wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA (09/07/84)
From: Will Martin -- DRXAL-RI <wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA> I received my Uniden CR-2021 on Friday the 31st, after phone ordering it on Tuesday the 28th from Electronic Equipment Bank. It arrived via UPS in fine shape, well packed in plastic filler. Accessories with it in the box were a chunk of antenna wire (50' or so, insulated, with a spade lug on one end), the AC power cord, a simple and straightforward instruction book, and a sticker showing the frequency ranges of ham and SWBC bands, which the owner has the option of sticking on the radio. No earphone, carrying case or strap, or other manuals or books. I've had a chance to play with it over the holiday and a couple days off, so here's the comparison I promised. Hands-on notes regarding the Uniden CR-2021 portable AM/FM/SW receiver, compared with a Sony ICF-2001 and ICF-7600D (the same as an ICF-2002): Mechanical features: The Uniden CR-2021 has two sets of earphone/external speaker jacks. A mono 1/8" standard earphone jack is the primary one; a plug inserted in this mutes both the speaker and the other jack. The second is a 1/4" jack, equipped to feed a stereo phone plug. This latter is unique in my experience; not only have I never seen a 1/4" jack on an entertainment-type radio (as opposed to a communications receiver), but I was a bit surprised that it was equipped with a stereo-type jack. This means that no adapter is needed to use most hi-fi type headphones. (However, since the mini-headphones with a stereo 1/8" plug are more common nowadays, it is sort of odd that they bothered with a 1/4" jack at all.) One major failing, in my opinion, is that the Uniden has no constant-level recorder-output jack. Both Sonys have this, as does the Panasonic RF-2800/2900 and many other radios these days. I keep a cheapy cassette recorder hooked up to my 2001 all the time, and often record SWL information programs and the like, so that I can take notes later at leisure. Because the Uniden has no such jack, recordings have to use one of the headphone jacks, which mutes the speaker and also requires careful setting of the volume control, plus degrading the signal by passing it through an unnecessary amplification stage. Many cheap cassette recorders have no provision for monitoring an input signal through their own speakers, or bypass their playback volume control and feed it to an earphone jack at a constant level. This makes listening to a signal while recording it much more difficult with the Uniden than with the Sony or other models; you have to use a much more sophisticated recording system than the signal quality warrants. Both Sonys' recorder outputs are at microphone instead of line level, by the way, which is a wise choice; external-mike inputs are more common on simple cassette recorders than are line-level inputs. The Uniden is slightly smaller than the 2001, and very light without batteries installed. (I used it on AC only, and have not yet even tried it with batteries -- it uses six C cells. It, like the 2001, MUST have 2 AA cells installed to operate at all, for microprocessor power. The alkalines in my 2001 have lasted two years so far; they measure near "bad", but still function.) It is still over twice the size of the 2002/7600D of course, but I consider it a "small" radio. Its lightness, if it is upright on a tabletop, causes it to slide away as you press the buttons. The 2001 has a fold-out piece of plastic on its back to facilitate sitting it down at a slight angle, so that it tilts toward the user but button-pressing force is directed downward. You can do a similar action with the Uniden, using the carrying handle as a brace. I prefer the Sony on its back, but the Uniden upright. The 2001 has no handle, but has fittings for a detachable shoulder strap. The 2002 has a non-detachable wrist thong. The Uniden has the aforementioned handle, and no provisions for a strap. The Sony uses an external transformer to feed DC to the 2001 and 2002/7600D; this makes multi-voltage use easy, as you use a "universal" transformer unit or different ones for different markets. The Uniden has its AC power circuits inside, and operates on 120 V only, using a detachable power cord (which looks a lot like the Panasonic standard). When running on AC, the Uniden's dial light is always on when the radio is turned on. The 2001 dial light only shines when a pushbutton is held down. Both have very faint dial lights, which illuminate the LCD display only, from the side, internally. The 2002/7600D has no dial light of any kind, for either the frequency display or the clock. (By the by, only this model has a clock -- the 2001 and the Uniden have none.) Controls: The Uniden's knobs are far better in my opinion than the Sony slide controls. The volume slide pot on my 2001 has gotten extrememly noisy and erratic; contact cleaner doesn't seem to get into it, either through the front cover or even when I disassemble the radio and flood the control directly. Also, I find knobs much easier to fine-adjust than sliders. The only such control on the 2002/7600D is the volume slider, and it has behaved OK so far (but the radio is still new). The 2001 has both bass and treble slide controls; the Uniden has a single "tone" knob -- really a treble control. The Uniden audio is a mite boomy or bassy, and could benefit from a bass cut, but it isn't serious. The 2002/7600D has only a "music/news" tone switch, basically a single-position treble-cut control. I seldom use it. Memories: The Uniden wins here, especially if you listen to both AM/SW and FM extensively. It has six memory buttons, and they function separately on AM and FM. So you can enter six FM stations, switch over to AM and enter six more AM or SW frequencies. (Plus the scan-limit settings are two more memories for AM/SW only, for a total of 8.) The 2001 has six memories and two scan limit settings, but they hold only one frequency, either AM or FM as desired. The 2002/7600D has ten memories integrated with the "digit" keys; if you just hit key "1", you tune what is stored in memory #1. This can be either AM or FM, but again just one frequency. (This latter multiple-use of these keys makes it necessary to have one extra keystroke entered when tuning the 2002/7600D -- you have to hit an "AM" or "FM" key first, before entering a frequency, in order to tell the radio you are inputting a new frequency, not recalling a memory. On the others, with separate entry and memory keys, you enter the frequency digits and hit "execute" with no preliminary keystroke required.) Antenna connector: I prefer the 2001 