KC2UGV
08-13-2013, 06:45 PM
Picked up a RadioShack® Synthesized World Receiver (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=21589936) the other day, to aid me in hunting down RFI.
But, while playing a waiting game, I decided to actually give this radio a shakedown.
It's a broadcast AM/FM radio, combined with a DC to Daylight receiver (Does 170KHz to 29.000 MHz, with a couple of gaps). Which means, it covers the whole of the ham radio band (Via direct entry, the VFO will skip it).
It does have nice sound quality, and a decent reception. Interestingly, there are some stations this pulls from the noise that my FT-840 doesn't, and some my 840 gets that this doesn't. This radio beats the 840 on AM sound, however.
The radio is the size of a large paperback. It's too big to be used with a single hand, and too big to go into a briefcase easily.
It has a built in whip antenna (Extendable), a lockout switch, external antenna jack, headphone jack, AM-SSB/FM-FMST selector, along with an attenuation switch for DX/Local. Also, a selector for music-news-normal audio.
Tuning is default 5KHz steps, with 1KHz select-able by depressing the tuning knob. It also has a clarifier for fine tuning a station in. There is a dual clock, with alarms too, so it would make a great travel companion when the TS2000 is just too much to take along with you.
It's ok for CW reception, Good for SSB, and excellent for AM. Broadcast FM from the internal speaker is lacking, but great stereo when using headphones.
Power is supplied via 4 AA batteries, or an external brick (6V, negative center, not included).
A good buy? I enjoyed it, however, I'll most likely return it for a lesser unit. This almost feels like it's too much radio for my needs. RS has a 45 day return period, I believe, so I'll decide by then.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, as no brick was included, and no wire external antenna. A cheapy wire antenna would have been too cheap to not add, IMO.
But, while playing a waiting game, I decided to actually give this radio a shakedown.
It's a broadcast AM/FM radio, combined with a DC to Daylight receiver (Does 170KHz to 29.000 MHz, with a couple of gaps). Which means, it covers the whole of the ham radio band (Via direct entry, the VFO will skip it).
It does have nice sound quality, and a decent reception. Interestingly, there are some stations this pulls from the noise that my FT-840 doesn't, and some my 840 gets that this doesn't. This radio beats the 840 on AM sound, however.
The radio is the size of a large paperback. It's too big to be used with a single hand, and too big to go into a briefcase easily.
It has a built in whip antenna (Extendable), a lockout switch, external antenna jack, headphone jack, AM-SSB/FM-FMST selector, along with an attenuation switch for DX/Local. Also, a selector for music-news-normal audio.
Tuning is default 5KHz steps, with 1KHz select-able by depressing the tuning knob. It also has a clarifier for fine tuning a station in. There is a dual clock, with alarms too, so it would make a great travel companion when the TS2000 is just too much to take along with you.
It's ok for CW reception, Good for SSB, and excellent for AM. Broadcast FM from the internal speaker is lacking, but great stereo when using headphones.
Power is supplied via 4 AA batteries, or an external brick (6V, negative center, not included).
A good buy? I enjoyed it, however, I'll most likely return it for a lesser unit. This almost feels like it's too much radio for my needs. RS has a 45 day return period, I believe, so I'll decide by then.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars, as no brick was included, and no wire external antenna. A cheapy wire antenna would have been too cheap to not add, IMO.