Even though I haven't be able to get a Reciprocal Operating Permit from the country where our ship is flagged, I do bring my little Grundig G3 shortwave receiver with me. On days like today, I enjoy going out on deck and tuning around the bands to 'see' what I can 'hear'. This weekend is Museum Ships Weekend, and I was able to hear KH6BB, onboard the U.S.S. Missouri anchored in Pearl Harbor. I'm going to send them a reception report, with an SASE, of course, and hope they get a kick out of being heard from 4*17'N, 149*43'W.
We're chugging along at 19 knots, and hopefully will be back in Home Port next Saturday the 9th.
I'll miss my YF's birthday, but I ordered her some of her favorite flowers from ProFlowers.com, the BEST place I've ever dealt with when it comes to sending floral arrangements.
The little Grundig is a better radio than I expected. It has Synchronous Detection for AM use, which helps eliminate fading, and although it has 1kHz tuning steps, the fine tuning control has a greater than 1kHz range, making it very easy to tune in SSB.
It also receives standard AM broadcast, FM stereo (with headphones), Aircraft Band, and has most of the standard Shortwave Bands available at the touch of a button.
Pleasant little radio for under $100, and would make a good addition to your bug out/emergency kit.
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Nice! I've seen them advertized, but didn't know they were that good.
ReplyDeleteIf you dig through the reviews for "General Coverage Receivers" over at eHam.net, you'll see it's not rated as high as some of the ChiCom ones like some of the Kaito and Tecsun models. Before I came out here last September, I had tried repeatedly to get either a Kaito KA1102/1103 or a Tecsun PL-600/660, as they have higher review ratings. Every single auction I won, or receiver I tried to get with a "Buy-It-NOW" bid was either unavailable or out-of-stock AFTER I won the auction! Since time was getting short, I started looking around at what I could get locally. I wound up getting the G3 at Fry's for under $100 out-the-door. I have seen NONE of the "complaints" registered by the users at eHam, so I'm assuming they either got a bad one, or don't know how to use it.
ReplyDeleteSure, the ChiCom ones are cheaper, and *appear* to work well if you get certain models of them, and maybe I'll try to grab one again. Be aware that even though these little guys have an external antenna jack, most of them seem to be made for the built-in whip antenna, and will overload/distort badly with a long wire connected to them. The Grundig has a "Local/DX" switch on the side to attenuate strong signals, and I don't remember if the Kaito/Tecsun radios have one.
For something small, light, that runs on AA batteries, I think the G3 is pretty damn good. The first few days I played with it at home out on the back porch I was amazed at how well it pulled in stations. L.A. is flooded with AM/FM stations, and it worked very well on AM/FM. It also pulled in Shortwave stations almost as well as my ICom R72, and the ICom was an $1100 receiver when it was new!
Hmmmm.....maybe I should write up a post about little portable receivers for all my friends that like to Be Prepared....