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Grundig G8 Traveler Radio

P

phil

When Radio Shack had the Grundig G8 portable radio on sale for $30 (normally $50) a couple of weeks ago, I decided to get one. Mainly because I wanted a portable with a signal strength meter. For $30 how could I go wrong?

I was expecting a 5 bar type read-out, similar to what I have on my cell phone. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a 4 digit readout? The first 2 represent the signal strength, and the last two represent the signal to noise ratio.

Signal strenths have shown up between 11 and 67. The signal to noise ratio has registered from about 11 to around 35....but I haven't been too careful in observing them.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has one and what they think of this feature. It appears to be working very well, updating about every half second. I assume that it is pretty accurate.
 
Yes, I have this portable and it's quickly become a favorite. Unbeatable sensitivity AND selectivity on FM - very good to excellent on AM. Only quirk (particularly evident on AM) is the soft muting feature which tends to hush the volume when the signal drops below a certain threshold. Even with this feature, reception is excellent - without it, reception would probably be stellar. It is stellar on FM - absolutely unbelievable for such an inexpensive radio. BEST (portable) RADIO EVER for crowded metropolitan areas.

SW and LW are just so-so, but that's not what I bought it for anyway.

As for the S-meter, it features db and dbu readings. It's certainly a more precise measure of signal strength than the usual 0-5 bar-style meter. Not sure that the actual readings would be at the same calibration that you'd find on professional engineering equipment, but they are accurate when it comes to relative signal strength (i.e. to the extent that you're comparing one station to another). Only hitch is that there's a one second or so delay between actual signal strength and the readout. Again, this wouldn't make any difference for most applications.
 
BRNout said:
Yes, I have this portable and it's quickly become a favorite. Unbeatable sensitivity AND selectivity on FM - very good to excellent on AM. Only quirk (particularly evident on AM) is the soft muting feature which tends to hush the volume when the signal drops below a certain threshold. Even with this feature, reception is excellent - without it, reception would probably be stellar. It is stellar on FM - absolutely unbelievable for such an inexpensive radio. BEST (portable) RADIO EVER for crowded metropolitan areas.

SW and LW are just so-so, but that's not what I bought it for anyway.

As for the S-meter, it features db and dbu readings. It's certainly a more precise measure of signal strength than the usual 0-5 bar-style meter. Not sure that the actual readings would be at the same calibration that you'd find on professional engineering equipment, but they are accurate when it comes to relative signal strength (i.e. to the extent that you're comparing one station to another). Only hitch is that there's a one second or so delay between actual signal strength and the readout. Again, this wouldn't make any difference for most applications.
Click to expand...

The dBu reading on this is 30 dB lower than the actual field strength. For a more accurate reading, take a 5 second average.
 
Does the FM work that good! I have a Sangean ATS-909 that gets images all across the dial here in the Tampa area. A nice portable would be nice for the upcoming spring tropo/summer e-skip season (when I'm not at home that is!)
 
fldxer said:
Does the FM work that good! I have a Sangean ATS-909 that gets images all across the dial here in the Tampa area. A nice portable would be nice for the upcoming spring tropo/summer e-skip season (when I'm not at home that is!)
Click to expand...

Yes it does. It's one of my very best FM receivers.
 
Agreed, the Fm is suburb! I rec'v one of these for xmas.
I sat down with it last night and logged 61 stations, many that i've never heard before.
One was WIOG Bay City,Mi 97 Miles! ;D (I'm near Ann Arbor)
 
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