I finally opened the case of my Mini 300 to take a look at what's
inside, but made no adjustments. My guess is alignment would similar
to the E100.

To disassemble, first remove three screws (two in the battery
compartment) and slowly lift the back from the bottom slowly to detach
it from a hook at top right (from the back). The hook could be broken
if not done correctly. Once unhooked, the back is free to set aside.

Now remove the two screws holding the main circuit board to the front
of the case. Below it you will notice a second circuit board attached
to the front case above the speaker. It's the frequency
counter/display circuit and there's no reason to remove it.

There is an approximately 5 x 0.7 cm. (1.9" x 0.27 ") ferrite bar
antenna at the top of the main circuit board. It looks like a shorten
version of the one in the E100. Like the E100, the antenna coil is
held in place with wax, so the 600 kHz adjustment should he easy. I
didn't identify the 1400 kHz adjustment point - it's one of the eleven
on the front of the circuit board.

To reassemble the receiver, first secure the main circuit board to the
case front ensuring the band switch is in its correct position. Then
hook the case back to the front checking to see the battery
compartment springs fit back into place. Finally replace the three
screws holding the two halves together.

My opinion is the tuning control on the Mini 300 keeps it from being
used for serious DXing. It's extremely tricky to use and takes a very
practiced thumb or forefinger to get it right on the desired
frequency. A 3.5 (1.4") cm. tuning control wheel is coupled directly
to a small variable capacitor. It would probably benefit from some
type of venier tuning apparatus.

Richard Allen

At 12:47 PM 8/6/2008, ALLEN WILLIE wrote:

Hi Guys,

Caught a couple new ones last night and early this morning

1530 khz - 7:44 UTC 8/6/08 - XEUR Mexico City, Mexico w/ mexican style
music and "Radio Fiesta " ID between songs, announcer in Spanish ; good
(My first Mexico station on Ultralights)

Another Good One Allen....and all I can say to that is......OLE!!!!

Wish I could hear that one....and I'm a lot closer to it than you are!!

73...ROB.


Robert S. Ross VA3SW
Box 1003, Stn. B.
London, Ontario
CANADA N6A5K1

Antique/Vintage Radio Enthusiast
Amateur Radio Stations VA3SW/VE3JFC

Defy Physics.....Play Table Tennis!! (Ping Pong with an Attitude)
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«

Hi Guys,    Caught a couple new ones last night and early this morning   1530 khz - 7:44 UTC 8/6/08 - XEUR Mexico City, Mexico w/ mexican style music and "Radio Fiesta " ID between songs,  announcer in Spanish ; good (My first Mexico station on Ultralights)   1539 khz - 23:42 UTC 8/5/08 - RTV de Djibouti , Dorale w/ arabic commentary and fast paced arabic pop vocals; fair     73 Allen Willie St. John's, Newfoundland SRF-M37V barefoot

---

All new Yahoo! Mail - Get a sneak peak at messages with a handy reading pane.

John,

I recently purchased my E100 through the offer on the DXer.ca homepage.
The radio actually came from the Shortwave Store, which I am guessing is
the U.S. side of Durham Radio.

Anyway, I checked my E100 against your photos. Mine has the fancy
script "eton" lettering (the old version) and has the serial number
(E10-0) 610029065. So, I guess mine is one of the "good" ones.

Thanks for the alert!

73,

Steve N5WBI
Houston TX

RED ALERT:  Friday, I opened up my last unmodified E100, planning to do the Full Monty, align, replace the IF filter and make capable of using both outside antennas and larger ferrite bars. When I popped the back, I almost had a heart attack!  IT IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT INSIDE!!!  Different boards, different components, different design of the ferrite loopstick coil (much like the SRF-59!)  The parts count is also lower and there seem to be efforts to reduce costs in several areas.  The only thing that looks better is the IF Filter.... this E100 reads more nearly on, but is about 500 hertz low.

