Great Radio for Engineer types

[BobOnTheJob]

This all started when I was searching for a small sensitive/selective AM/FM radio for my wife to use a work so she could pick up her favorite class A FM at 20 miles. I found this model & fell in love with it. It's one of these "radio on a DSP chip" models & believe me when I say this comes very close to equaling the best car radios, even though it's a "pocket portable" with a less then 1/4 wave whip. Size is slightly larger than the 10 transistor AM radio I had as a kid. Not only did it pick up the class A at 20 miles with the whip all the way collapsed, it also picked up a 19 watt translator at 28 air miles. The FM selectivity borders on unreal...I was 6 miles from a 37KW/1050' signal on 92.3...there was zero slop on 92.1 or 92.5. It doesn't end there...the signal strength meter is calibrated in dbu. You can actually stand at a given location and with some degree of certainty declare that station A is stronger than station B at that point. It won't replace a FIM, but it will tell you a lot about your signal's highs & lows. The AM has 1,2,3,4 and 6khz selectable IF bandwidth. This wonder toy is a Tecsun PL-310 and they are available from numerous sources on eBay. The cost...brace yourself: $39.99 plus shipping from China.

 

[Tom Wells]

Does the DSP smash up the audio? Does this tune on fixed 9 or 10 khz steps or by "ones"?
Just how crisp is it on 6khz? If you side-tune AND have the bw on 6, can you hear info up to 10khz?
Or does the DSP shut everything off at 6 kc audio. (Whoops, sorry there Henrich) 6 khz audio.

In other words is the max af determined by apparent IF response, or af DSP manipulation?
I know you don't have this data on hand, I mean, what does it sound like it's doing?

 

[BobOnTheJob]

The speaker isn't very big so it doesn't qualify as an audiophile device. On AM, it can do 9 or 10 khz channels. Turn the tuning knob slowly and it tunes in 1khz steps (on FM, it tunes in 10khz or 200khz steps depending on how fast you turn the knob). Turn it faster & it tunes in 10khz (or 9khz if selected) steps. I don't believe there's much of any 10khz audio there. Listening to a strong IBOC AM station on the 6khz setting reveals no audible IBOC hiss. Side tuning a music AM station does not dramatically increase the high end response as it does on a GE Superadio...it seems likely that 6khz is probably as far as it goes. On the 1khz bandwidth, side tuning produces nothing greater than mud at any offset from the carrier.

Hope that helps!

 

[Tom Wells]

Yes, that helps a lot. Thank you. It sounds like the DSP is the determining factor in af response.

The selectivity on SW should be wonderful if it's anything like I got used to on my Collins R390A (without the 90 lbs of metal ).
Have you ever used a Collins with the magnetorestrictive filters? Is the sound anything like that? (Probably)
Let us know what happens when you couple in a tuned loop!

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Yes, that helps a lot. Thank you. It sounds like the DSP is the determining factor in af response.

The selectivity on SW should be wonderful if it's anything like I got used to on my Collins R390A (without the 90 lbs of metal ).
Have you ever used a Collins with the magnetorestrictive filters? Is the sound anything like that? (Probably)
Let us know what happens when you couple in a tuned loop!

Already did couple in the tuned loop...it couples very well. The AM is pretty sensitive as is, but it takes it to another level, actually bringing inaudible signals up to quite listenable ones.

 

[TomT]

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available--at least not from a quick Google search.

I am looking for something this size with good FM sensitivity for our sports remotes. Presently we are using some big Radio Shack radios which have reasonably good sensitivity but they are..well--BIG. Especially need good sensitivity for use in high school gyms, especially the newer ones with lots of steel.

 

[necrat123]

I am looking for something this size with good FM sensitivity for our sports remotes. Presently we are using some big Radio Shack radios which have reasonably good sensitivity but they are..well--BIG. Especially need good sensitivity for use in high school gyms, especially the newer ones with lots of steel.

Did you look into the Grundig G8 radio?
Also has a DSP, and great sensitivity. A signal meter that shows the signal in dbu and even a SNR measurement

Best part, it around $50 at Radio Shack.

 

[Fieldtech1]

My best radio for FM dxing was a suprise find. Its a Motorola S705 Stereo Bluetooth Adapter which also has a FM radio complete with RDS!!! Considering it uses the headphone cord as the antenna this thing is unreal with selectivity and sensitivity. I can pick up KHPT 106.9 out of Houston,TX all the way in Lafayette, LA on any given day even with a station butting up against it on 106.7. Taking it apart the only chip in it is a motorola chip, and im pretty sure its using DSP processing as audio bandwidth increases and decreases with signal strength. They are fairly cheap on ebay and can be used as a stereo bluetooth receiver as a bonus.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-MOTOROLA-S7...uetooth_Wireless_Products?hash=item5d28a2c666

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be available--at least not from a quick Google search.

I am looking for something this size with good FM sensitivity for our sports remotes. Presently we are using some big Radio Shack radios which have reasonably good sensitivity but they are..well--BIG. Especially need good sensitivity for use in high school gyms, especially the newer ones with lots of steel.

Search it on Ebay...numerous sellers there. The one I bought from took just under 1 week to ship it here from China. A local station has a Grundig which I borrowed a few months ago. Not sure if it was a G8, but it was a $50 radio available locally. Didn't perform as well as the Tecsun and it was notably larger. I think you'd be delighted with this radio for carrying in a sports kit. It doesn't display intermod in strong signal areas, but within 1 mile of a 50KW signal, the sensitivity does drop some. Here's the place where mine came from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TECSUN-PL-310-F...ItemQQptZShortwave_Radios?hash=item1c0cdd6824

 

[necrat123]

I am looking for something this size with good FM sensitivity for our sports remotes. Presently we are using some big Radio Shack radios which have reasonably good sensitivity but they are..well--BIG. Especially need good sensitivity for use in high school gyms, especially the newer ones with lots of steel.

Search it on Ebay...numerous sellers there. The one I bought from took just under 1 week to ship it here from China. A local station has a Grundig which I borrowed a few months ago. Not sure if it was a G8, but it was a $50 radio available locally. Didn't perform as well as the Tecsun and it was notably larger. I think you'd be delighted with this radio for carrying in a sports kit. It doesn't display intermod in strong signal areas, but within 1 mile of a 50KW signal, the sensitivity does drop some. Here's the place where mine came from:

http://cgi.ebay.com/TECSUN-PL-310-F...ItemQQptZShortwave_Radios?hash=item1c0cdd6824
[/quote]

The Grundig G8 is manufactured by Tecsun! FWIW, it's DSP circuity is identical to each other. It is the same size within 10-15mm of each other, so you did not have a G8. Probably a G6 or some other model.

 

[richard.vanderveen]

Bob, thank you for the tip. I am looking for a nice small portable radio so just ordered mine (whopping $24 cost to send it to the netherlands but hey... )
If it turns out to be just some chinese cr*p I'll hunt you down and start a lawsuit against you

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Bob, thank you for the tip. I am looking for a nice small portable radio so just ordered mine (whopping $24 cost to send it to the netherlands but hey... )
If it turns out to be just some chinese cr*p I'll hunt you down and start a lawsuit against you

I'll have my lawyers on standby just in case I was wrong....LOL. Enjoy!