antenna connector & position. It is a pair of screw terminals on the left side, easily reached with an alligator clip for rapid attachment/detachment of an external antenna. The Uniden is similar, but the screws are on the back panel and harder to reach. The 2002/7600D uses a 1/8" mini-jack, tip being antenna and sleeve ground. I fabricated an adaptor out of an old earphone cord with a molded-on plug and put a little aligator clip on the tip wire for easy external-antenna connection. (Sony provides a really weird screw-terminal to mini-plug adaptor for this purpose, but I don't think much of it.) Using the jack is a poorer chice than screw terminals, but the tiny size of the radio and its probable use justifies this decision, I guess. Keys: The Uniden has slightly-soft-to-the-touch rubberoid keys; the Sonys have hard plastic. The Uniden's keys wobble slightly as you press them -- it's an odd feel. The 2001 has a raised bump on the number "5" key to let you feel where your hand is on the keypad in the dark, or for blind users. The Uniden doesn't have this. However, the "give" to the Uniden's keys is supposed to help eliminate the key failure that plagued the 2001, and will be worthwhile if this is the effect. Performance: Scanning: The Uniden is more flexible than the 2001; it has user-selectable scan rates of 1 kHz and 3 kHz for AM, and 50 kHz and 100 kHz for FM. These affect both the auto-scan function and the manual tuning controls. (In manual, you can also move in 10 kHz and 30 kHz jumps when the "fast" key is held down [it seems to have no effect in FM].) These settings are independent in AM and FM -- that is, setting it in FM doesn't affect what you had set in AM. On the 2001, tuning is fixed at 1 kHz (or 10 kHz on "fast") steps; the automatic scanning always is in 3 kHz steps. In the 2002/7600D, the scanning and tuning is in 5 kHz steps on SW; a switch in the battery compartment selects US 10 kHz or foreign 9 kHz steps for medium wave. You can scan the whole FM band with the Uniden, but you can't set scan limits in FM. (You can set FM scan limits on the 2001; both AM and FM scan parameters are factory-fixed on the 2002/7600D.) Auto-stop on scan is idiosyncratic on both the 2001 and Uniden. The function seems to have died on my 2001, for that matter -- either a dirty switch or an internal adjustment may be at fault. Even when it worked, it was hard to predict when it would decide to stop a scan; sometimes it passed by strong signals, other times it would stop when it hit their fringes. The Uniden acts about the same. (The 2002/7600D scans but doesn't stop; it just scans slower over strong signals.) SSB Tuning: The 2001 is far better at this than the 2002/7600D, and the Uniden is somewhat better still. The round knob is easier to fine-tweak than the 2001's thumbwheel. There is no calibration on the Uniden knob, though -- the 2001 does have kHz markings, though the zero setting is off anyway (I have instructions for fixing this but never really wanted to start mucking about with the alignment trimmers). I had no trouble tuning in SSB ham signals on the Uniden right after plugging it in. Selectivity: The Uniden outperforms both the 2001 and 2002 in this area. For example, in trying to listen to HCJB on 9745 kHz on the 2001, the signal was degraded with slop from Radio Canada on 9755. With the "wide" filter on, the Uniden received the desired signal with much less slop -- with the narrow filter switched in, the slop was barely noticeable. The 7600D/2002 fell in between these two models -- better than the 2001, but not as good as the Uniden. Sensitivity: All three seem equivalent when hooked to longwires. For example, I was trying to hear a BBC program at 1430 GMT Sunday, and the only frequency with any signal coming in at all was 21660 kHz. All three models delivered an essentially-unlistenable signal. The 2001, running on AC and hooked to a longwire; the 7600D, running on battery and hooked to the same longwire; and the Uniden, running on AC and hooked to a different (shorter) longwire -- all about the same. Interestingly enough, I then tried my "big" radio, a Galaxy R-530, with an antenna tuner and a preamp hooked to a somewhat longer longwire, and got WORSE reception! I could detect a carrier with the BFO on, but no audio came through. The three portables delivered at least an occasional word through the noise. FM Performance: My standard test for FM is to tune the "educational" FM band, 88-92 MHz. We have a C&W powerhouse station (WIL-FM) on 92.3 MHz that generally swamps everything below it on the dial when an external antenna (not optimized for FM, like a SW longwire) is connected to the radio in question. There are a couple nearby or fairly powerful educational stations that always come in OK, but I try tuning for stations over in Illinois (I'm in St. Louis, MO) or low-power college stations. If a radio picks these up clearly despite WIL, its good. (The best one I've found so far is the GE Superradio II, model 7-2885.) Anyway, using the whip antenna alone, the Uniden was able to pick up several FM educational signals listenably. After the longwire was connected, it still picked up most of these and was NOT swamped by WIL! This is quite a bit better than the 2001, which swamps without a longwire, and also better than the 2002/7600D, which required careful whip antenna positioning to pick up the station at all, and which swamped with WIL when I connected the longwire. Also, the 2002/7600D could only pick it up when operated on batteries; signal coupling through the AC mains power supply made clear reception of this station impossible through the overload. The Uniden was working fine with AC power during this test. General overall rating of Uniden: A good buy at $100. The only disappointment is the lack of a recorder output. This could be added fairly simply, I suppose, but would void the warranty. This has probably told you far more than you wanted to know, so I shall cease. Regards, Will Martin ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin
Bristol.henr@XEROX.ARPA (09/18/84)
After reading your review on the Uniden CR-2021, I bought one from National Tower Company (913/888-8864), which has the unit for $89. I called them and recieved the unit in 3 days. Shipping from Shawnee, Kansas to Upstate New York was only $2.65. My own observations on the unit's operation is that it seems to do very well. The whip antenna on the radio is impressive. I have tried the wire, ran it up the flag halyard on my sailboat, and that works even better as one might expect. I look forward to better antenna arrangements. Thanks Will for review and Trow.pa for the better price. Bob