Rediscovered joy

[Subbu68]

Quite a few may have started their journey in electronics from the humble radio. I too started with a 2 transistor radio assembly, then Jetking Guru and so on.

Now back to radios and my collection has swelled up and the joy is back.

After dinner and helping out wifey clear up, out come one of them - rotate the tuning knob or press the Tune Up or Down or presets, turn the antenna or radio (for AM) for best reception and relax or read something on the laptop. No sitting tight at the sweet spot or imagining imaging or finding out what frequency is missing from the top end or bottom end.

Stereo given rest





From the top L to R

Top -

Sangean DT800W - a powerful DSP pocket AM / FM radio catches AIR Rajkot (810kHz MW) sitting 1600kms at Abu Dhabi. Recent addition last week. And some distant stations on FM in UAE like 250kms away come in clear.

Sangean WR-3 - another capable AM / FM table top stereo, PLL Synthesized Tuner from 2007. Has CDP built in.

Middle Rack

At the back

Grundig S350 - long range all band radio - Superb sound, analog tuned - SW is very sensitive, so also MW. (2006)

C.Crane EP PRO new comer in to the band two days back. FR 5 inch speaker, AM /FM analog tuned DSP radio. Excellent reception on both bands - rated best of all radios at present.

Front row

Sony ICF-19 - came in two months back. Again an analog tuned DSP AM/ FM radio - Excellent sound, solid build, reasonably sensitive. Pulls in FM from 200kms clear.

Sony ICF-SW10 - my first multiband radio I bought in 1995 - still working fine LW/MW/FM/SW 1 to 10, stereo FM on headphones. Analog tuned

SONY ICF-7600GR - the king of modern radios - bought in 2005 - working great still. LW/MW/FM/SW with SSB, stereo FM on headphones. PLL Synthesized Tuner

Bottom Rack

At the back

SONY ICF-J40 - 2013 purchase. analog tuned MW/FM/SW1/SW2 radio. A classic, quite powerful on all bands.

Panasonic RF-3500 GX 500 - analog tuned LW/MW/FM/SW . An okay radio came in two months back.

Front row

Sangean ATS 909 - another powerhouse of it's times - bought in 2007 - working great still. LW/MW/FM/SW with SSB, stereo FM on headphones. PLL Synthesized Tuner. Head to head with SONY 7600GR

Panasonic RF-2400D - came in two months back. Again an analog tuned DSP AM/ FM radio - reasonably sensitive. Pulls in FM from 200kms clear but a bit weaker on sound compared to SONY ICF-19

Alas SW is dead nearly. Still some MW stations are alive and FM is rocking.

 

[manek]

Too good yaar.

had a few as a kid have had agreat time with radios connected to an external antenna on the balcony .

Hill stations were another place where the portables were used to great effect even at the dinner table. Everyone gathered around it for breakfast and dinner. Reception was so clear.

Great memories. Music, News and Cricket.

 

[Kannan]

Was reminded of my HAM radio days

 

[manek]

Was reminded of my HAM radio days

Oooh….Niiiice.

 

[Subbu68]

Was reminded of my HAM radio days

That was my dream but resources stopped me when in college and nomadic work as commissioning engineer in my early days of earning. Then family et al.

Why did you stop HAM? I still try to listen to some on SSB.

I have to travel 150kms to attend the course for the licensing here in UAE. Else would have tried to go for it.

 

[Subbu68]

Too good yaar.

had a few as a kid have had agreat time with radios connected to an external antenna on the balcony .

Hill stations were another place where the portables were used to great effect even at the dinner table. Everyone gathered around it for breakfast and dinner. Reception was so clear.

Great memories. Music, News and Cricket.

Still with a lot of FM stations (had only two when I landed in UAE in 1995), nostalgic music at night, news, cricket commentary etc. has brought back the enthu. I often listen to AIR from Rajkot, Jalandhar A and two days back could hear AIR Chennai on my C.Crane EP Pro.

Excellent radio for AM Dxing as well as FM. With DSP it is a bit painful at the beginning to tune but then you lock in without fading.

That little yellow Sangean is a monster too. 1kHz tuning in AM and 50kHZ in FM is a joy. Soft muting(characteristic of DSP and PLL radios) can be switched off so you get the analog tuning feel.

My FM antenna is stuck to the window. For AM I built a tuned loop (that multicolor thingy in the photo). No balcony for me

 

[manek]

Still with a lot of FM stations (had only two when I landed in UAE in 1995), nostalgic music at night, news, cricket commentary etc. has brought back the enthu. I often listen to AIR from Rajkot, Jalandhar A and two days back could hear AIR Chennai on my C.Crane EP Pro.

Excellent radio for AM Dxing as well as FM. With DSP it is a bit painful at the beginning to tune but then you lock in without fading.

That little yellow Sangean is a monster too. 1kHz tuning in AM and 50kHZ in FM is a joy. Soft muting(characteristic of DSP and PLL radios) can be switched off so you get the analog tuning feel.

My FM antenna is stuck to the window. For AM I built a tuned loop (that multicolor thingy in the photo). No balcony for me

We all make the best of the real estate we have I guess.

Have heard some amazing radio FM reception recordings that my brother had made on cassette in the US years ago. Yes one can make out that its FM radio but “clear as a bell” as they say. Really wondered how they do it. I remember being told that good radio stations always had the best source equipment eg TT, cdp’s headphones, phono amps, etc. Many would over time sell them for a song including excellent condition LP’s, cds etc. The best time to buy was when a station shut down. Lucky people who bought the stuff.

 

[Kannan]

That was my dream but resources stopped me when in college and nomadic work as commissioning engineer in my early days of earning. Then family et al.

