grundig yacht boy 220 review

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Grundig Yotboy yb400pe

• Thread starter jbsarandolphmonitor
• Start date Aug 27, 2004

jbsarandolphmonitor

Air band monitoring jbsa-randolph.

• Aug 27, 2004

Is the Grundig Yotboy yb400pe a good radio? I am thinking about buying one. Donald Harkins  

Maybe ya wanna lookee here for reviews on all kinds of HF radios http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/8 73, Phil  

donhark said: Is the Grundig Yotboy yb400pe a good radio? I am thinking about buying one. Donald Harkins Click to expand...

thank you very much. I will look for a good price on one. Donald Harkins  

• Aug 28, 2004

OR GO WITH THE KAITO 1102 FOR UNDER 100 DOLLARS GREAT RADIO CHEAP SSB RADIO!! GOOD LUCK!  

You could also try www.grove-ent.com . They also carry the Sangean 505p, a similar radio when compared to the Yacht Boy 400 PE.  

• Aug 29, 2004

thanks I will check the site out. Donald Harkins  

Active Member

I don't think you can go wrong with the Yacht Boy 400PE. It's very sensitive, relatively immune to overloading, and it's a nice small package. It does a better job on most frequencies than my RS DX440, which is a pretty good radio but it's the size of a tank compared to my YB. I've seen the YB on sale for as low as $149 and it's a steal at that price.  

I have looked at other radios and I still like the yb400pe. Donald Harkins  

• Aug 30, 2004

I also have a YB 400 PE (have had it since last Christmas). It's a good radio with good sensitivity, and I think it was worth the money. I've lately been using it to monitor the Hurricane Watch Net (14325 kHz) for each hurricane that comes around. It performs decently on SSB but requires patience and practice using the fine tuning knob. It also has very good FM and commercial AM (mediumwave) reception. The internal AM antenna is nearly 6" long, and the telescoping FM/SW antenna is 36" long, plus you can use an external antenna (a ~20ft reel antenna is included). This is my second SW radio (my first was an analog tuning RS DX-397 that I bought a couple of years ago in college).  

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Europe's Premier Medium Wave DX Club

RECEIVER REVIEW: GRUNDIG YB500

This review was compiled independently. The Medium Wave Circle and Radio Netherlands has no financial connection with R.L. Drake, the manufacturer of this receiver.

Reviewers: Jonathan Marks, Diana Janssen, and Willem Bos.

INTRODUCTION

The Yacht Boy 500 appeared in most of the Grundig outlets in Europe in the course of October 1993. In North America the situation was different. Some of the US radio dealers we spoke initially disappointed that Grundig North America gave the exclusive distribution rights in the USA for the Yacht Boy 500 to a mail-order house called Willabee & Ward. Their toll-free number is +1 800 367 4534. In 1997 a salesman there told us the Yacht Boy 500 is still available at US$299. That does indicate though that Grundig in North America has brought some of its prices down to more closely match the competition from the Far East.

This radio was first shown at the Berlin Audio and Video Fair in 1993 and initially caused an impact on the European scene. The receiver offers coverage of FM with the Radio Data System, longwave, medium wave and continuous shortwave coverage from 1611- 30000 kHz. Unlike some of the Yacht Boy series, the 500 is double conversion.

The radio has an enormous number of functions with many of the buttons on the front of the receiver being used to do two or more things. Press a button gets you one function. Pressing and holding a button gives a different result. The display tells you what you’ve selected. We gave this radio to some visually handicapped users who reported they had difficulty setting up menus and accessing the memories without help from a sighted person. Things are not helped by a truly terrible translation of the (quite clear) German language instructions. In 1997 this had not been improved much if you want to get a quick overview of how the set works. Pressing 0 we’re told in the manual gives “passage from the ROM table to the normal memory and back again, with transfer into the tuning memory”. Reception may increase during evening and night hours due to “much more better propagation”. Nevertheless keep the instructions at arms length because unless you make frequent use of the memory and scan functions it is easy to forget the correct button sequence.

RDS FACILITY

Many stations in Europe (and a growing number in North America) now transmit a silent data code with FM signals. If the signal is strong enough the radio decodes the data and puts the name of the station on the display. The radio also knows of any alternative frequencies that many be in use and can check to see if these sound better. There are around 100 stations using RDS in the USA. During tests near Baltimore and Washington DC we noted WHFS with an RDS signal on 99.1 MHz. You can’t use the function for DXing though. Weak signals cause too many errors for any RDS decoder to function properly. We found the FM sensitivity best suited to a European environment. During our tests in Baltimore and Washington DC during November 1993, the unit we had purchased had overloading problems with nearby stations. Retracting the telescopic whip helped if you wanted to listen to stronger FM signals. The set also has a signal strength meter on FM (really designed to optimise the RDS feature) which is useful is getting the angle of the FM whip correct for maximum signal.

