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Sony ICF-EX5

 I was going to post Nothing much of interest on the modern radio front recently but then I remembered I'd refurbished a few 60 year old Channel Master germanium transistor sets as well as a more recent Panasonic RF1650 and RF1680.  I've always been curious about the Japanese market Sony ICF-EX5MKII. Not generally available in the UK or US but plenty of (expensive) stock from Japanese resellers. Then I managed to get one via eBay in the US, but unfortunately it arrived looking like it had a hard life and with a detached speaker (despite the seller packaging it well). Speaker dropped out! That's torn it! Fortunately It's a standard 4" boom box speaker so I've ordered a  (JVC) replacement.  Meanwhile I re-assembled it and it gives a reasonable account of itself. Not convinced the sync detector is the best I've used but it sounds nice even with a torn cone. I noticed reading Jay Allen's blog that he had a similar speaker detachment issue but his appears ...
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Recent posts

Sangean ATS-606A filter could be narrower

 Just making some comparisons between the Roberts R809 (ATS-808) and Roberts R867 (ATS-606A). These radios don't have any SSB detectors but they perform well on AM and sound nicer than a DSP Tecsun. The 808 has two bandwidth positions but the 606A only has one (and it sounds wide!). Let's compare the service manuals parts listings...   ATS-808 filters ATS-606A filter As I have a R809 with a dead display, I might transplant the filter into a R867 to improve the performance.
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Sony ICF-2001D - Another One!

Just when I said I would never purchase another 2001D , one just happened to turn up on eBay. So I bought it.  So far, it seems to be in reasonable working order. I found some minor damage to the bottom of the main PCB in the vicinity of Q21. I'm also concerned that the MW/LW sensitivity is not as good as it should be so I need to investigate that further. It does have Sony's legendary synchronous AM detector though! The original Sony AC adapter was also absent so I'll have to find a candidate for that. Here are some pictures of the antenna PCB where Q302 and Q303 are located, and the ferrite rod antenna connections. For the best 2001D/2010 resource on the web, visit the User Group at groups.io .
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Tecsun PL-330 Arrives

   New toy for this summer. Order placed with Anon-Co on 21st April with expedited shipping (which included the battery), delivered on  28th April. Arrived with a UK Royal Mail postage label and a return address in Manchester, maybe it was shipped from stock already in the UK? I paid $71.44, inclusive of shipping and tax, which worked out at 53.44 of my British Pounds. Undocumented functions Press and hold 3 with power on: CH-S displayed selects whip antenna, CH-A displayed selects internal ferrite bar antenna. Press and hold 7 with the power on: Sets maximum volume for selected band using volume knob. Press and hold 9 with power off: Alternates between ON and OFF. Unknown. Press and hold 9 with power on: Number adjustable between 1 and 30 using tuning knob. Unknown. Press and hold VF/VM with power off: Segment test followed by firmware version. Mine is 3305.  I'll update the article when I figure out what they all do. Performance Early days but initial performance o...
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Tecsun PL-310ET - MW/LW Antenna Coupler

After carrying out the external antenna connection modification to the PL-310ET, I built an external antenna coupler for MW and LW.  The coupler uses (obsolete) Toko 10mm inductors which are tuned on the primary side by the varicap diode on the SI Labs IC. The secondary side provides a low-impedance coupling to an external antenna. MW uses a Toko RWR331 230-300μH primary, 1.75μH secondary. LW uses a Toko 98299 2.9-4.0mH primary, 46μH secondary. Some excellent results have been achieve, particularly on Long Wave.
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Sangean Equivalents

As I've collected a few Sangean-built sets over the years, I've put together a list of badge-engineered equivalents. In the US sets were sold under the Radio Shack brand. Here in Britain they were sold under the Roberts Radio brand. In Germany, sold under the Siemens brand. You can download the list in PDF format and it will get updated as I discover any new re-badging.  For example:   ATS808 was sold as the Roberts R808 and R809 (CE marked)
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10 inch MW LW Ferrite Antenna

Large ferrite antenna for the PL-310ET all packaged up and ready for action!
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