Eton Elite Executive Purchased

[air-scan]

This morning I purchased the Eton Elite Executive at Amazon. It'll be my first shortwave receiver with actual selection between upper and lower sidebands. I also like that the display characters are lit which makes it easier to read. I seen reviews that it works well. I hope I made the decision was great. I saw other choices with SSB like the CCrane Skywave SSB, Tecsun PL600,660, 880 and 990, and Sangean ATS909X (over $300usd!). Tecsun doesn't ship Amazon Prime and the CCrane SSB was out of stock. I am a little impatient when shipping is concerned. That was a factor in my decision.

My RadioShack 2000629 is working but it eats through AA batteries like wild fire. I have a Radiwow R108 but it has no
SSB. My Tecsun PL-600 has awful SSB audio. I want to keep on shortwave listening ham radio, EAM's and some decoding of WEFAX and other modes so SSB is a must.

I am not gooing to complain about $195 usd price at Amazon. They have stock of this radio. Eton Corp says out of stock please check Amazon.

I hope I will be pleased.

 

[majoco]

air-scan said:

My Tecsun PL-600 has awful SSB audio.

My Tecsun PL-600 has very good SSB audio once you preset the bfo control against WWV.

 

[GB46]

My Tecsun PL-600 has very good SSB audio once you preset the bfo control against WWV.

I wonder if the OP meant that his PL-600's audio characteristics are poor (e.g. distortion, bass vs. treble, etc.) or that the voice pitch is off (due to inaccurate tuning). With my Sangean ATS-909X I've noticed quite a difference in the audio characteristics in comparison with the R75 on the same station when the voice pitch is properly adjusted on both radios. What I mean is that the audio on the R75 sounds smoother and more natural, whereas on the Sangean there's an edge to it, so that it sounds a lot crisper. Maybe that's due to the Sangean's DSP circuitry, but that's not objectionable, because it seems to actually make weak signals more intelligible.

 

[a29zuk]

Congrats on your new receiver!

I also think the AM & SSB audio are excellent on the PL-600. It's a little harder to tune but once it's zeroed in it sounds great.

Everyone's ears are different or there are slight differences in DSP chips.

Jim

 

[air-scan]

My PL-600 doesn't have the resistor 'mod' in it. Also my PL-600 is off frequency by 1 khz.. Every AM SW station I tune into i see a stronger signal 1 khz down from where it should be. Yes I am knocking the PL-600. Tecsun should have done better.

 

[joncleve]

My Sangean ATS-909X is exactly the same, off frequency by 1khz. It's only noticeable on SSB.

 

[a29zuk]

Overall, for the price, I am pleased with the PL-600. My only disappointment is the sensitivity on the AM(broadcast band). For daytime listening it doesn't cut it. I kind of knew this when I bought it though, after reading the eham.net reviews.

I use the Sangean PR-D15 or the Palstar R30 for bcb listening.

Jim

 

[air-scan]

It has arrived and it sounds great. Now I have to learn it. I test it on 20 meters usb and wowwwwwww puts my pl-600 in the dirt as far as SSB audio.

 

[GB46]

My Sangean ATS-909X is exactly the same, off frequency by 1khz. It's only noticeable on SSB.

My 909X is usually no further off than +/- 40 hz., which can be corrected by a click of the dial in the fine tuning mode, although sometimes it's dead on frequency. My R75 isn't always exactly on frequency, either, judging by SSB signals and also by zero-beating WWV. The error comes to roughly +/- 30 hz, but I don't have the tools or technical knowledge to align it properly. I'd probably only make matters worse, so I simply fine tune the station if necessary.

 

[air-scan]

Nice bandwidth. I tuned to the local 10m beacon 28.288MHZ cw frequency here in Oklahoma City and set the bandwidth to 500hz cw sounded so good! I can't read cw but it is nice for someone who can copy cw. bandwidth range 500hz to 4 khz.

I put in a good set of 4 Ni-MH 1300MAH rechargeable Duracell batteries and let it run 11 hours straight overnight woke up and checked the battery level reading and it showed still full. I allow the backlight to turn off on its own which is in about 10 seconds or so. How much longer till drained?

Tuning feel right. Pushing in the tuning knob to change tuning speed feels firm. This seems to be from a improved batch from the manufacturer.

I am comprehending this radio quickly. It's acclaimed by some to be "complicated". If all you're doing is changing frequency and bandwidth there isn't a lot to learn. If you're storing frequencies into memory the ATS makes that simple.

Single Sideband works like a charm. True SSB. I can tunes to a 80m LSB active frequency and hear them fine. So I test it to see if it is true SSB. I switch it to USB then the hams go poof. Turn it back to LSB then they come back. I haven't heard any SSB splatter from any hams too close in frequency yet. Nice!

80m band conditions weren't very good last night because I heard those hams there say the band went long and they were having a hard time hearing their usual contacts.