The radio works off 4 penlight batteries and consumes around 65 mA at normal listening levels. That’s quite economical. We got around 24 hours of listening on a fresh set of batteries. A dual-voltage mains adapter is supplied and if this is used the audio power of the amplifier is noticeably boosted.

Shortwave tuning is achieved by tapping the desired frequency onto the keypad, or moving up and down the dial in 1 kHz steps. If you hold down the TUNE buttons the steps increase to 5 kHz. This set offers SSB (but not sync detection), and comes complete with 95 major frequencies of 9 international radio stations already programmed into it. A further 40 stations can be put in the memory. A 77 mm loudspeaker gives an adequate sound for the size of the radio, and the bass response can be boosted for pleasant FM listening.

MEDIOCRE SW PERFORMANCE

The single 3.5 kHz bandwidth filter is narrower than most other portables. That gives a distinctive mellow sound to any shortwave signal. But the shape factor of the filter is only fair/poor. At night in Europe the background noise rises considerably as a result of second and third order intermodulation products. The marine band of 1.8 MHz is full of harmonics from the medium wave band. Although it may look sophisticated, the radio is only really designed for reception of the stronger international broadcasters. The Yacht Boy 206 and 207 offered much quieter results on the 49 metre band for instance, with considerably less intermodulation. We had really expected a bandwidth option for a radio in this price range (in North America the cheaper Yacht Boy 400 has this for much less). The Yacht Boy 500’s mellow audio is something you either like or hate. The audio distortion problems in early models have been solved and dealer stocks are only the new versions.

CONCLUSIONS

This is a radio with a lot of functions. If you need simple shortwave performance, we feel the extra frills on the Yacht Boy 500 may be unnecessary and too complicated to use. Once mastered, however, the data bank of pre-programmed stations is handy while travelling and FM audio is great for a radio of this size. In our opinion, shortwave performance is only fair. Results will be better in low signal areas (e.g. US Mid-West and Pacific).

This review first appeared on the Radio Netherlands website.

The SWLing Post

Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, dxing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more.

Georges’ review of the XHDATA D-808

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Georges (F6DFZ), who writes:

After the first information from your wonderful website, I immediately ordered the XHDATA D-808 receiver from Aliexpress for €62 including shipment to France. I got it very quickly, shipped from Amazon UK! I did a few tests on SSB. MDS is outstanding, the minimum signal from my HP generator at -127 dBm (0,1uV), is strong even on 28 MHz. Selectivity is also good, and the opposite sideband rejection is audibly also good. However I was unable to measure it because the S meter give the same indication over a few kHz around the signal of the generator. I suspect the opposite sideband rejection to be done by the DSP chip at AF, but I cannot confirm this. Reception is very good on FM, and the AF from the loudspeaker is reasonable. On headphones, it’s very good. RDS works as it should and sets the clock of the receiver. I did only a few minutes test on LW and MW, and it seemed OK, even if I don’t have a lot of experience on these bands. SW AM listening was very good; good audio, great selectivity. I suspect that the bandwidths given are AF bandwidths as even the most selective were not too much muffled. If it was IF selectivity, the AF bandwidths would have been half the values and much muffled. SSB and CW reception are also very good even if the DSP chip has a long attack time and hence gives distortion during the beginning of each message. About SSB: I think that this receiver is better than the [Tecsun] PL-880 and comparable to the PL-660. Reception is good on the short but sturdy telescopic antenna. If you connect the receiver to a large external antenna, you will encounter many IMD signals. As there is no built-in attenuator, you will need an external one. The manual is correct, but very short about the memories. ATS logs its findings into the first pages, so if you want to keep some memories, log them a few pages away. The available pages are different with bands, FM has its pages, SW its pages etc… Unfortunately, memories don’t keep the mode on SW–only the frequency and selectivity. After calling a memory, you will have to choose between AM, USB and LSB. I was totally unable to light the “Preset” label on the display ?!? Display and backlighting are very nice. Somewhat odd, but the squelch seems to work sometimes on other bands than Air band ! Ergonomics are reasonable, quality of construction is good for the price. Overall, for the price, this receiver is quite outstanding. Best regards from France . Georges F6DFZ

Thank you, Georges! Excellent thoughts on the D-808.  Your note about squelch control working outside the AIR band reflects what the Digitech AR-1780 does as well–hinting that firmware is very similar.