When Gary writes his review of the E100 for our series on this wonderful little radio, I'm sure that he will test this particular unit against our more normal ones. Until then, I can't say for sure, but my gut feeling is this "NEW" E100 model is less of a radio than any of our "OLD" ones. Here is what I know for sure:

1. It can't be aligned to peak performance because each of the (2) coils on the ferrite bar is GLUED down.
2. It is a completely different RF design and uses a large major coil jointly with a smaller "tickler" coil. THEREFORE, none of our current ferrite bar replacement strategies can be applied to this new radio design... at least not very easily.
3. At this point, I have no idea whether our IF filter substitution would work in this new circuit. However, it appears that the IF is still 455, so it may work.... tho' why anyone would put a $50 filter in a radio that can't be aligned is not obvious to me.

In short, if you are thinking of buying an E100, I would suggest that you make VERY sure that it is not one of these new ones. At least that is the advice that makes the most sense right now.

I wanted to talk this over with Durham Radio before I went public with it. Since many of us, including me, had bought our radios there and since Durham has been such wonderful support to the radio hobbies for a long time, I wanted to see what they knew and gather a bit more information before sharing this with the community. Thanks to Rob Ross, I learned that Durham would not be open until today, so I contacted my co-authors Saturday and we did a quick project comparing serial numbers. Here are the results 

All E100 serial numbers begin E10-0 and the nine-digit number listed below

SORT By Serial Number
Owner- No     O/N Serial Number    Comments
G Atkins - #1    OLD 503011604
J Bryant - #1     OLD 504016168   Pur. May 08 JHB's Longwire Set
G. Atkins - #2    OLD 504019074
J Bryant - #2     OLD 504019367   Pur. June 08 Ferrite Set
J Bryant - #4     OLD 505023942   Pur. June 08 JHB pur. Parts Set
R Ross - #1     OLD 704029648    Pur. Durham April 08
G DeBock - #1 OLD 704029656    Pur. Durham April 08 w/Rob Ross Stock
R Ross - #2     OLD 704029682     Pur. Durham late July 08
K Schanilec      OLD 704029693    Anomalous Ferrite Loop stick maybe "NEW"?
G DeBock - #2  OLD 704030008    Pur. Durham June 08 Slider + CFJ455K5 Filter
G DeBock - #3  OLD 704030009    Pur. Durham June 08 Slider
J Bryant - #3     OLD 704030013    Pur. Durham June 08 (Fried by JHB)
J Bryant - #5  "NEW" 709030292   Pur. Durham late July 08

As you can see, my NEW and different model has a serial number substantially higher than any of the others in our small early inquiry. Happily, there are a few subtle external differences that can distinguish OLD and NEW, as well.  I'll insert one picture here.  If you cannot see this, there are several photos in our Photo area.




Today, I talked to "Jamie" at Durham, who was very helpful. I got the sense that they still have several hundred and he pulled a new case of twenty and looked in the battery compartment. The serial number was VERY safe, in the 504 or 505 series. I discussed how important the difference between the two sub-models is to us Ultralighters and he was quite sympathetic. I asked if they could possibly check the serial numbers before sales for those of us who request such and he indicated that they would try to help us, if we would request such at the time of purchase. Most helpful! Obviously Durham Radio is a "real radio company!"

If you are buying on EBAY, I think that you should make very sure that the radio pictured is the EXACT radio that is being offered. If it is so, then you can check the typeface for the difference in the two sub-models.... At least we hope that no new boards were put in old cases. Wow!

I would be happy to gather more serial numbers in the database and post it.  They are located in the battery compartment and easily accessed by removing the batteries. We are particularly interested in hearing from people who own radios in the 704 and higher series and would love to hear if anyone else has a set with the new elegant block lettered typeface.

I'll upload pictures of the interior comparison as well as the typeface to our Photo Area in a few minutes.



 

John B.
Orcas Island, WA, USA
Rcvrs: WiNRADiO 313e, Eton e1, Ultralights
Antennas: Two 70' x 100' Conti Super Loops, West and Northwest

Interestingly I was also thinking about the possibility of using a BFO
with an ULR this afternoon. I discovered an interesting article at
www.crystalradio.net/crystalsets/bfo/Mike_Tuggle_BFO_Article.doc a few
minutes before reading your post. It includes a BFO circuit that
someone might be able to adapt to an ULR - most likely the E100.

