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I bought this radio because I did'nt have a multi band receiver that had Shortwave,MW/LW,Airband & FM 88-108. It is fair to say that it tries hard to be a communications receiver and looks far more expensive than it actually is. For serious DX'ers it is passable for occasional use, but for continual use it can be annoying insomuch that the volume control is very small and the main tuning knob is located some way away, annoying if you are right handed. The tuning control has a slight 'loose' feel about it, and sometimes requires patience to tune spot on a frequency because as you move your hand away, it can jump a little. The AGC/rf gain control is not as precise and sharp as I would like. It does its job but takes all its travel to do so, and feels as if it needs a higher electrical value component to sharpen it up with a greater range. Turning this control anticlockwise switches the agc on. Great to have a treble and bass control, particularly for FM, but those controls, too, are 'soft' and use all of their travel to achieve very little in function. The wide/narrow filter works, but could have been designed better, to give more of a 'chop' to really filter out adjacent interfering stations. I listen to morse (cw) a lot, and the narrow setting really cannot cope with very close competing stations. The set has an attenuator for strong signals, but this is only functional on some bands, not all. I enjoy listening to local airband transmissions, but on receiving the set was mortified to find that the scan facility does not work on airband, the very band you need it on! In truth, I already knew this, but I also read that you could scan your memories, so input your airband frequencies into a memory, then press scan. NO! It stubbornly will not scan airband in any shape or form. Serious airband enthusiasts who want this facility be warned. Great if your local airfield has only one main tower/approach channel, but otherwise you have to tune through your saved memory channels by hand. Shortwave is very good, very sensitive, although the lack of an onboard antenna / aerial trimmer is disappointing. In a nutshell, the reason for needing one is to electronically adjust the length of the antenna to the frequency you are listening to, which will make it louder and easier to copy/listen to. Upper sideband/lower sideband ssb transmissions take some time to resolve on this set, until you get used to its 'ways', but once your ears become attuned to the sound, it gets easier every time. Balancing the rf gain with the bfo and slow speed main tuner works well and takes me back to older radio's that you really had to drive hard to get good results. The set has been designed to receive signals over a wide range of frequencies without preselection and antenna tuning, but as such, makes a reasonable job of receiving signals, nonetheless. Direct frequency input via the numerical keyboard is great , commiting favourite frequencies to memory is a pain and takes a while to get used to, if you want them in any particular order. The squelch control is really ineffective and again, 'soft', needing to be advanced almost fully clockwise to squelch out the white noise on airband, annoying is the word!! Sockets to connect external antenna's to is a plus. It has 2 alarms, clock and backlit display and an analogue s meter.Looks nice,but not worth £300 new,I paid £160 s/h, which is nearer to its trRead full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Verified purchase: No
I BOUGHT ONE OF THESE SETS,A YEAR OR SO AGO,AND TO BE HONEST I SOLD IT ON,BECAUSE IT WAS NO WHERE NEAR WHAT I EXPECTED IT TO BE,VERY CHEAP,BUILD QUALITY,AUDIO VERY VERY AVERAGE,AND NOT AT ALL SENSITIVE,A VERY WEAK,PALE,POOR,ATTEMPT,OF A GRUNDIG.
Verified purchase: No