This radio can perform good on just 10 ft of wire.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Overall, for the price, I am pleased with the PL-600. My only disappointment is the sensitivity on the AM(broadcast band). For daytime listening it doesn't cut it. I kind of knew this when I bought it though, after reading the eham.net reviews.

I use the Sangean PR-D15 or the Palstar R30 for bcb listening.

Jim

If you can inductively couple an antenna to your 600 you will think you suddenly got a new radio.
Otherwise, yup, the PR-D15 is the better AM BCB machine.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Nice bandwidth. I tuned to the local 10m beacon 28.288MHZ cw frequency here in Oklahoma City and set the bandwidth to 500hz cw sounded so good! I can't read cw but it is nice for someone who can copy cw. bandwidth range 500hz to 4 khz.

I put in a good set of 4 Ni-MH 1300MAH rechargeable Duracell batteries and let it run 11 hours straight overnight woke up and checked the battery level reading and it showed still full. I allow the backlight to turn off on its own which is in about 10 seconds or so. How much longer till drained?

Tuning feel right. Pushing in the tuning knob to change tuning speed feels firm. This seems to be from a improved batch from the manufacturer.

I am comprehending this radio quickly. It's acclaimed by some to be "complicated". If all you're doing is changing frequency and bandwidth there isn't a lot to learn. If you're storing frequencies into memory the ATS makes that simple.

Single Sideband works like a charm. True SSB. I can tunes to a 80m LSB active frequency and hear them fine. So I test it to see if it is true SSB. I switch it to USB then the hams go poof. Turn it back to LSB then they come back. I haven't heard any SSB splatter from any hams too close in frequency yet. Nice!

80m band conditions weren't very good last night because I heard those hams there say the band went long and they were having a hard time hearing their usual contacts.

This radio can perform good on just 10 ft of wire.

Sounds like a nice radio... good to hear that you are pleased with it.

 

[majoco]

Before everyone leaps in and tells how it is with their radio on SSB, we have to make sure that the transmitting station is spot on frequency too. Any HF aircraft band ground station, MWARA or VOLMET will be on frequency, and more modern aircraft will hopefully be too - Milair ground stations too. HF and BC band broadcast stations are known to have 'offsets' from their published frequencies but only a few cycles. WWV, WWVH and CHU are spot on too of course. Amateurs have no such constraints, they can choose any frequency they like in their bands - even 'nets' on say 3650kHz wander around as some don't know what "RIT" means so they make the other guys transmission sound good by twiddling the big knob but that unfortunately changes the transmission frequency too so everyone else wanders around after him.

OK, so how to preset the BFO? Turn on your radio for a good ten minutes to allow it's frequencies to stabilise. Then tune in WWV or CHU on AM and set the frequency right on, 15,000.000kHz or whatever, best in the evening when signals are strong. Now turn on the BFO or select SSB and turn the BFO knob to zero beat, that is the spot where the tone reduces in frequency to nothing and then rises again out the other side. WWV is handy as it transmits a 400Hz tone so if you select/deselect AM/SSB then the 400Hz tone should not change note. Now make a mark on your BFO knob right in the middle and a mark alongside it on the case - your partner's best pink nail varnish looks cool! Now if you do have to chase an SSB signal you can always find the sweet spot again. Depending on your radio, if their is no USB/LSB switch, then it's likely that the receiver bandwidth is sufficient to cover both modes. If you do have USB/LSB switching then you may have to have two marks on your BFO knob - and another for CW!

Best wishes to all and hoping for a virus-free 2021!

 

[a29zuk]

Glad you are enjoying your new receiver!

If you can inductively couple an antenna to your 600 you will think you suddenly got a new radio.
Otherwise, yup, the PR-D15 is the better AM BCB machine.

Yes, I have already used the Grundig AN-100 with the PL600. I prefer the PR-D5, Palstar R30, or the Drake SPR-4 for BCB.

Jim

 

[air-scan]

Sound is smooth on SSB.

 

[mbott]

A fine radio. Just don't use it outside with polarized glasses. I thought the display went south.

--
Mike

 

[air-scan]

Stronger signals on this one as North America approaches the gray line. Running on AC adaptor this time because I let the radio drain the Duracell 1300mah batteries while I slept. I ran it well over 11 hours. The AC adaptor is 6v 500mah doesn't run hot feels cool when I place my hand over it. No noticeable AC hum. Can this radio be considered a 'premium' portable? It doesn't strike me as cheap albeit $195 at Amazon.

 

[MarkyM]

Nice radio!
It is supposed to be excellent on FM as well. Do you know if it has selectable 50us or 75us FM de-emphasis like the Tecsun PL-330?

 

[mbott]

There is no explicit setting for de-emphasis that I can find, however there are 4 different FM frequency ranges and it's quite possible that de-emphasis is selected based on the range chosen.

Would probably require in inquiry to Eton to be sure.

--
Mike

 

[MarkyM]

OK, thank you Mike.

That would make sense.

—Mark—