. Was put off by the issues with the original S-8800 but yes, it's still on my radar too. Like you I haven't seen any news about a new production run.

Thomas from SWLing just posted a YouTube showing the Panasonic RF-2200 absolutely killing the Tecsun S-8800 on medium wave. I have to say I am rethinking in a serious way if I want to buy the S-8800. Maybe the rereleased S-8800 when they become available will perform better.

Mediumwave: Tecsun S-8800 v Digitech AR-1780 v CC Skywave v Panasonic RF-2200

 

[Lebkuecher]

And this just in from Anna


Dear Steve,

It's nice to hear from you again! I can imagine your anticipation 😉

I have recently received a completely reworked version of the S-8800, which should have dramatically improved the "birdies" issue. I sent it to Thomas of SWLing to get his view on it, as I trust his untainted judgement. We'll have to give hims some time to go through the whole thing. I think it should be quite okay now, but we'll have to see. I'm expecting to receive this model in about 2-3 weeks time, so I will surely inform you once it is here. I'm not quite sure about the price yet, but it should be considerably more than the PL-880 and a bit below the S-2000.

Best regards,

Anna

 

[StarHalo]

Gonna be ~$275 based on the Australian price, so you could just get the RF-2200 instead..

 

[schuster]

Thomas from SWLing just posted a YouTube showing the Panasonic RF-2200 absolutely killing the Tecsun S-8800 on medium wave. I have to say I am rethinking in a serious way if I want to buy the S-8800. Maybe the rereleased S-8800 when they become available will perform better.

Mediumwave: Tecsun S-8800 v Digitech AR-1780 v CC Skywave v Panasonic RF-2200

Bleccch. Thanks for confirming what was feared. Oh well, my enthusiasm for this just evaporated.

My "large-ish" portable is going to be the Sangean PR-D4W for a while then, as mentioned above.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Thomas confirmed in an email this morning that the YouTube is the rereleased S-8800.

Unfortunate, I wouldn't expect the S-8800 to beat the RF-2200 but I would expect the comparisons to be much closer especially given the size of the S-8800.

Thomas mentioned he will be posting the video with additional notes today on his blog.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Gonna be ~$275 based on the Australian price, so you could just get the RF-2200 instead..

I agree but in reality you are going to spend a little more for a RF-2200 considering you will need to recap or risk damage. I had a couple of capacitors already starting to leak on my black RF-2200 when I received it but fortunately there was no serious damage. I also had to repair the gyro antenna on the olive green RF-2200 and completely replace the gyro antenna on the black one. You may recall I posted a picture of the base that just snapped. Kind of a hassle but given the RF-2200 is now over thirty years old I guess a little maintenance is to be expected.

 

[StarHalo]

I wouldn't be looking to Tecsun for AM reception; the highest rated Tecsun model in Jay Allen's shootout is the original analog 350 series with three stars, the aforementioned Sangean PR-D4W gets four-and-a-half, and at [what will probably be] a quarter of the price.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Thomas posted pictures today of the new CC Skywave SSB.

I carry the original Skywave on camping trips and use the NOAA channels for weather info around the house. I like the Skywave but wish the speaker could produce a fuller sound for better FM listening. The Skywave is a great little backup/grab-bag radio and having instant access to the NOAA weather channels is a strong plus.

The C. Crane Skywave SSB: A sneak peek!

 

[schuster]

Thomas posted pictures today of the new CC Skywave SSB.

I carry the original Skywave on camping trips and use the NOAA channels for weather info around the house. I like the Skywave but wish the speaker could produce a fuller sound for better FM listening. The Skywave is a great little backup/grab-bag radio and having instant access to the NOAA weather channels is a strong plus.

The C. Crane Skywave SSB: A sneak peek!

Thanks - saw that as I am checking there more often now due to recent activity.

Don't like the cabinet on the Skywave SSB. While I can see a need to physically differentiate it from the first gen Skywave, it now looks like the Pocket Radio including the slightly shiny, cheap-feeling brittle plastic which screams "guess how many cycles before the latch on the battery door cracks off".

Also - unlike its predecessor, the Asia-Pacific marketed Digitech AR-1780 (looking more like a Degen/Tecsun design than the previous Redsun-inspired models) is also getting ... em .. unexpectedly good reviews. Some of the points made are a little confusing to me in critical areas. They invoke the dreaded Silabs "soft-mute" feature, but do so in the wrong context; i.e. that the radio mutes as you change frequencies. I care much less if it happens in that circumstance; what matters is whether the radio mutes while receiving a weak signal ("reverse AGC") the self-defeating way most of the earler Silabs designs were configured.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Don't like the cabinet on the Skywave SSB. While I can see a need to physically differentiate it from the first gen Skywave, it now looks like the Pocket Radio including the slightly shiny, cheap-feeling brittle plastic which screams "guess how many cycles before the latch on the battery door cracks off".

