cobalt pet shortwave / mediumwave weblog

05 November 2005

speaker-less portables

My initial use of portable shortwave radios was on walks while using headphones. So I started imagining a portable shortwave radio that didn't include a speaker. I purchased some used Eton E100 radios (aka the Tecsun PL-200) so I could experiment with simple modifications, including removing the speaker. (This is still on my to-do list.) I figured this would reduce the weight of the already-light radio, and possibly slightly improve battery life as the speaker wouldn't need to be switched on. Of course, the size of the radio would not change with this modification.

When I first saw the Eton website in the summer of 2005, they had announced the P'7132 radio which vaguely resembles an iPod. It is a black portable shortwave radio without a speaker. However, as I visit the Eton website today, details for the P'7132 are still unavailable. An email to Eton on 12 August 2005 asking about the P'7132 went unanswered; I sent them a second query just now.

When using a pocket shortwave radio like the P'7132, it would be nice to have a wire antenna running alongside headphone wires. I wonder if interference would be a problem.

Anyway, why did Eton announce the P'7132 on their website so many months before availability?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Small rant on speakerless portables in radiointel / DEGEN DE1105 review

- Agree, an Ipod-type portable of true shirt pocket size with No internal speaker is the way to go ;

Sangean has a Tiny AM / FM Digital with no speaker, I wonder why there are No speakerless SWR's

Firestarter5 said...

Why does Eton show a pic of the E5 in a couple radio mag advertisements, yet show nothing on their web page?

So many questions....with no answers from Eton