Grundig G5 less than spectacular, help needed.

[VECTOR-77]

I had a sony shortwave ICF-sw35 and the shortwave band button broke, Sony refused to fix it and I tried myself but i couldent, so after about a year I went out today and bought a Grundig G5 from radio shack. I really loved this radio when i saw it, so i went and got it. When i got home and tried to use it the FM and MW worked well, though the SW and SSB weren't so great. All I hear is rumbling, the occasional very faint voice and once i hear morse. I scanned 1HZ at a time from 150-30k and didn't find all to much. I tried the standard telescoping antenna and the wire antenna it came with, I also tried the 40Meter band on a homemade antenna which gave me a little more. Im not really sure if its the radio or my apartment, though I did get alot better reception with my sony.


In shortwave radio, I thought grundig/eton made the best stuff, am I wrong?

 

[K2GOG]

I have the E5 (same radio for the most part only badged by Eton) and the verdict is still out on its ability to capture SSB. I hear a good bit of ham activity on 80m with the telescoping antenna and lots of CW on 40m. Automated weather transmissions on 3485 and 8502 come in loud and clear as well as regular BC SW stuff on 49m and 31m in teh night time and early morning EST. I have not heard much as far as USAF and USCG on the normal freqs, but I may just be be missing them (8992, 11175, 13200 and 5696, 8983)

I will say though that the FM and AM BCB reception is superb and I even hear a few beacons on LW (385khz and 270khz) One thing to note though is that I get alot of AM images on LW which is annoying and lots of radio generated CPU noise on the higher end of the SW band around 10m and up.


You may want to check that the DX/LOC switch is set to DX for maximum signal reception or checking the radio against another to make sure you are getting thigns on one radio and not as much on the G5. I have heard sensitivity problems on the G5 and it varies from unit to unit. Maybe you got a bad one. I have noticed this with SW radios before. I had a Radioshack DX-375 that woudl pull in everything but on another unit it was not as sensitive.

Hopefully you can go swap your G5 out if is a little weak in the RX department for a E5.

 

[iMONITOR]

Grundig isn't what they used to be. They're living off their name, rather than building high quality receivers like they used to.

If you want a decent shortwave portable, consider the Sangean ATS-909. Universal Radio has a special going right now, if you buy one, they give you a compact Sangean SR-25V AM/FM/TV radio!

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/portable/1909.html

 

[VECTOR-77]

the fm and MW is really good, but hell I didnt buy the radio for that. I bought it for SSB to hear hams and other stuff. I dont even get Voice of America on this thing. very sad if ya ask me.