Why did you stop HAM? I still try to listen to some on SSB.

I have to travel 150kms to attend the course for the licensing here in UAE. Else would have tried to go for it.

My HAM days were decades back. Was introduced to it by my uncle and was active for a few years and then sadly dropped off. Had passed the certification exam also. It was wonderful interacting with local and international HAM enthusiasts, many of them extraordinarily knowledgeable.

 

[Subbu68]

My HAM days were decades back. Was introduced to it by my uncle and was active for a few years and then sadly dropped off. Had passed the certification exam also. It was wonderful interacting with local and international HAM enthusiasts, many of them extraordinarily knowledgeable.

Give it a kick and revive it

I was listening to a conversation on SSB and was like a kid standing on the beach watching the sea. So many things to learn.

Next to rig up a SDR to listen to DRM broadcasts.

 

[reubensm]

Quite a few may have started their journey in electronics from the humble radio. I too started with a 2 transistor radio assembly, then Jetking Guru and so on.

Now back to radios and my collection has swelled up and the joy is back.

After dinner and helping out wifey clear up, out come one of them - rotate the tuning knob or press the Tune Up or Down or presets, turn the antenna or radio (for AM) for best reception and relax or read something on the laptop. No sitting tight at the sweet spot or imagining imaging or finding out what frequency is missing from the top end or bottom end.

Stereo given rest

View attachment 73521

View attachment 73523

From the top L to R

Top -

Sangean DT800W - a powerful DSP pocket AM / FM radio catches AIR Rajkot (810kHz MW) sitting 1600kms at Abu Dhabi. Recent addition last week. And some distant stations on FM in UAE like 250kms away come in clear.

Sangean WR-3 - another capable AM / FM table top stereo, PLL Synthesized Tuner from 2007. Has CDP built in.

Middle Rack

At the back

Grundig S350 - long range all band radio - Superb sound, analog tuned - SW is very sensitive, so also MW. (2006)

C.Crane EP PRO new comer in to the band two days back. FR 5 inch speaker, AM /FM analog tuned DSP radio. Excellent reception on both bands - rated best of all radios at present.

Front row

Sony ICF-19 - came in two months back. Again an analog tuned DSP AM/ FM radio - Excellent sound, solid build, reasonably sensitive. Pulls in FM from 200kms clear.

Sony ICF-SW10 - my first multiband radio I bought in 1995 - still working fine LW/MW/FM/SW 1 to 10, stereo FM on headphones. Analog tuned

SONY ICF-7600GR - the king of modern radios - bought in 2005 - working great still. LW/MW/FM/SW with SSB, stereo FM on headphones. PLL Synthesized Tuner

Bottom Rack

At the back

SONY ICF-J40 - 2013 purchase. analog tuned MW/FM/SW1/SW2 radio. A classic, quite powerful on all bands.

Panasonic RF-3500 GX 500 - analog tuned LW/MW/FM/SW . An okay radio came in two months back.

Front row

Sangean ATS 909 - another powerhouse of it's times - bought in 2007 - working great still. LW/MW/FM/SW with SSB, stereo FM on headphones. PLL Synthesized Tuner. Head to head with SONY 7600GR

Panasonic RF-2400D - came in two months back. Again an analog tuned DSP AM/ FM radio - reasonably sensitive. Pulls in FM from 200kms clear but a bit weaker on sound compared to SONY ICF-19

Alas SW is dead nearly. Still some MW stations are alive and FM is rocking.

What a nice collection, congrats!
Recently a Philips AL990, in decent condition, made an appearance on olx.in. The ad was taken down in a day, perhaps it was sold instantaneously.

 

[Subbu68]

What a nice collection, congrats!
Recently a Philips AL990, in decent condition, made an appearance on olx.in. The ad was taken down in a day, perhaps it was sold instantaneously.

Would have been very lucky to snag that Philips.

My collection still does not have any exotic one like that Philips or a Panasonic RF2200.

Still for the days now and future satisfied with these. Threw out a longwire out of the window and lots of SSB came in. Otherwise mostly Chinese garble, Arabic and some other languages and maybe some of our neighbours. No useful ones. So that way getting a flagship SW radio seems not worth now.

The difference between analog and DSP radio is very clear. Rock steady signal, much better fidelity than analog. FM is a joy on DSP. Even MW.

Maybe try one?

 

[Subbu68]

Here's a comparison with a flagship of those days - Grundig S350 pure analog (with digital readout) vs C.Crane EP PRO a modern DSP radio.

Station is AIR Rajkot on 810kHz received at Abu Dhabi - 1600kms away. All settings on both radios same - battery, same direction, bandwidth is WIDE, no attenuation on antenna, both radios have twin coil ferrite.

Grundig has louder interference from another station. There was also fading on it (not very obvious in the video). C.Crane was steady and with less interference.

 

[Subbu68]

Now for a FM comparison

Station is City 1016 on 101.6MHz from Dubai received at Abu Dhabi - 130kms away or so. All settings on both radios same - battery, same direction, bandwidth is WIDE, no attenuation on antenna.

Grundig has a lot of interference. Audio is not clear. C.Crane was steady and with no interference. The volume is little less as I did not turn it up too loud. The volume control of Grundig is also not very steady due to aging (2007).

 

[Kannan]

@Subbu68 have you tried researching on some good outdoor antennae to augment the radio performance.

 

[Subbu68]

@Subbu68 have you tried researching on some good outdoor antennae to augment the radio performance.

My handicap is no balcony. My AM Tuned Loop is doing a good job. In many cases it is not required. These DSP radios big or small seem to do wonders when executed properly.