Richard Allen

Hi all:

One thing that ultralights don't have, by definition, is a BFO by
which a heterodyne may be heard to indicate that a weak station is
there. With the Sony 2010 or other communications receiver, tuning
slightly away from 774 khz (say to 775 khz) with the BFO on (i.e., in
SSB mode) will produce a 1 khz het which lets you know that JOUB-
Japan is there. Simply jumping up and down the dial by 9 khz will
conveniently produce a het to show that a TP/TA is present on a given
channel. This can serve as a "spotter" receiver to indicate when a
prize catch can be had on another receiver.

As discussed at http://www.qsl.net/vu2msy/listening.htm and perhaps
elsewhere, you can induce a beat frequency into your Ultralight with
another radio! This is easily done with two SRF-59's (and we all
have at least two of them...). For example:
1. Tune the listening receiver to a station at 730.
2. Place the BFO unit directly on top or underneath.
3. With the BFO unit turned ON, and volume all the way down,
tune it about 50 khz lower (i.e., to 680 khz or so).
The 50 khz IF on the SRF-59 means that, on the BFO unit,
a beat frequency of 730 khz is being produced in order to
tune in 680 khz.
4. Since the 730 broadcast signal on the listening unit and the
730 khz beat frequency on the BFO unit are now colliding with
each other, you should hear a fairly pronounced heterodyne!
5. Move the BFO unit around a bit to adjust the intensity of the het.

The 55-khz (or so) IF on the SRF-59 family works well, because you
can cover nearly the entire dial. For instance, tuning the BFO unit
to 525 khz (its lower limit) produces a beat frequency of around 580
khz, which can then be fed to the listening unit. Contrast this with
using a BFO unit with a 455 khz IF: the lowest beat frequency it can
produce is (455 + 525 =)980 khz, meaning that the listening unit can
only be tuned as low as 980 khz while still being able to take
advantage of the het production.

What I have noticed is that the Sony S5W, with its humongous RF
stage, puts out a huge BFO signal, which may be more convenient if
you are working the upper part of the band - you can be several feet
away and still pick up the beat frequency! As such, the enhanced RF
stage on a super-modified SRF-39 might make it a good BFO unit for an
Eton E100 listening unit.

On thing to watch - you will likely notice that sensitivity on the
listening unit goes down. What appears to be happening is that the
BFO signal from the BFO unit, when received on the listening unit,
causes the AGC on the listening unit to reduce the overall gain. In
other words, if the broadcast signal and BFO signal are about the
same, the AGC will cut the gain in half in order to keep what it
believes is a constant audio level. Therefore, judiciously place the
BFO unit a little farther away in order to keep the gain up while at
the same time still inducing a beat frequency into the listening
unit. Alternately, I suppose you could super-modify your listening
unit to switch out the AGC!

Being somewhat inland and not prone to getting up a 4:30 AM (lying
prone often seems preferable, and unlike John B. I don't have cats to
push me out of bed), I haven't been able to try this out with actual
trans-oceanic signals, and so I would be delighted if someone out
there (Alan in NF??) would give this a try to see how useful it is.

73 - Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

Allen and Rob,

 

     The West Coast Ultralight TP Chaser group salutes Allen for his remarkable Transatlantic DX accomplishments with his stock Ultralights.  We should all be so lucky.

 

     Here on the Left Coast, we take our deviously modified E100's to the beach for a few mornings of DXing at the nasty hour of 0500, and if we are extremely lucky, we come away with a rare new Pacific country such as Fiji or Tonga (but usually end up just listening to the same old Aussiea and Kiwis over and over).  It's enough to make someone seriously consider immigration to The Rock (or more likely, seriously consider even more devious ways to modify the E100).

 

                                                                                       73,  Gary   

At 10:27 AM 8/4/2008, you wrote:

Hi Everyone,

Pretty good Transatlantic session last night, decent discernable audio on
just about every split frequency. Including a lot of middle east stations.

