[HCDX] the Grundig Eton G5: a major disappointment

[aurel chiochiu <acq@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello !

I'm writing again because we just tested the Grundig Eton G5 receiver and we are highly disappointed... We get overload on every frequency on both LW and MW. It overloads even worse than the Sangean CST-818 rx with local 1450 kHz Arabic station wipping out any signal on 550 in both the DX and LO mode. In LO it is just SLIGHTLY weaker...

I purchased it, because a lot of the interesting LW channels such as Tipaza-252 or Azilal-207 were hammered by local false mixing products between CINF-690, CFAV-1450 and CHUC-1450 on the Sangean CST-818, but with this rx things are only worse. While the 550 RECEIVER-GENERATED spur is poor-strenght using the Sangean CST-818 barefoot, it is SEMI-LOCAL-like with excellent strenght semi-Hi-Fi using the Grundig Eton G5 receiver... I wonder why CHUC the 1450 Arabic station in Le Parc Industriel de Saint-Laurent generates spur on 550 in all the radios in our house (even on a broken Venturer clock radio) WITH THE EXCEPTION of the Sanyo MCD-S830 AM/FM Hi-Fi chain with tape copy and recorder which cleanly receives the weak WEVD Vermont groundwave and skywave from low-power domestic regionals, as well as occasionally YVKE-Venezuela without any 1450 local receiver-generated spur and even better had a TA het on 549. Is there a mathematical formula for a signal on 1450 to appear on 550 d!
 ue to overload concerns ?

We need some advice concerning European LW DXing and a receiver able to cope with strong signals. 

I'm very sad; looks like I can't do too much longwave DXing and I'm sure the fault is the receiver...

What should I do ? We purchased the Eton from Ontario...can we get back and what should we do in order to get it back ?

I'm so disappointed an old Phillips LW/MW transistor from my grandmother got so sadly broken. Aside from having a sentimental value, it hardly suffered any overload, had the dynamic range and the sensitivity just about as good as the Sanyo MCD-S830 portable, if any drawbacks, it was less selective than my Sanyo, but this was hardly a problem on LW, especially on the nearly empty 153-198 kHz section of the band... Of course, the 2002-2003 DX season was full of solar flare, so aside from a threshold unID around 180-185 kHz which I *guessed* was Europe 1, I didn't received anything on LW. Of course with the Loop antenna placed close enough to the receiver's ferrite bar, as I do with the Sangean CST-818, magic things could happen... Maybe it's a God's lesson to finally purchasse an used Drake R8B ?

Is the Drake R8B along with the AOR, the Icom and the Degen the only options for LW DXing ? Is there anything even *SLIGHTLY* cheaper ? I would really like to hear at least 162 and 171 regularly... Now, 171 is badly covered by mixing products on the Eton G5...

Listen, I have severe overload on 150, 171, 180, 210, 252 just 4 kHz above the UL beacon on 248, 550 and several other channels...

On SW and on FM is a different story. It even beats the Sangean CST-818 with Radio Rebelde particularly easy on 5025, but I'm more interested in TA and LAs on LW and MW rather than SW DXing these days...

I have one project in order to calm down my negative thoughts: a research project concerning the best affordable receiver for picking up overseas powerhouses in the 153-279 kHz.

May the good DX bless your receiver and your ears !
Bogdan Chiochiu in Pierrefonds / Montreal, QC, Canada
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