Passport to World Band Radio 2009

Universal Radio’s Fred Osterman writes and their website confirms:

The plain Etón E1 is gone, but we still have a very big supply of E1XM units. There was less than a $20 difference between the two models.

The E1XM, however, is not marketed outside North America.

According to various credible industry sources, Icom has discontinued the PC-only IC-PCR1500 and IC-PCR2500 (Passport 2009, pp. 156-158). Nonetheless, both models continue to appear on Icom’s U.S. and Japan websites.

Still being offered are the IC-R1500 and IC-R2500 (Passport 2009, pp. 125-126)—same receivers, but with control heads added to also allow for PC-free operation. —David Zantow

Our ISP recently overhauled its server setup to rationalize legacy issues from various earlier takeovers.

That’s the good news. Less worthy is that IBS’ incoming material ceased to come in. All of it, for the better part of two weeks.

At long last, this issue has been resolved by their techs, so we’re back up and running. We’ve tested everything twelve ways of Sunday, and it all passes muster.

So, yes, we’re back, and thanks for your patience!

Universal Radio’s Fred Osterman advises that in early April Sangean discontinued its ATS-818ACS (Passport 2009, p. 119). This world band radio stands out by having built-in recording facilities, but uses legacy cassette tapes.

As of today Universal has 20 left in stock. It may also be available elsewhere, as in recent months it was also being offered in Canada and Germany.

A key and exceptionally valued member of our small team, Craig Tyson of Australia, has had a major heart attack and is critical condition at the Gairdner Hospital in Perth. This is most distressing and unexpected, and our thoughts are with him and his family. As always, his spirits are upbeat, and his will to recover is indomitable.

Another key member is also suffering from a significant condition that developed in recent weeks, but asks that his name be kept private.

I’ll update this as conditions permit. —Lawrence Magne

April 17: Craig has returned home in high spirits after six-bypass surgery in Perth.

May 3: Recovering nicely and increasingly back to his usual activities!

Ah, the blessings of fast-acting cloud computing! A push of the wrong key, and—poof!—the past four weeks’ worth of your comments went into cyber heaven. There’s no way to restore them properly, but the “dead” comments page is reproduced, with apologies, if you click here… Continue reading ‘Oops, Last Four Weeks’ Comments Are Here…’

Reader Steven McArdle kindly informs us that the Grundig Satellit 800, which hadn’t been manufactured or sold new for years, was available around New Year’s for $199.95 at the National Geographic shop. It rates four and 3/8 stars in the Passport RDI White Paper on the Satellit 800.

Presumably they unearthed a batch of refurbished units. If so, these will have been gone over by the venerable service department of the R.L. Drake Company, and thus are arguably a better bet than regular new units even if they were available. Indeed, many of these refurbs originally were well-intentioned gifts returned simply because the recipients had no interest in shortwave.

Alas, unless they get in a fresh supply the offer has come and gone. But some folks got one heck of a deal!

The rest of us can try quickly contacting the shop at (800) 437-5521, (888) 225-5647 or (worldwide) +1 (703) 286-2326 to see if any units have been returned to National Geo as unwanted gifts.

What’s never been available before is a handy pocket radio-recorder to give world band listeners something akin to a TiVo experience.

Well, it’s finally here, thanks to China’s Degen Electronics. [UPDATE, Jan. 5: Now offered by Kaito, too—see end of review.] Read on…

**3/8
Degen DE1123

Price (1 GB version): via stores.ebay.com/RadiosCN and other eBay vendors, including worldwide AC adaptor: $77.99 including air shipping from China to the United States.

Pros: Built-in WAV audio recorder/MP3-WMA-WAV player for i.a. off-air recording and playback (see Cons). Several handy tuning features, including 225 nonvolatile station presets—100 for world band, 100 for FM, 25 for mediumwave AM. Auto-tuning storage (ATS) automatically loads active stations into presets; functions on all bands. Meter presets for quick access to individual world band segments. Good world band sensitivity, even with short telescopic antenna (see Cons). Relatively good selectivity on all bands, even though only one narrow bandwidth per band (see Cons). Good image rejection. Punchy audio (see Cons). Digital signal-strength Continue reading ‘Degen/Kaito’s New Pocket Radio-Recorder’

With the merger of XM and Sirius, it is hardly surprising that radios which receive only one or the other service, but not both, are fading away.

So it is that the top-rated Etón E1XM (Passport 2009, pp. 61-64) is being discontinued. The version sans XM, the E1, is being rebranded and will be sold before long under Etón’s Grundig banner. An official announcement will be forthcoming. —via Esmail Hozour, Etón CEO, with a tip o’ the hat to Lawrence Bulk

The professional-grade Japan Radio NRD-630, $8,000 in the United States and £7,000 in the U.K., is now shown as discontinued by Universal Radio. It is reviewed in Passport 2009 starting on p. 140.

The ‘630 was hardly a tempting value, so few are likely to mourn its departure. —David Zantow