Grumpy Old Radio Guys?

[ditto1958]

Why do reviews and discussions of radio receivers so often seem to be negative?

I’m enjoying my newfound radio hobby, but I have a lot I want to learn. I have looked to reviews and discussions on forums and YouTube for help in choosing receivers to buy and I’ve noticed it’s hard for a newbie to tell what is good.

With most other things I have encountered in life that people review, such as cameras, musical instruments, cooking equipment, books, firearms, movies, restaurants, the product generally works, and reviewers talk about how it compares to other similar things. If you buy a car, a guitar, a shotgun, a book… It’s unusual for it to just not do what it’s supposed to do. So the reviews have a lot of positives.

Every radio I have ever purchased in my life (I’m 66) has switched on and worked. Some have sounded better than others, some have been more sensitive than others, but they work, they are radios. Read a radio review, though, and it often sounds as though the thing is a worthless piece of crap. Why? Are “radio guys” mostly all grumpy curmudgeons?

 

[pb_lonny]

Generally you will only hear about the really "good" and "bad" radios (and in general). I have also noticed the same, radio people generally will be negative, they always want the perfect radio for no $$$.

 

[mmckenna]

Are “radio guys” mostly all grumpy curmudgeons?

Yes, especially with the hobby stuff. 100%.

Nothing is as good as their favorite radio from the 1970's. Nothing will ever compare. Everything is crap. Get off my lawn, kid!

Other side of this is that if you ever write your own review of a radio on QRZ.com, you'll get f-ing attacked by those that don't agree with you. They will tear you a new one because they don't agree, and no one is ever allowed to disagree with them.

Reviews are opinions, nothing more, nothing less. Find a radio that works for you and enjoy it. Ignore the haters.

 

[bearcatrp]

Opinions are like butt holes. Everyone has one and they all stink!

 

[W2SOX]

I’ve experienced that there’s a lot of great guys in the radio world and a lot of self proclaimed geniuses. Being a young guy in the hobby I’ve learned to listen to even the people I know are probably not worth my time but the funny thing is they’ve taught me quite a bit, because I often take what they say with a grain of salt.

My favorite part of radio is doing more with less and that makes some people upset

 

[N1XDS]

In my time in the hobby I met nice people and some jerks who think they know everything and they have an answer for everything about whatever they think they know everything about. When I lived in Tennessee at the time there was a young gentleman who had slow learning disabilities who talked on the local frequency/repeater to some of the other locals and another repeater owner allowed his group of friends hassle the young man cause he spoke with an slow speech impediment they kept on and on and on towards the young man until one of the local ham's told the guy who was being a major jerk to shut his mouth.

I don't see the point of some people acting like this towards others on the radio I think its really stupid dumb thing to do but like what they say you can't fix stupid.

 

[pb_lonny]

Yes, especially with the hobby stuff. 100%.

Nothing is as good as their favorite radio from the 1970's. Nothing will ever compare. Everything is crap. Get off my lawn, kid!

Other side of this is that if you ever write your own review of a radio on QRZ.com, you'll get f-ing attacked by those that don't agree with you. They will tear you a new one because they don't agree, and no one is ever allowed to disagree with them.

Reviews are opinions, nothing more, nothing less. Find a radio that works for you and enjoy it. Ignore the haters.

Over the years I have written a lot of reviews on various scanners and have had more than a few people contact me to disagree with various parts of my reviews (as is their right). What I find the most interesting, is that often it is "operator error" and not an issue with the radio itself.

When the EDACS network was first setup here and then trunk trackers become a thing, I worked out and then documented how to program the UBC245XLT and UBC780XLT to trunk this. I had people email me, because they could not get them to work, in 99% of cases, they were either not following the instructions I provided or trying to listen to a site that was too far away from them. Often they would argue with me about it...

 

[WX9RLT]

Why do reviews and discussions of radio receivers so often seem to be negative?

Probably based on personal experiences.

