I bought a second SFR-59 from K-Mart last week and it seems to be a bit of a turkey compared to my first one I got from Amazon.  The FM band is dead and the sensitivity is not as good as my Amazon SFR.  Using it with my Select-A-Tenna makes it work well enough but running barefoot, the K-Mart SFR is a bit deaf.  Seems  like there is a wide variation of quality with some SRFs.  Luckily, it is only $15 we are talking about, not like fretting over a deaf NRD-505 or something.  Can't complain, as I did get WFLF-540 Orlando on the K-Mart SRF last night, so it is useable, and I didn't buy it for FM DXing.  But a third SRF might be in order as I wanted a back-up.

John Cereghin
Smyrna DE

Hi John,

 

     There is a notorious quality control issue with new SRF-59's, which has been well documented since November.  The main problem is sloppy AM-band alignment at the Chinese factories, which makes the typical new SRF-59 less sensitive than the engineers designed.

 

     I have performed about 50 free SRF-59 alignments for various hobbyists in an effort to correct this problem, and would be happy to align yours also, if you can send it to Gary DeBock, P.O. Box 1313, Puyallup, WA 98371 (with $5 return postage).  The typical SRF-59 gains a major improvement in AM performance, once this alignment is performed.

 

     Our family is taking a 3-day vacation to Grayland, WA starting today, but feel free to send your package anytime, even if I can't respond by email temporarily.

 

                                73,  Gary DeBock