Lawrence Magne
Editor-in -Chief
Radio Database International
As wereported earlier,
Grundig North America
is back in
beating the bushes selling world
band receivers. Nowadays, you
can see them advertising shortwave
radios regularly over the Cable
News Network, which is a virtually
revolutionary idea, considering
that most manufacturers treat their
world band radio lines like some
sort of high -level corporate secret.
The problem with Grundig is
that their main receiver, the Satellit
650, costs some $1,000 or so in the
US. It's a fine unit, but for most
of us $1,000 is a little tough to
digest for a radio. The '650 is also
too large and heavy to use for
traveling.
Smaller Radio
Rounds Out Grundig Line
So, to round out the line in
North America, Grundig is also
marketing the much smaller and
lighter Satellit 400. It doesn't
look at all like the '650 -- although
both are made in Portugal. And,
at $399, the '400 costs less than half
what the '650 does. So we've put
this through the RDI hoops and
hurdles for the past few weeks to
see how it stacks up against the
Asian competition.
The first thing you notice
about the '400 is that it doesn't
look at all like any other model on
the market. In fact, its design is
similar to 1930's Art Deco.
Fortunately, it doesn't perform like
a 1930's receiver. It's fully state -
of- the -art, even if it's not quite in
the high -tech league of Sony's
innovative ICF -2010.
Tuning up?
You've Got a Choice
The '400 covers the longwave,
mediumwave AM, FM and world
radio shortwave bands with double -
conversion synthesized tuning. It
uses a knob to tune stations, and a
nice aspect of this is that the knob
provides one tactile click for every
one kilohertz tuned. You can
actually "tune by feel ", which is
handy if you're visually impaired...
or trying to bandscan in the dark.
Of course, a knob isn't the only
way you can tune the '400. There's
also an easy -to -use keypadfor
direct frequency entry, plus a
scanner and fully 24 programmable
channel memories to store your
most listened -to stations. Addi-
tionally, there are up /down band
slewing buttons for shortwave that
second as a signal seeker in other
bands.
The Grundig Satellit 400
Grundig's Satellit 400 - Looks like 1930's Art Deco, but
performs like state -of- the -art
Travel Features
For traveling, there's a nice,
solid flip -up handle that's the best
and most comfortable of any on the
market. The fused ac power
supply is dual -voltage and built -in
so you can use it in nearly any part
of the world. In North America,
the '400 comes with an ac plug
adapter that allows the set to be
operated from the most popular
types of wall sockets in most coun-
tries.
The '400 incorporates two
clocks and a timer, which is handy
for making sure you get up in time
when you're in a hotel with
Samantha Sonnambula at the
switchboard. But the clocks and
frequency share the same digital
display, so you can see only one of
these three at any given moment.
Other features include a panel
to angle the set towards the
listener. And if you're listening at
night, you'll be pleased to find that
it has a light that illuminates both
the digital frequency readout and
the large analog signal- strength
and battery check meter.
Single Sideband?
The '400 is a big improvement
over Grundig's earlier, but similar
looking, Satellit 300. The '300 was
insensitive, unselective and
MONITORING TIMES
produced all kinds of spurious
signals. The '400, in comparison,
performs quite well. In all, for
listening to shortwave broadcasts,
it's in a league second only to the
Sony ICF -2010. The '2010 is
better because of its advanced
synchronous detection system, plus
the '2010 is much better than the
'400 in handling single -sideband
signals. In fact, below 9 MHz
single -sideband reception on the
'400 suffers severely from synthe-
sizer instability to the point where
it's all but useless. Obviously, this
isn't a set for utility DXers or hams.
In fact, if you listen very care-
fully you can even hear the synthe-
sizer whooshing back and forth
softly in the background with the
single -sideband mode switched off.
Audio Quality
and FM Performance
Where the '400 is superior to
the '2010 is in audio quality. The
'2010 doesn't even have proper
tone controls, and its audio quality
is only so -so. But the '400 has
separate bass and treble controls,
plus a higher -quality audio stage
and speaker, so it sounds quite
good. Its FM performance --
especially its capture ratio -- is also
much better.
At our Radio Database Interna-
tional listening post located
MAGNE TESTS...
between New York and Philadel-
phia, you can place the '400 on a
single FM channel and find two or
three stations popping in separately
and clearly simply by rotating the
antenna. Another difference is
that the '2010 also comes equipped
to operate only off 120 volts ac with
North -American -type ac sockets.
So you can't use it in most other
parts of the world without buying
an accessory transformer.
Verstehen Sie?
A final note is that the printed
material that comes with the '400
emanates from the "why - make -
something - clear - when - you - can
- make - it - incomprehensible"
school. For example, under
"Antennas" it reads:
"The strongest abatement of
an interfering station will be
achieved by means of aligning
the reception minimum of an
antenna with half wavelength
or less to this particular
station ".
So, in all, this offering from
Grundig is really designed for
pleasant listening to programs,
rather than DXing. It's also a
good travel receiver, even though
there are other models that are
smaller and lighter. In the US,
Lextronix, Grundig's representa-
tive, now has a toll -free number:
800 -872 -2228. Elsewhere, you can
dial 415- 361 -1611.
You can hear Larry Magne's
equipment reviews, along with
reports from Radio Database
International's Don Jensen and
Tony Jones, the first Saturday night
each month over Radio Canada
International's "SWL Digest" at
8:10 PM Eastern Time on 5960 and
9755 kHz. Larry's "What's New in
Equipment" is also featured over
"SWL Digest" various other Satur-
days throughout the month.
In the US, RDI White Papers are
carried by Electronic Equipment
Bank, Imprime and Universal Short-
wave. A free catalogue of the latest
editions of all available RDI White
Papers, including those covering the
best in communications receivers
and antennas, may be obtained by
sending a self -addressed stamped
envelope to Publications Informa-
tion, Radio Database International,
Box 300, Penn's Park PA 18943
USA.
August 1987 45