I don't care much for the new cabinet design either but reading Thomas's response your post on his blog at least he doesn't feel that the radio feels cheap even though some of his picture may make the radio look so. If I had a concern with the Skywave SSB it would be the quality of the internal components. I have noticed sometimes when turning the tuning knob on the Skywave the radio will not respond for each step and sometimes will tune in the opposite direction as the turn on the tuning knob. Kind of odd but overall I am pleased with the radio for purposes for which I bought it for which is mainly a backup for camping trips and weather updates.

I look forward to reading Thomas's review of the Digitech AR-1780, hopefully he will clarify some of your concerns regarding muting on weak stations. After watching some YouTube vids and reading some reviews I am left wondering about the quality of the receiver.

One of the better reviews I watched of the Digitech AR-1780 which I am betting you already watched.

 

[Lebkuecher]

Gonna be ~$275 based on the Australian price

Anna now has the price for the Tecsun S-8800 on her site, $268.00 shipped to the United States.

Tecsun must be really proud of the Tecsun S-8800. I am a little surprised at the price, for whatever reason I thought the price would be a little lower. Thomas should have his full review posted soon.

Tecsun S-8800

 

[Lebkuecher]

Should have checked SWLing before posting, Thomas now has his full review posted.

A review of the Tecsun S-8800 shortwave/LW/AM-MW/FM portable receiver

 

[StarHalo]

That's a magnificent remote control, that's even better than the remotes Sony used to package with their boomboxes back in the Mega Bass days. It looks like Tecsun has created a portable casual listening shortwave receiver.

Other news: I'm glad Jay Allen got around to reviewing the Sangean DT-210, but he's a touch late; Amazon says I got mine in October of 2005..

 

[bmstrong]

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/loc...n-app-And-suddenly-I-was-talking-12172506.php

Interesting times. I would be very curious if anyone else has stories or links that are radio related with the two hurricanes.

 

[schuster]

I don't care much for the new cabinet design either but reading Thomas's response your post on his blog at least he doesn't feel that the radio feels cheap even though some of his picture may make the radio look so. If I had a concern with the Skywave SSB it would be the quality of the internal components. I have noticed sometimes when turning the tuning knob on the Skywave the radio will not respond for each step and sometimes will tune in the opposite direction as the turn on the tuning knob. Kind of odd but overall I am pleased with the radio for purposes for which I bought it for which is mainly a backup for camping trips and weather updates.

I look forward to reading Thomas's review of the Digitech AR-1780, hopefully he will clarify some of your concerns regarding muting on weak stations. After watching some YouTube vids and reading some reviews I am left wondering about the quality of the receiver.

What I'd really like to see would be a comparative teardown of the AR-1780 and Skywave-SSB, such as Gary DeBock [UltraLightDX] had done with the Skywave and the AR-1733 (which superficially bore a remarkable resemblence to the Skywave, but performed terribly). He proved that Ccrane did a total redesign. Unfortunately neither qualifies as an ultralight because of SSB demodulation and (perhaps for the AR-1780) physical size.

I presume Jay Allen will do a thorough disassembly of the new Skywave, but don't know if the AR-1780 is on his radar. Perhaps I should shoot him a quick email about it.

 

[Lebkuecher]

That's a magnificent remote control, that's even better than the remotes Sony used to package with their boomboxes back in the Mega Bass days. It looks like Tecsun has created a portable casual listening shortwave receiver.

I received the Tecsun S-8800 today, I have not had a lot of time to check it out but I did spend a little time checking out Mw performance and made a quick video. The video is not that great, at the time I thought the 2E performed closer to the RF-2200 but it's hard to tell from the video. I was very concerned after viewing Thomas's video comparing the S-8800 to the Panasonic Rf-2200 but I do believe the S-8800 performed better than expected. I plan on testing shortwave tonight. I would agree that the S-8800 is more of a casual listening receiver, the sound on a strong station is remarkable.

 

[Lebkuecher]

The S-8800 SW capabilities are very good.

Shortwave Test 1


Shortwave Test 2


FM Sound

 

[bmstrong]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...e-caribbean-after-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico

 

[StarHalo]

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/...e-caribbean-after-hurricane-maria-puerto-rico

Yeah, I was just thinking about that the other day, hoping there were a few HAM rigs in Puerto Rico, that's good to hear..

 

[TinderBox (UK)]

Anybody tried these cheap made in china radios that take a single 18650?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01NCQG7BQ/

John.