Managed to notch a few new ones also using the SRF-M37V barefoot

1341 khz - 00:51 UTC 8/4/08 - HUNGARY, R Magyar Katolikis, Siófok w/
religious talk in Hungarian, musical selections ; (good at times stronger
than the usual R. Ulster)
***NEW ONE *** New Country on ultralights also****


1539 khz - 00:22 UTC 8/4/08 - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES , VOA Relay Dubai, man
in arabic mentions of Afghanistan, mention Voice of America ; fair *** NEW
ONE ***

Allen Willie
St. John's, Newfoundland
SRF-M37V barefoot

Allen...You continue to amaze us all with your Superb Loggings of Trans
Atlantic Stations!! You have a set a standard that will be hard to
duplicate by any of us. Your continued efforts to Promote the Ultralight
DXing Hobby are appreciated by all who partake in this strange Subculture
of AM BCB DXing!!! You have done us all proud...and although it is now
expected that your loggings will be spectacular.....it still amazes what
you are able to hear from the THE ROCK!!

Keep up the great DX Allen........it will be interesting to see just what
is and isn't possible on an Ultralight!!

73...ROB.


Robert S. Ross VA3SW
Box 1003, Stn. B.
London, Ontario
CANADA N6A5K1

Antique/Vintage Radio Enthusiast
Amateur Radio Stations VA3SW/VE3JFC

Defy Physics.....Play Table Tennis!! (Ping Pong with an Attitude)
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«

Hello Guys,

 

     The Sony ICF-SW7600GR is compact digital SSB portable with reasonably good MW performance, using a stock 4.75" x .37" fixed-coil loopstick for the 530-1700 kHz frequencies.  At $134.80 plus shipping from Amazon.com (via Gigabargain), it has excellent Synch detector function for a portable, as well as decent shortwave performance.

 

     Having a sudden need for a very compact SSB-equipped MW portable to use as a "spotting receiver" for South Pacific DX targets during a short Ultralight Radio DXpedition to Grayland, Washington, I became intrigued with the idea of replacing the SW7600GR's stock loopstick with a 7.5" Amidon ferrite bar, wound with 40/44 Litz wire.  This combination of MW frequency-optimized ferrite and Litz wire has provided huge sensitivity gains not only in the SRF-39FP and E100 Ultralight models, but also in the larger ICF-2010 traditional DX portable.  Upon checking the stock SW7600GR loopstick, it was found to be a smaller-sized copy of the ICF-2010 loopstick system, having a fixed (non-alignable) larger coil and a smaller tickler coil, to optimize spurious signal rejection.

 

     The SW7600GR loopstick was easily replaced with a 7.5" x .5" Amidon ferrite bar-based antenna, wound with 40/44 Litz wire to match the 983 mh inductance of the stock main coil.  The sensitivity improvement was very dramatic, boosting the weak-signal performance of this compact portable past that of a stock ICF-2010.  This was a total reversal of its performance prior to the modification, in which the SW7600GR was clearly inferior to the stock 2010 on all MW frequencies.

 

     At Grayland, the newly hot-rodded SW7600GR performed very well as an SSB "spotting receiver," with different TP station frequencies stored in memory, easily accessed by pushing single buttons.  SSB carrier strength of the "targets" could be quickly checked, and the direction of the received signal could be easily determined by the new loopstick's excellent nulling ability.

 

     On the domestic frequencies, the newly modified SW7600GR provided lots of sensitivity, with easy loggings of KPUA-670 and KGU-760 in Hawaii.  For the 9 kHz split targets in the South Pacific, however, the modified SW7600GR's sensitivity alone wasn't quite adequate to keep up with the modified Eton E100 Ultralight, which had a Murata CFJ455K5 premium ceramic IF filter installed (the same narrow filter as in the Eton E1).  The modified E100 could split off Fiji-639, Tonga-1017, 2ZB-1035 and 2YA-567 significantly better than could the modified SW7600GR, which had to contend with more domestic slop.

 

     Despite this, the compact Sony's function as an SSB "spotting receiver" was excellent, and it directed the AM-mode only Eton E100 to the "hot" frequencies very well.  9 kHz SSB carrier strength can usually be checked even in the presence of domestic splatter, and the SW7600GR was great for this purpose.

