Blackswan73
Active Member
First off a disclaimer. I am not affiliated in any way with Tecsun, its distributors, or any other company. I do not receive free equipment or any other compensation for my reviews. I obtain all my equipment from common retail outlets. Now, on to my initial review. Several factors influenced my decision to purchase the 2200. One major factor was the Grundig was made in mid 2000, and is at EOL. John Kriner, former service manager at Drake purchased Drake’s complete inventory of parts when Drake closed. He was the main supplier for anything Drake, as well as a private service center. John has now retired and his parts inventory is nearly gone. Another factor was the Grundig uses outdated technology. It also lacks several desirable features like a RF gain, and DSP. I already have a 501, and it was equal to the Grundig in performance, but also lacks some rather desirable features for SWL, like a RF gain and signal meter. I started reading the reviews and watching videos when the 2200 was first introduced. At first I was skeptical, thinking it was just a reboot of the Elite/Grundig 750, a inferior analog receiver without DSP. I soon realized I was wrong and this was a new radio in an old case. The specs are the same as the 501, and S-8800, and adds some of the desirable features not found on the former models, like a RF gain and analog signal meter. The performance is as expected, on par with my 501 which I have previously reviewed. The reception on the whip antenna is very impressive, even though the antenna is a foot and a half shorter than the Grundig. The audio is very good with both treble and bass controls. Besides the RF gain it also has the same three step attenuation of the 501. Calibration is also the same as the 501 and afterwards it is spot on. I am disappointed there’s no AGC control, to help with fading, so it does exhibit more fading on weak signals than the Grundig 800. I like the built in MW rotating antenna and I found it works well. I was able to receive WSM midday like it was in the next town. The radio has five usable bandwidths instead of the three on the Grundig, although I feel that widest bandwidth, 6 KHz, is redundant to the next narrow bandwidth of 5 KHz. However a 1 KHz bandwidth is included which is very useful for RTTY, and Morse. I like the semi desktop design that is obviously directly descended from the 800. I has BNC and spring terminals for various external antennas. It also has provisions for external antennas on MW, a feature lacking on most multi band receivers. All in all I like the 2200, and I think it is a worthy successor to my 800.
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