However, I found out that some do it for $, others are biased, and some are just plain karens.
I learned to research the persons profile and read their other activity.
To see if it which it was based off of.

Most the time, its based on personal experiences.

 

[Abies]

Yes, especially with the hobby stuff. 100%.

Nothing is as good as their favorite radio from the 1970's. Nothing will ever compare. Everything is crap. Get off my lawn, kid!

Other side of this is that if you ever write your own review of a radio on QRZ.com, you'll get f-ing attacked by those that don't agree with you. They will tear you a new one because they don't agree, and no one is ever allowed to disagree with them.

Reviews are opinions, nothing more, nothing less. Find a radio that works for you and enjoy it. Ignore the haters.

There are a couple of phenomena here, regarding online discussions of electronics (cameras, radios, whatever) that can be relevant.

One is the brand/model fanboy who can't take any criticism of their idol. The other is the person who just spent good money for a new unit and doesn't want to hear that they made a bad decision. Either type may explode with outrage if you accidentally push their button with your honest comments. That's not your fault.

 

[rf_patriot200]

Some of us are "Purists" and some not. I love my 991A to death, and I'd put it under my pillow at night if it fit, but at the same time I know there are other low band radios, and shack in the boxes out there that would make mine seem deaf !

 

[Boombox]

I've noticed a lot of it over the years, but since online retail took over, a lot of the reviews there -- at least on Amazon, where I've bought my last several SW radios) are actually fairly balanced, maybe because a lot of them aren't posted by hard core DXers.

Yeah, there are some who seem overly critical. For example, some may refer to XHDATA's as "Chinese junk" when some of the least expensive XHDATA's run circles around the average superhet multibander from the 70's through 90's.

DSP has made the difference. Is an XHDATA going to outperform a Perseus or Drake R8? No. But that's not the point of having such a cool little radio.

My reviews of radios usually are mostly positive. I'll discuss limitations, but try to present radios in a positive light, i.e. 'what this can do for you, what its strengths are, and here are its limitations....' rather than rip it apart for what it doesn't do. I'm not the only one out there who has posted such reviews.

There are indeed curmudgeons in the SWL, MW DX, and Ham communities, though. There are in many other hobbies. Go onto an electric guitar forum and ask about what they think of tonewood..... it's usually an instant argument, right there.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Lots of opinions but do you notice the lack of test equipment in the videos?
It's all opinion based on how the radio sounds by ear. No specs... nothing about dynamic range, IMD, image rejection, and the like.
Some of the information may be useful but unless they can produce numbers derived by testing with laboratory grade equipment it's all opinion.

 

[Grunddiigg]

Try Todderbert on YouTube. He seems to be a bit more upbeat on his reviews.

 

[T680]

Try Todderbert on YouTube. He seems to be a bit more upbeat on his reviews.

I was going to mention him. He's pretty thorough, but he tends to like most everything he reviews and makes money off of the sales made through his YouTube channel. He does point out some of the shortcomings but it seems like if he's not enthusiastic about something it's something that others would be more critical of.
The man from South Africa (Andre at SWL) does some pretty thorough comparisons and he's pretty upbeat too. He really loves the hobby and doesn't have any financial interests in what people buy, it feels like he's sharing some good news with friends.

 

[ditto1958]

I was going to mention him. He's pretty thorough, but he tends to like most everything he reviews and makes money off of the sales made through his YouTube channel. He does point out some of the shortcomings but it seems like if he's not enthusiastic about something it's something that others would be more critical of.
The man from South Africa (Andre at SWL) does some pretty thorough comparisons and he's pretty upbeat too. He really loves the hobby and doesn't have any financial interests in what people buy, it feels like he's sharing some good news with friends.

Yes, Todderbert is good, and I really like Andre’s reviews. The radio makers need to send him a bunch of test radios so he can do more reviews.

And I won’t name the channel, but there is one other YouTuber in particular who really comes across as a grumpy old radio guy. Even though he seems to know a lot, his attitude turns me away from his review videos.