WMartin@SIMTEL20.ARPA (08/28/84)
From: William G. Martin <WMartin@SIMTEL20.ARPA> There has been a lot of interest in the SWL community over the past few years in the new-technology digital PLL type of receiver. These are also handy for hams to have as backup receivers; their excellent stability makes SSB reception better than any portable could previously offer. The initial model of this type was the Sony ICF-2001, which Sony has since replaced with the much-smaller ICF-2002 (or ICF-7600D, which is the non-US designation). The 2002 has some SSB receeption problems and only reads out to the next-lowest 5 kHz step when tuning the HF spectrum. If you don't need its extreme compactness, the earlier model is in may ways superior. After Sony discontinued the 2001, essentially the same radio has been being produced (with minor cosmetic differences) as the Radio Shack Realistic DX-400 and the Uniden CR-2021. R-S has been listing the DX-400 at $300, but the Uniden model has been widely available at steadily- dropping prices from many mail-order SWL and ham equipment houses. It had plateaued at the $150 level for a while, but news has just come out of an abrupt price cut. The radio is NOT discontinued or closed-out; the seller is trying a much-lower price to increase the volume. This was revelaed this weekend in Larry Magne's receiver test report on Radio Canada International's "SWL Digest" program. Magne does the receiver reviews for the World Radio-TV Handbook, and is widely respected for technical competence. He mentioned, while reviewing a rather run-of-the-mill portable from Kenwood (the R-11, OEM'd to them by Toshiba), that the people that ran Electronic Equipment Bank in Virginia were going to be selling the Uniden CR-2021 at $99.95, lower than the price of this analog-readout portable he was reviewing. He called this "an incredible bargain", and predicted that this would cause a major shake-up in the marketing of portable SW receivers. I have just ordered a CR-2021 for myself this morning. I would have ordered it yesterday, but EEB is closed Mondays. The price is really $99.95; UPS shipping is $4. The address and phone is: Electronic Equipment Bank 516 Mill St., NE Vienna, VA 22180 800-368-3270 or 703-938-3350 Hours are 10-5 Tues, Wed, Fri; 10-9 Thurs; 10-4 Sat. Closed Sun & Mon. If you want to see what this receiver is like before ordering one, drop in a local Radio Shack and look at a DX-400. The cosmetics are slightly different; the Uniden has an LED signal-strength indicator while the R-S model has a tiny meter. Both have similar controls, LCD readout, keypad push-button frequency entry, and operate on both AC and internal batteries. I hope this is of interest and help to the readers of Info-Hams and net.ham-radio; I doubt that normal advertising channels will get this information available for months! Regards, Will Martin -------
parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (08/31/84)
The Uniden CR2021 (aka Radio Shack) was offered for sale for $99.95
at several northen Illinois hamfests this summer.
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Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1g!parnass - (312)979-5414
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