On 20 October, RadioIntel mentioned that Eton had a new radio called the E5 on their European website. The E5 turns out to be the rumored Degen DE1106. You can read more about this saga over at RadioIntel. The E5 is not currently on Eton's website (due to an apparent retraction) but I'm guessing it's almost ready to launch.
The Eton E5 is a dual-conversion receiver with SSB and a tuning knob. Its 700 memories will support alphanumeric tagging. This will be a cool radio to add to my collection.
6 comments:
I agree that the E5 will be a nice addition to ye olde radio collection, but I'm tiring of the lack of innovation in the $150 range.
There are two radios I'm really waiting for. First is the Kchibo that supposedly will have a sync detector. It will be fascinating to see how well (or badly) the Chinese implement this. Until now, this of course was only the realm of Sony, high-end Grundig and of course communications receivers.
Second - and again from Kchibo - is the portable that has the 12 KHz IF for DRM reception. Now, although the receiver doesn't actually decode DRM itself, it will be a simple matter to hook it up to a computer sound card.
Both of these radios would actually give me something new and interesting to play with. The E5, if I bought it, would probably end up on the shelf with the other good, but un-special radios.
Hmmm. I don't have any experience with Kchibo radios. I'd like to hear from anyone that does though. Sync detect on my SW7600GR is useful for medium-to-strong signals.
I will admit that DRM isn't something I'm interested in trying right now.
Also, I am a bit clear on the IF concept. I believe it stands for intermediate frequency but I don't understand how the value of the IF corresponds to the functionality. For example, when I think of a 12 khz IF, does that mean that tuning to 7000 khz would actually receive everything between 6994-7006 khz?
I have a Tecsun PL-350 which has two IF filters at 455 and 450 khz. That's obviously a much bigger range than the 12 khz you mention and would seem to invite plenty of interference. I wouldn't actually expect a signal to deviate from its frequency by (455/2) anyway.
Your wasting your time with such
a setup! No sensitivity to radio
signals at all.
For global reception capabilities
drag a 100ft wire on the ground
behind you. Since your walks are
in unoccupied areas that wont be
a problem. Use a stranded and
insulated hookup wire say 18ga or
26 ga and your in business!
Another clandestine antenna which
I've used with great success.
Is nothing more than a short hookup
wire which sports a alligator clip
on the other end. I simply clamp it
onto a large metal object.
Heating ducts in the high rise
building in which I'm employed make
for outstanding antennas for my
portable Grundig swl receiver.
Give it a go ... clandestine
reception!
That's funny... I once clamped a wire between the rain gutter outside my old apartment and my radio to try to improve reception. It didn't seem like a great idea though; I was worried about the risk of electric shock. Maybe someone living above me was going to clamp something else to it someday!
Nowadays I have a Degen DE31 for indoor use, and the whip antennas are usually sufficient outdoors.
I think what will be novel with the E5 (if we ever see it!) is that it might be the smallest SW radio with alpha-tagging of your presets. Also it'll be another compact choice for SSB listening, which I do a lot of.
Here's a suggestion for improving reception while outdoors...connect a ground to the receiver by using a headphone plug connected to a wire that can be either hung down to the ground, or connected to a water pipe or ? other metal object. The headphone plug is then partially inserted into the jack on the receiver, not enough to cut off the speaker.
The 455 IF and reference to 12 kHz IF for DRM are two different characteristics; I hope someone more technical than me will explain this. Your explanation of 12kHz IF is correct, but this is a different portion of the receiver than the 455 IF. I think all signals are converted to 455kHz and *then* filtered to the 5kHz, for broadcast audio reception), or say 12kHz for DRM decoding.
I can see that my above explanation isn't as clear as it could be, let me try to add to the confusion. :^)
All incoming AM signals (on mediumwave and shortwave) are converted from their actual frequencies to the intermediate frequency (IF) of 455kHz. After this the signals are filtered to a bandwidth that will let the desired signal through with adequate fidelity yet filter out adjacent channel interference. Or in the case of DRM reception, a 12kHz filter is wide enough to let all the needed data through. I hope this helps...
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