 

     For domestic DXers, this modified ICF-SW7600GR would provide a great sensitivity improvement over the stock model, for a very reasonable cost in parts (under $30 for the ferrite bar, Litz wire and other items).  The modification is easy to perform, and the unit remains very compact (a photo is on the Ultralightdx Yahoo group site in the "Roll Your Own DXing Monster" album).  Nulling ability is excellent, and the loopstick's external mounting provides extremely quiet reception compared to the stock antenna, crammed as it is inside a cramped cabinet next to the SW whip antenna.  The full modification article should be written shortly, for those interested in this impressive performance upgrade. 

 

     For serious 9 kHz split-frequency DXers, however, a premium IF filter upgrade would be very helpful in chasing TP's and TA's next to domestic splatter.  The good news is that with an IF of 455 kHz, the ICF-SW7600GR can be modified with the same premium ceramic filter that has transformed the tiny E100 into a DXing sensation this summer.  Well, there's always a nice-to-do project that is on the drawing board...

 

73,  Gary DeBock      

Steve,

Thanks for the excellent review of the 300.  I was interested enough that I went to the eham reviews to read what other users had to say and most were reasonably positive. However, one user who seemed knowledgeable noted quite a number of images and even some breakthrough from shortwave broadcasters.  He was unsure as to whether he had a defective, mis-aligned unit or whether this ight be a characteristic.  It might be worth taking a look at that problem, if you didn't. Here are the comments:


My Grundig Mini 300PE performs very well with the exception of the MW (standard AM) band. My set experiences poor image rejection. Ex. a station on several miles away (WTOP Wheaton MD) 1500Khz can clearly be heard at a tuning of 590Khz. That tells that this radio uses an IF freq. of 540Khz.

I was surprized initially at all the whistles and hetrodynes that occurred at night time at frequencies above 1000Khz. With some investigation, I've discovered that this radio is receiving short wave transmissions from the 5 to 7 Mhz band. At a tuning of 1082.5Khz, WWCR on 5.070Mhz is tremendously strong. By some simple arithmetic calculations, it appears that the third harmonic of the local oscillator (at the 1082.5Khz tuning) is at 4.62Mhz--below 5.070Mhz by the IF frequency of 450Khz. For the math to work exactly right, the exact receiver tuning would need to be 1.090Khz, so that the radio's frequency display may be a bit off by -7.5Khz. Similarly, I receive other shortwave stations where there is no conflicting AM broadcaster. The FM/SW telescoping antenna seems to be active on MW; touching it attenuates reception. It's as though there is no front end tuning.

This is poorer AM performance than a '60s shirt pocket six transistor radio.

It's hard to believe that this performance is typical for this radio. If I got a bad one, someone please say so.

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/4761?page=2

No one responded to this man, either way.

Thanks for your work!

John B.
Orcas Island, WA, USA
Rcvrs: WiNRADiO 313e, Eton e1, Ultralights
Antennas: Two 70' x 100' Conti Super Loops, West and Northwest

Hi Everyone,   Pretty good Transatlantic session last night, decent discernable audio on just about  every split frequency. Including a lot of middle east stations.   Managed to notch a few new ones also using the SRF-M37V barefoot   1170 khz - 01:06 UTC 8/4/08 - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES , R. Farda  Dabiya, w/ arabic song and commentary; ID ; good   1251 khz - 01:12 UTC 8/4/08 - LIBYA , Voice of Africa Tripoli w/ type of arabic speech or reading , mention of Europe , good   1341 khz - 00:51 UTC 8/4/08 - HUNGARY, R Magyar Katolikis, Siófok w/ religious talk in Hungarian,  musical selections ; (good at times stronger than the usual  R. Ulster) ***NEW ONE *** New Country on ultralights also****   1503 khz - 00:35 UTC 8/4/08 - IRAN , IRIB Tehran w/ persian chants and commentary; good   1521 khz - 00:45 UTC 8/4/08 - SAUDI ARABIA , BSKSA Duba, w arabic commentary, mentions of arabie often ; (good as is the case most nights here )   1539 khz - 00:22 UTC 8/4/08 - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES , VOA Relay Dubai, man in arabic mentions of Afghanistan, mention Voice of America ; fair *** NEW ONE ***   1540 khz - 05:07 UTC 8/4/08 - KXEL Waterloo, Iowa w/ CBS News, Trucking Ad , ID ; good (stronger than usual WDCD ) *** NEW ONE*** on ultralights   1548 khz - 00:42 UTC 8/4/08 - KUWAIT, R. Sawa Kuwait City w/ arabic commentary and music ; ID "Radio Sawa" good   1575 khz - 00:40 UTC 8/4/08 - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES , R. Farda w/ arabic talk and song by the Bee Gees; good   73   Allen Willie St. John's, Newfoundland SRF-M37V barefoot

