[BC] In The Sticks with the Receptor Radio

[Mike Erickson]

Actually got a demo at work and have it home.

Tried it a bit at work, in an office, WOR and WADO were fairly clean (very
listenable) but no HD (even though the flashing HD symbol was there.. it did
recover call letters, no digital audio).  This was around 3pm.  Hooked it up
to the outdoor antenna for FM and all locals recovered digital (I would hope
so, this was less than 4 miles from Empire).

Took it to the boondocks.  Have played with it awhile but not yet had a
chance to see it at *home* during the day to evaluate the AM HD.  That will
come Saturday when I can sit down with it.

First of all, my Grundig Majestic 1963 console, GE SuperRadio, Phillips Boom
Box (even an Optimus portable) all put it to shame when you use the supplied
FM "antenna".

My Grundig has a pseudo "T" strapped to the back of the console which has
two barrier screws.  Disconnecting the Grundig leads and using this with a
300-75 ohm converter yielded better results, but the Grundig still performed
much better on its own antenna than the Acoustics.  It was slightly better
than the GE, noticeably better than the Optimus, but, believe it or not, the
Philips Boom Box was still slightly better at sensitivity.

Selectivity on FM was hands down the best, with the Grundig a second.
However, the noise floor on the Acoustics is troublesome.  In blended mono,
it was about as noisy as my Philips boom box in stereo on weak stations.
The noise on the Acoustics seems to sound like a processor in the unit
making chatter.  I guess it likes to make music of its own.

As for the HD, from Holbrook LI, using the Grundig "T", only WEZN triggered
HD with alot of fiddling and even that would blend back to analog on
occasion (1-2 bars / 25 miles away / 50kw, but mostly one bar/analog).  None
of the city stations triggered the HD at all (or the RDS).  Only local WALK,
WBLI (both 50kw 2 miles away) and WSHR (6kw 1.5 miles away) triggered 3
bars.  WBZO (9 miles away as the crow flies / 3kw) only triggered 2 bars.
Same for WBAB (10 miles away / 6kw) and WMJC (approx 8 miles away / 3 kw).
None of these stations are HD.

I want to get this on an outside antenna, and will over the weekend, but
have a few comments about indoor use.
1) The supplied antenna hardware is garbage
2) When hooked up to a semi-decent antenna, it performs well for an ANALOG
tuner
3) It has a hard time recovering HD.  You basically have to swamp the front
end to get it to go to digital and STAY digital.
4) This really needs a good outdoor antenna for any realistic and reliable
HD coverage.  How many people (average people, not us) are going to do that
anymore?  Most will want performance out of the supplied hardware.  The
Sangean table radio and Tivoli radio perform OK with the supplied hardware,
this does not.  It is quite deaf.

Also, the AM was in totally muted at night and only open on strong
stations.  A little better with the loop, this will also get an outdoor loop
this weekend.

=Mike Erickson=
W1WHN