Post date: Aug 17, 2010 3:22:23 PM
Well it has been a quiet 4 months radio wise but there is some progress! I have managed to keep up my CW practice and reading it's just operating which has been hard to get to.
I decided I needed a new HF portable receiver to get some live CW practice when I had a minute, my old ATS 505 had never really bee up to the job and has been retired into the family FM radio.
The radio I decided upon was the Degen 1103. Priced at £32 with £14 postage and packing, it is only available via ebay (tquchina was my supplier). For the price this is a fantastic radio and, to be honest, if I had payed double I would have been happy.
I started looking out for a 2nd hand receiver on ebay and all the usual models turn up: Sony, Grunding, Eton, Sangean etc. but I noticed some others namely Tecsun and Degen. After a little investigation it turns out these are reasonably specified radios.
The Degen 1103 is a dual conversion 100kHz - 30MHz AM/SSB/CW receiver with FM from 76 -108MHz. for HF there is a narrow filter setting and 1kHz tuning rate. The radio has surpassed my expectations and now I am back to my roots as a jobbing SWL and can listen to CW with pleasure - it is sensitive and selective and I find it very easy to use - it is also very small.
I will write a review for EHAM - GUD DX!