I fully suspect the D-808 is on the path to being one of the best radio values under $100 US.

Merci bien, Georges!

11 thoughts on “ Georges’ review of the XHDATA D-808 ”

I also got my radio via AliExpress (for 79$, including shipping to Hungary, in July 2020). Just have just one remark to improve this radio listening: The radio has a quite big speaker (in diameter is approx 7cm), almost the maximum which can be mounted into chassis but sounds like a cheap receiver. The reason is the output capacitor. If we consider the speaker as an 8ohm resistor, with the 100uF/10V original subminiature capacitor the cutoff frequency is approx 200Hz. The used capacitor is a very cheap model with poor parameters (high dissipation factor and high ESR). I changed both of them with a 470uF/6.3V Nichicon Fine Arts type, and now the cutoff is at 42Hz, but the music on FM, especially with headphones is brave! – also via speaker is much better. Try this modification, and you will be surprised by this improvement in sound quality.

Is the Digitech the same radio just under a different brand? I’m interested in the CB radio listening sometimes and will tune the bands to hear local traffic since my portable is more sensitive and has better DSP than my CB radio but would like to squelch the static to save battery and listening to noise during long breaks between transmissions. Do you know if the Squelch can work on shortwave on all D-808 radios or is it only some and is a firmware bug like making the Degen 1103 tune VLF and use the whip/antenna jack for it?

I got my receiver shiped from China before they cut off United States Sales. I have many friends who really like the receiver but now ate unable to but it. Why have all the sellers refused to ship to the united states, these include Amazon UK, Ebay UK, and the orginal Chinese Seller What is going on here. Why no US sales?

Joe, you can try to choose country of deleivery “Guam”, that is serviced by USPS, but write your actual address and zip code. It’ll be redirected to your home when it reach USPS.

From what I heard on Radio Jay Allen it is because this radio is the C Crane Skywave SSB. The supplier made agreement to only sell outside USA. They managed to get in because someone from Israel I believe shipping them in. Though now you can get them on eBay and Amazon again thankfully as well as the Alibaba/express. I just need to figure out if the squelch will work on HF so I can use for local CB and HAM HF traffic.

I will agree with you on all findings. What I am afraid of: will this crowd out all others in the comparable portables in the race to the bottom? It’s specs are good but I don’t like gaps in the coverage (450 to 520 Khz) ,(018-118 Mhz), and the ergonomics leave a lot to be desired. Also this is a power hog. I have to recharge the battery (Lion 2000mah) on a daily basis. My pen cell radios about every week or 2. For $69 I am not dissatisfied, not about to return it if I could but not elated. Maybe this is a stepping stone to better user interface.

Thank you Edward! I thought I was the only person on earth not thrilled with this radio. I would give it a very high grade for sensitivity (once you get around the mute on tuning) but a VERY low grade on user friendliness. Thankfully I got a $10 discount and that helped. I wouldn’t return it if I could but it’s just in the box in a drawer. There are SO many better choices out there for the money.

This is odd. When I got mine I made a battery endurance test and it ran continuously for remarkable 32 hours, 14 of them with the backlight on. I suspect you got a faulty 18650 or something.

The problem is not when the radio is ON, but when it is OFF (sleep mode). Mine discharges a fully charged battery completely in 3 days with the radio OFF. Terrible design and there is nothing you can do about it. Contacted the seller and they said that since I was the first to mention this problem, all they could do was to let me test one of their future products. When I asked to send the radio back for a replacement, they did not even reply. Some customer service!

BTW, in case you are wondering, I tested this with three different kinds of batteries, so I am certain the problem is not with the batteries.

Great review, Georges. The number of portable multiband radio reviewers that use a signal generator to actually do a receiver sensitivity test is just about zero. Congratulations, my friend! I would be happy to note some exceptions to this rule if there were any. Did you terminate sig gen RF output with 50 ohms load for your test? This means a lot.

I have noticed the same selectivity issue with other radios using DSP bandwidth filtering (including Tecsun and Eton (Grundig) radios. These bandwidth settings have little effect on receiver selectivity. The outsider in modern DSP portables in this respect is the much higher priced Sangean ATS-909X. This is a Taiwan-designed radio. Sangean wisely passed on the DSP filter capability of the US Silicon Labs chip in favor of proven performance from more expensive and older-tech Japanese muRata IF ceramic filters. Kudos to them.

