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Old 10-03-2016, 05:54 PM
musichal's Avatar
musichal musichal is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Norman, OK
Posts: 34
New eton Satellit Arrived

I realize that most of the interest in these parts is centered around vintage radios, and rightly so. They are often so beautiful, with many constructed by hand, using heavier-duty parts than is feasible in today's world. I often wish I had hung on to some of the radios from my past... but I digress.

I realize that there is also a lot of interest in current portables with performance potentials higher perhaps than at any time in history. Not that they always live up to the potential, what with budget constraints and hot-button features driving the market.

And then there is the name Satellit, which has long been associated with pretty good quality under Grundig's development over the years. So for eton to put that moniker on a hand-held garnered a lot of attention from the get-go, and it has been a questionable move on their part. It invites comparison with some pretty good, larger radios from the past.

A newbie like me, then, who would know none of this except for a good bit of recent reading certainly will fall short of any definitive conclusions about how this radio stacks up in the larger scheme of radio-dom. After playing with it for an hour, and still a long way from understanding how to use its many features, I offer now but a few preliminary remarks.

The only radios I have with which to make any sort of comparison - and not quite yet - are a C Crane CCRadio-EP, a Sangean PR-D5, Tivoli PAL (all AM/FM only, and larger than the Satellit), the Radio Shack DX-390 I'm giving away to a lucky AKer November 1, also larger, and an old Panasonic RB-40 comparable in size and bands with the Satellit, but not a very good performer.

So the Satellit arrived little more than an hour ago, in the same Amazon box as an order of AA alkaline batteries (I think 36 of them), so I quickly slapped four of them into the radio and switched it on. I also quickly somehow entered Memory mode, which slowed me down for a bit, but I went back to the regular mode (which I think is Weekday mode) and tried out FM.

I didn't get very far because just a few Mhz across the dial showed me that I have a pretty sensitive FM radio on my hands. Stations that tend to come in noisy on my other models from this seat were clean. Okay, cool, I'll check the rest of the band later - I didn't buy the Satellit for FM, though I will be checking out its stereo performance with headphones later.

I wanted to check out my local AM, so I pushed the AM button - but I didn't get AM. The 0 button beside it toggles between AM and LW, so I pressed that and got AM. Some of my locals that tend to come in noisy with my other radios came in clear as a bell. Nice. Promising. Even more promising, the Tulsa station that I, curiously (as it is only 120 miles away), have trouble receiving even at night was audible, if noisy. Grabbing the AN-100 loop and positioning it behind the Satellit eliminated the noise, oh, about 85%, I'll estimate.

At night I get WWL 870 New Orleans (465 miles away) very clearly with the Crane, so I tried to see if I could hear it under the noise, both with and without the tuned loop. Surprise, with the loop it was intelligible. So looking forward to playing with AM tonight.

Then I flipped over to shortwave. My Panasonic and the Shack had left me thinking there was nothing listenable at my location.

Big, big surprise! I lost count of the stations, and it isn't as though I scanned all bands, either! Luckily, my nurse, Norma, whose first language is Spanish was here (she comes 8 hours per week) and was able to tell me one station was from Cuba, another from Mexico City, and there were other Spanish stations that I didn't stay on long enough to discover where they came from. Found English-speaking stations, too. I noticed Norma really enjoyed hearing those Spanish stations. I would even consider getting her a Satellit for Christmas if experience hadn't taught me that her estranged husband would end up with it.

So my introduction to the Satellit was a very positive experience for me. Of course, consideration of what I was comparing it with must be taken into account, so I don't really know how good the radio may be, or how its MW performance will compare to the Crane-EP, which seems to have very good ears. I'll be discovering that pretty soon.

I also need to spend more time with the manual, as its controls are somewhat confusing, nor do I understand all its features. However, unlike those who've complained that it was too complex, I figure I have a radio that I can learn a few things from, and grow into. I find that a positive, so far, as opposed to a negative.

I like the way the radio feels in my hands. I like the size. I like that I can leave the light on dim during use (though you do have to remember to turn that off). The whip feels substantial, not wimpy. I like using the tuning knob. As I learn more about it, I'm sure I will find some things not to like so much, too. But right now, I think I chose a good hand-sized radio.

I'll try to get some pictures up by tomorrow night.
__________________
Crane CCRadioEP - Sangean PR-D5 - Eton Satellit - Tivoli PAL

Last edited by musichal; 10-04-2016 at 09:39 AM.
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