Yahoo! Canada Toolbar : Search from anywhere on the web and bookmark your favourite sites. Download it now!

In Oct. 1991 when I was on a business trip to Mountain View, CA -
still some distance from the shore - I had no problem hearing Japan
on 774 on a "barefoot" Sony ICF-2010 in my hotel room around local
dawn. I think 747 and 828 were making showings too.

Mark Connelly, WA1ION - Billerica, MA, USA

Hello Steve,

 

     Thank you for your efforts in reviewing the Grundig Mini 300.  The E100 itself will be reviewed as part of the Midsummer Ultralight Radio Shootout, along with the Sony SRF-M97V, SRF-S84, SRF-M37W and DT-400W.

 

                                    73,  Gary

 

Thanks Guy,

 

     Your suggestion and procurement of the Murata narrow filters made a huge difference in the effectiveness of the modified E100's.  Without the narrow filters (even with great sensitivity), the modified E100 would have a tough time dealing with un-nullable domestic QRM, in chasing the DU's at Grayland.

 

     The combination of great sensitivity and great selectivity has produced results that surprise us all.

 

                                                    73,  Gary

 

                                                                         

 

    

Gary, Great going with those super catches! I will have to check out the recordings. That was quite a feat and must have been a lot of fun.

I look forward to getting closer to the coast again...I am in St. Louis right now. ;^)

73,

Guy

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

---

From: D1028Gary@...
Date: Sun, 3 Aug 2008 18:44:14 EDT
To: <ultralightdx@...>
Subject: [ultralightdx] Modified E100 South Pacific DX mp3's

Hello Guys,

 

     The modified E100 (with a 7.5" slider loopstick and narrow filter) really provided some excitement in Grayland, WA on July 31st, receiving Fiji-639, Tonga-1017, 2ZB-1035 in New Zealand, and KPUA-670 in Hawaii.  I wish that all of you could have experienced the fun of chasing Ultralight South Pacific DX on an exceptional morning!

 

     Uploaded to the Ultralightdx group site were a couple of mp3's from that superb session, of Fiji-639 and 2ZB-1035.  The Fiji-639 mp3 starts off with a marginal mumbling ID in Pidgin English, but quickly gets stronger with Polynesian choral music.  The 2ZB-1035 mp3 was my first recorded ID from New Zealand, despite hearing 2YA-567 and 2YC-657 many times with sleep-inducing EZL music.

 

     John Bryant had already received all of these stations with an E100 hooked up to his 4-element Wellbrook Array, but I doubt that he had as much fun as I did, using a 7.5" slider loopstick at a picnic table :>)

 

                                     73,  Gary

 

      

Hey Steve:

Thanks for the Grundig Mini 300 review! I have seen this unit around, and
have always wondered how it performs. The analog/digital tuning which
allows 1 khz fine tuning would be a nice thing to have. Your testing
methodology is great - I wish I was so thorough :-).

It looks like the 300's no substitute for the "Jumbo Shrimp" Eton E100 but
still manages to hold its own. Given the uneven sensitivity results, I
wonder if an alignment would perk it up?

As for selectivity, since the E100 is the stock selectivity champ, it
wasn't a fair fight: do you have a Sony SRF 39 or 59 to compare
selectivity with? That may be an intersting quick comparison. (***Hey
Gary/John/Guy*** - I wonder if the 300 would accept a Murata filter...)

I look forward to when you get the time and energy to keep going on your
stable of Ultralights to see how the other little guys fare!