The two muRata filters on my 2015 909X are IF filters for 4 and 6 kHz. These two ceramic filters alone offer selectivity options far superior to the 2, 2.5, 3, 4 and 6 kHz settings on my Eton Grundig Edition Satellit (about $115 USD on eBay right now). Both radios offer additional settings for SSB. But, the DSP filters do seem to act more like AF filters on the Chinese radios which struggle with any relatively strong SW signals located 5 kHz or closer to the tuned frequency. I believe that all Chinese-designed multiband portables (including Tecsun) all suffer from the same problems because they rely on blind acceptance of the Silicon Labs DSP chip. The choice to make in Chinese radios is for better speaker sound, better internal shielding, better QC and build quality. The rest is all the same.

It is difficult to do accurate receiver sensitivity measurement due to the action of AGC. Accurate sensitivity measurements require that the receiver be operated without AGC, that is, with AGC shut off or bypassed. The high Z antenna input for most multiband portables will do quite nicely for most receiver antennas regardless of impedance.

So, yes. Choose as you will from the wide range of $100 multiband traditional portables. They are all pretty much the same Chinese-designed and built radios with a few rare exceptions.

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Reviews For: Grundig Yachtboy 400

Category: receivers: general coverage, email subscription.

Category:	Receivers: General Coverage
Product:	Grundig Yachtboy 400
Summary:
Rating: Time Owned: eHam.net Vision Statement To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of what’s happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. . The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. grundig yacht boy 100 299 IMAGES GRUNDIG YACHT BOY 220 Probando radio GRUNDIG YACHT BOY 220 Yacht-Boy 220 Radio Grundig Radio-Vertrieb, RVF, Radiowerke, build Grundig Yacht Boy 220 Yacht-Boy 220 Radio Grundig Radio-Vertrieb, RVF, Radiowerke, build Yacht-Boy 220 Radio Grundig Radio-Vertrieb, RVF, Radiowerke, build VIDEO Grundig Yacht Boy 500 vs Grundig Yacht Boy 400 real test in the 40m SSB band Grundig yacht boy 300.MP4 Grundig Yacht Boy 10 on LW Probando radio GRUNDIG YACHT BOY 220 Grundig Yacht Boy 222 Grundig Yacht Boy 1965/66 COMMENTS Yacht-Boy 220 Radio Grundig Radio-Vertrieb, RVF ... Yacht-Boy 220 Radio Grundig Radio-Vertrieb, RVF, Radiowerke, build 1986, 22 pictures, 11 schematics, 27 semiconductors, Germany, tubes, Broadcast Receiver. Devices. Search Schematic Finder Schematics Requested Manufacturer Countries Audio New Pictures. Components. Search Best Tube Pics New Tube Pics. Copper Talk: Short Wave Radio reviews The Grundig YB 400 'Yacht Boy' and YB 400 PE Review By Tech833 Introduced nearly 10 years ago, the Grundig YB 400 hit the shortwave receiver market filling a niche that did not yet truly exist. For a long time, you had full coverage large receivers and you had small feature-poor portables. My Grundig Yacht-Boy 220 My Grundig Yacht-Boy 220 - 12 Bands - built in 1986 - works fine Reviews For: Grundig Yachtboy 400 Time Owned: more than 12 months. I have had my Yachtboy 400 since 2003; bought refurbished from Universal Radio for $99.00. I have used this radio at home and camping, with internal and external antennas, on MW, FM and SW bands; this radio has been great. It performs well beyond the expectations of a $99.00 radio. Grundig Yotboy yb400pe Aug 29, 2004. #9. I don't think you can go wrong with the Yacht Boy 400PE. It's very sensitive, relatively immune to overloading, and it's a nice small package. It does a better job on most frequencies than my RS DX440, which is a pretty good radio but it's the size of a tank compared to my YB. RECEIVER REVIEW: GRUNDIG YB400 The Yacht Boy 400 was launched at the end of 1993 in North America. In fact at £105 across Europe, the Yacht Boy 400 turns out to be a great value package. Our example is clearly made for Grundig in the Peoples' Republic of China. Grundig has designed the unit and supervised the quality control. The Yacht Boy 400 looks like many travel ... Grundig YB-220 Radio Receiver, Grundig YB220 Grundig YB-220 LW/AM/FM/SW Radio. Discontinued! Replaced by the YB-230. Please check our Used List. Discontinued Portable Shortwave Receivers Larger View. The Grundig Yacht Boy 220 covers longwave 140-290 kHz, AM 515-630 FM bands plus it has nine shortwave bands: 3.9-4, 5.95-6.2, 7.1-7.4, 9.5-9.9, 11.65-12.05, 13.6-13.8, 15.1-15.6, 17.55-17.9 ... Reviews For: Grundig Yachtboy 400 It's little portable that costs less than $200 and performs brilliantly in its intended use. I've owned my Grundig Yacht Boy 400 since 1996 and still use it frequently --mostly as a travelling companion. It's a darned good little radio. Its noise floor is low and selectivity and sensitivity amazingly high. Reviews For: Grundig YACHT BOY (Porsche) P 2000 Review Summary For : Grundig YACHT BOY (Porsche) P 2000. Reviews: 14. MSRP: 99.00. Description: Sterling silver World Receiver designed by F. A. Porsche. Frequencies and SW bands can be directly keyed in. 2 international times are adjustable. 14.2 x 9.2 x 3.5 cm small and 330 g light. (without batteries). Grundig Yacht Boy 220 Bench Therapy is live the first Saturday at 10:30 Pacific/13:30 Eastern/18:30 GMT of every month - except January.You can access the live stream directly her... RECEIVER REVIEW: GRUNDIG YB360 The Grundig Yacht Boy 360 is slightly larger than the SW40 at 178 by 120 by 40 mm and it is heavier, 598 grams including six penlight batteries that snap into the back. The radio comes complete with a simulated leather carrying case and a book about shortwave written by Deutsche Welle's engineering department. RECEIVER REVIEW: GRUNDIG YB500 The Yacht Boy 500 appeared in most of the Grundig outlets in Europe in the course of October 1993. In North America the situation was different. Some of the US radio dealers we spoke initially disappointed that Grundig North America gave the exclusive distribution rights in the USA for the Yacht Boy 500 to a mail-order house called Willabee & Ward. Reviews For: Grundig Yachtboy 400 The Grundig likes 6 of them compared to the ATS-606 room for three, but the Yacht Boy has a better battery lifespan. Sound. No question the YB400 sounds better from the larger speaker, but the Sangean is much clearer because it's flat. This is more noticeable in a good pair of headphones. Grundig Radio Boy The first Grundig radio with a ROM table, though 3 basic versions of this set were made: The international version, with SW coverage of 1612-30000 kHz and no ROM table, the "500 Italia" with reduced coverage to meet local legislation, (SW: 3900-26100 kHz, LW 148-302 kHz.) and again, no ROM table, & the "500 Professional", sold only in Germany ... Georges' review of the XHDATA D-808 11 thoughts on " Georges' review of the XHDATA D-808 " Istvan Mihalcz August 22, 2020 at 3:55 pm. I also got my radio via AliExpress (for 79$, including shipping to Hungary, in July 2020). Just have just one remark to improve this radio listening: The radio has a quite big speaker (in diameter is approx 7cm), almost the maximum which can be mounted into chassis but sounds like a cheap ... Reviews For: Grundig Yacht Boy 300 PE Review Summary For : Grundig Yacht Boy 300 PE; Reviews: 5 MSRP: $99.95 US; Description: AM/FM/SW Digital PLL receiver: Product is in production: ... Describe your experience with the Grundig Yacht Boy 300 PE and tell us why you give it the rating you did (required). Other useful information would include your experience with similar products ... grundig yacht boy 205 Yacht-Boy 205. Grundig (Radio-Vertrieb, RVF, Radiowerke) Manufacturer / Brand; Broadcast Receiver - or past WW2 Tuner; Radiomuseum.org ID; alternative name: Grundig ... Reviews For: Grundig Yachtboy 400 Grundig S350 (which is 10X better than the Yacht Boy), a vintage Radio Shack Patrolman CB60, and a cheap COBY. For one thing, with the antenna fully extended, it becomes top heavy and wants to sway (the antenna), and when it sways, the radio pops and crackles, it even pops and cracks with the slightest touch of my finger on the face. grundig yacht boy 100 zum Inhalt springen; shortwaveradio.ch. Benutzer-werkzeuge, webseiten-werkzeuge. Letzte Änderungen; Medien-Manager; Inhaltsverzeichnis. Power supply, accessories ... catamaran gulet motorboat powerboat riverboat trimaran yacht