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Received E100

lrdheat
 

I have noticed that the E100's display is off by 1 KHz...to correctly tune 640 KHz, one would have to tune in on 641 KHz. This is true on sw frequencies as well. Perhaps this explains the disapperance of the het that you heard on 640. On sw, the filter is pretty sharp. QRM that appears from stations 5 KHz away often are much reduced when taking the incorrect frequency being displayed into account (9410 KHz should be tuned as 9411KHz, for example).


--- On Wed, 5/14/08, Gary Kinsman wrote:
From: Gary Kinsman
Subject: [ultralightdx] Received E100
To: ultralightdx@...
Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2008, 11:18 PM

Hello all,

I received my E100 from Durham Radio today. It sure is small; it
looks like a shrunken E10 (yes, I have one of those too.)

Overall, I like the radio, but it does have some quirks. For one,
the tuning knob is very sensitive and "jumpy" -- it doesn't always
move in 1 kHz steps (sometimes 0, sometimes 2, sometimes -1). The
E10 does this too.

Also, when tuning from a low MW frequency to a high MW frequency,
there is a "chirpy" sound from the speaker (e.g., if the radio is
tuned to 550 kHz, then it is tuned by the keypad to 1700 kHz, or if
the radio is tuned to 520 kHz and the Down button is pressed to get
to 1710 kHz). Is this sound normal?

I really like the keypad and the 1 kHz tuning step. These are very
hard to find in such a small radio. KFI 640 has a nasty het on the
E100, but tuning to 641 gets rid of it. (Oddly, the DT-220V has no
het on 640.)

The E100 seems to be a little more sensitive than the DT-220V, but
only if the whip antenna is rotated away from the ferrite bar, as
Gary DeBock previously mentioned.

Oddly, the Quantum Q-Stick doesn't work well with the E100; it does
work well with the E10 and the 7600GR.

Regards,
Gary
Gary DeBock
 

Hi Gary,
 
     Your comments on the Durham Radio E100 are pretty typical.  I've had four Durham E100's for alignment, and these all act about the same.  Out of the box, high-band sensitivity is usually very good, but low band is usually anemic.  Low-band alignment (on the loopstick) usually improves the performance, but on two of four radios, I've had to cut plastic mounting brackets to peak the loopstick coil on a 600 kHz signal.
     The chirpy sound is normal--  a digital tuning anomaly shared by the C.Crane SWP and other small digital designs.
     As you noted, the SW antenna on an E100 really needs to be in the vertical position, or AM-band sensitivity will be reduced considerably.  This is true of all E100's.
     The stock ferrite bar on an E100 is really a mediocre flat design, very skimpy on ferrite.  Presumably, this is the reason why a Q-stick doesn't couple up with it very well.  A 7" loopstick transplant (extremely easy to do, by the way) improves performance considerably.  Have fun with your new radio!
 
                                                                                              73,  Gary DeBock
 
 
    



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