73 - Kevin S
Bainbridge Island, WA

Radios

Radio Reviewed:  Grundig Mini 300 (unmodified)
Radio Used for Comparison:  Eton E-100 (unmodified)

Description of the Grundig Mini 300

Frequency Coverage:  AM (525-1710 kHz), FM (88-108 MHz), SW1/49M (5.95-6.20 MHz), SW2/41M (7.00-7.30 MHz), SW3/31M (9.50-9.95 MHz), SW4/25M (11.60-12.10 MHz), SW5/22M (13.60-13.80 MHz), SW6/19M (15.10-15.80 MHz), and SW7/16M (17.50-17.90 MHz).

Size:  Fits in your pocket.  Dimensions are 2.6 x 7 x 1.2 inches (65 x 170 x 23 mm).  Weight without batteries is 4 ounces (127 g).

Tuning:  Analog with digital display.  Tuning is accomplished by means of thumbwheel on right side of radio.  MW tunes in 0.5 kHz increments.  FM tunes in 50 kHz increments.  Shortwave tunes in 5 kHz increments.  Bands are selected by a 9-position slide switch on the left side of the radio.  FM Stereo is available through the headphone jack, located on the left side of the radio just below the band switch.

Antennas:  FM and Shortwave reception use a telescopic antenna that is located on the left side of the radio.  There is a molded part of the radio case that extends approximately 2.125 inches (57 mm) above the top of the radio to protect the antenna.  Unfortunately, it also prevents the antenna from swiveling or turning.  You must occasionally orient the entire radio for best FM reception.  Fully extended, the telescopic antenna adds another 19.75 inches (502 mm) to the overall height of the radio.  This often causes the radio to tip over.   The AM band uses an internal ferrite bar loop antenna oriented parallel to the top of the radio.

Power Source:  The radio operates on 2 AA batteries.  There is no provision for an external DC power adapter.

Review Strategy

I checked the Mini 300 for (1) sensitivity and (2) selectivity using the Eton E-100 as my base for comparion.

For the sensitivity portion of the review, I selected two stations on the high end of the AM dial, one a local TIS station on 1610 kHz, the other a semi-local on 1460 kHz.  I also selected two stations on the low end of the AM dial, both semi-locals, one on 550 kHz, the other on 560 kHz.  I also threw in another TIS station on 830 kHz and a station in a neighboring state on 870 kHz that can be heard well at my location.  The sensitivity review was performed during the middle afternoon, before local sunset started affecting the signals.

For the selectivity portion of the review, I chose two local stations, one on 740 kHz, the other on 1480 kHz, that are (IMHO) notorious for splattering their immediate adjacent channels at night.  This is due, not to the fault of the stations, but to the quality of the radio - hence the reason for the test.  So, I compared the Mini 300 and the E-100 on 730, 750, 1470, and 1480 kHz at approximately 2 hours after local sunset in order to give the station's signals time to settle down into their nighttime strengths.

Grading Scale

To "quantify" my completely subjective evaluations, I used the same scale that Gerry Thomas of Radio Plus uses in his evaluations:

5 - Local (all background noise "quieted")
4 - Easily Readable, but not like a local
3 - Readable, but with some effort
2 - Intermittently readable
1 - Present, but not readable
0 - Not detectable

Sensitivity Results
	TIS 1610 kHz	1460 kHz	KTSA 550 kHz	KLVI 560 kHz	TIS 830 kHz	WWL 870 kHz
Mini 300	4.0	3.5	1.0	5.0	3.0	2.5
E100	5.0	5.0	4.0	5.0	3.5	3.5

Based on the fact that my totally non-scientific results returned over 50% in both categories (sensitivity and selectivity), I think the Grundig Mini 300 world be a worthy addition to the list of Ultralight Radios!

Disclaimer:  The opinions stated in this review are myown.  I personally own all of the radiosthat I reviewed.  Measurements,calculations, and estimates were performed strictly by ear and reflect my bestjudgment alone.

73 and Great DX,

Steve N5WBI
Houston TX

Dennis,

Ya just gotta try some of the Pacific stuff at dawn.... If nothing else, wait for the middle of the Asian season in late September and October...  With DST and sunrise so late, even night owls have a shot!

John B.




At 02:27 AM 8/2/2008 +0000, you wrote: