New SW Radio. Grundig G3 and also a g6 Buzz Aldrin

[Mid West Clubber]

I just bought it and love it,, it takes some time to learn all the new bells and whistles, and its kinda hard to properly tune in the Hams on SSB and to know if they are on Upper or Lower sideband, but I really like all of it except the FM reception is weak.. Couldnt ask for better SW Dxing for under 400 bucks though.. I bought this to upgrade from my G8,, and its really alot better radio.. can you guys give me some advice on how to use it a bit better,, I read somewhere that you could hear CBs on it,, but I dont know how. Also what are your opinions of this radio,, I also replaced my Large 350DL with a small but good Buzz Aldrin G6,, they are on clearence for 60 bucks.. My 350DL had a few bugs from the start,, didnt tune sidebands, and some of my knobs where starting to get loose, and for its size and price,, it really should have had a few more bells and whisles.. The G6 is OK for the AM regular band on SW, in Fact its really good for 60 Bucks,, but the SSB for tuning hams is pretty much useless so far, All I hear is squealling since it doesnt maual tune from USB ro LSB.. What are your thoughts on these 2 radios, Like I said they are both lacking in FM,, and the AM is OK,, about as good as an expensive Home Tuner, or a Car Tuner,, the SW tuners in both radio are good, but like I said they take some getting used to, and learning how to find and tune in hams,, and the G6 is useless for SSB so far unless im doing something wrong, but it does AM-SW just great for a radio slightly bigger than a pack or cigarrettes.

 

[kilokat7]

I read somewhere that you could hear CBs on it,, but I dont know how.

Look for CB signals between 26.965 and 27.405 mhz if this is within the range of your receiver. Here's a chart to convert CB channel number to actual frequency:

1 26.965 MHz 11 27.085 MHz 21 27.215 MHz 31 27.315 MHz
2 26.975 MHz 12 27.105 MHz 22 27.225 MHz 32 27.325 MHz
3 26.985 MHz 13 27.115 MHz 23 27.255 MHz 33 27.335 MHz
4 27.005 MHz 14 27.125 MHz 24 27.235 MHz 34 27.345 MHz
5 27.015 MHz 15 27.135 MHz 25 27.245 MHz 35 27.355 MHz
6 27.025 MHz 16 27.155 MHz 26 27.265 MHz 36 27.365 MHz
7 27.035 MHz 17 27.165 MHz 27 27.275 MHz 37 27.375 MHz
8 27.055 MHz 18 27.175 MHz 28 27.285 MHz 38 27.385 MHz
9 27.065 MHz 19 27.185 MHz 29 27.295 MHz 39 27.395 MHz
10 27.075 MHz 20 27.205 MHz 30 27.305 MHz 40 27.405 MHz

 

[Tom Wells]

Can't help ya with comparing new receivers....but the CB channel chart reminded me of something I've wondered about for years. Notice how the chart does not progress in evenly ordered steps but is sometime .01 Mhz spacing and sometimes .02 spacing. I've always wondered about the "channels between the channels".
It would look like there "could be" channels 3.5, 7.5, 11.5, 15.5, 19.5, etc.

I realize just how close this spacing is, and how much fun it must have been to grind crystals for CB, and that any such
"secret" channels would have been a moot point, with the selectivity of early CBs.

"Today", with selectivity what it is, I think you COULD put in a few more channels, if it mattered or was needed. :

The problem hearing CB is you need a good an antenna up on the roof in the clear, and to hopefully ever hear two sides to a conversation, be within 5 miles of an interstate highway.

Except for skip, which you'll hear anyway sometimes.

If you have roof access, any antenna designed for 10m ham reception will do well for CB at 11 meters at least for receiving.
There are many designs of widebanded antennas for receiving, but at 10-11 m they can be pretty small, compared to what
is needed for 80 or 160 meters. SW broadcast stations have enough signal that you don't need an antenna to be reasonant,
that is, sized to the wavlength of your signal. But for best reception of any truly weak signal, you need a reasonant-length
antenna, 1/4 wave or what you can devise to work, an antenna tuner, a lack of locally produced noise, etc.

Start right out with 27.185 to find out wheter there's anything, as half the trucks using CB have a hundred or two watts minumum, and carry for 10 miles on average.
As I recall, channel 8 a few years AGO DID have a lot of local Indianapolis chatter/BS/TT ( Trash Talk ).
It's like a visit to the 70's, or at least it was few years ago (2003).

 

[dxer720]

I have a G3, as well. I'm not happy with it, though. The SW is awesome. It's sync & SSB modes are great for listening to hams. I also found a few broadcasts that use SSB. The FM is pretty good, too. I like having RDS. I'm very disappointed with the AM & LW, though. They are very dead (insensitive).

I do think I got a bad one. There are other issues that are showing up that make me think that this is a lemon, & not the rule for this radio.

Sometimes, when you press a button, if does something else. For example: sometimes pressing the power button will lock the radio. Pressing FM/AIR BAND will sometimes make the display backlight go on or off. There are other things. The manual said that there was a chart on the back of the radio explaining what the F-keys do when the radio's not in memory mode. There is no chart that I can find. The manual doesn't explain what these keys do. It only talks about the first 4 (F1-F4) that are for alarms. To this day, I don't know what F5-F7) do.

Aside from these problems, this is one of my best portable radios for SW & FM DXing.

 

[Darth_vader]

@Tom Wells--

The "channels between the channels" are primarily used for remote controlled equipment, e.g. model airplanes and cars.

=====================================================================

Here is a passage from Wikipaedia explaining it:

"[T]here is a gap between Channel 22 and Channel 23 (which was later filled by Channels 24 and 25) for historical reasons. Before CB was in existence, there was an Amateur 11-meter band from 26.96 to 27.23 MHz, and a frequency for radio-controlled devices at 27.255 MHz. The 11-meter band became CB Channels 1 to 22, and the radio control frequency was shared with Channel 23."

*snip*

"Among several other services that share the CB frequencies is the Class C Citizens Band service for radio-controlled devices; no voice transmissions are permitted. It has six channels in the 27 MHz band. Five are unused 10 kHz assignments between channels 3/4, 7/8, 11/12, 15/16 and 19/20, and the sixth is shared with Channel 23. Radio control transmitters may use up to 4 watts on the first five channels and 25 watts on the last, 27.255 MHz. Some in-house paging systems, and car alarms with a paging feature, also use these frequencies, especially 27.255 where more power is permitted.

"The 27 MHz Class C channels are not officially numbered. R/C enthusiasts usually designate them by color, and fly different-colored flags from the antenna to show who is on which channel. On the other hand, some CB operators illegally use these channels for voice communications, and usually refer to them as an alternate of the closest voice channel below them (such as 3A, as shown in the table). In CB radios whose channel selector was a multiple-gang rotary switch that presented a binary number to the tuning electronics, it was a common illegal modification to add a toggle switch to modify the low-order bit and thus gain access to intermediate frequencies.

Remote control channels 
3A 	26.995 MHz
7A 	27.045 MHz
11A 	27.095 MHz
15A 	27.145 MHz
19A 	27.195 MHz

"Because of interference from CB radios, legal or otherwise, the noise level, and the limited number of channels, most "serious" hobby radio-controlled models operate on other bands. Interference is especially important for model aircraft where it presents a safety issue."

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CB_usage_in_the_United_States)