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Tech808
Moderator
Username: Tech808
Post Number: 5260
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2005 - 8:19 am: | 
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Grundig Satellit 800 Millennium Short-Wave Radio Review
Review By
Tech833
Review
Since the very early 1960's, Grundig has been building radio receivers with shortwave capability in them. Most Grundig radios of yesterday were tube type designs built in Germany with a large, tight wood case, with beautiful faded edge piano quality finishes and really big sound. Naturally, the build quality was some of the best and most robust of all the European radios ever produced. Grundig built a name of quality and stellar performance, rivaling almost all others produced at the time.
Grundig disappeared in the 1970's for a time and resurfaced in the late 1980's with some ho-hum products. Despite high quality and good performance, Grundig still did not have a flagship model to elevate their status to a SW radio leader, and they shuffled along with units of mediocre appeal and limited size to match the other consumer radios they were competing with. In the late 90's Grundig released the Satellit series, which were designed to become the flagship Grundig models boasting high
performance (as if their other models were not?) and larger physical sizes to 'look' more serious.
Today, the Grundig Satellit 800 is the top of the line model from Grundig, and with a huge cabinet, it is difficult for consumers to believe otherwise. Featuring the largest cabinet in 30 years of Grundigs, and rumored to have
the highest performance ever from Grundig, the Satellit 800 leaves no doubt that Grundig had their hearts in the right place when they set out to create a new flagship.
The Satellit 800 is large, at 21 inches wide and nearly 10 inches high, it does not resemble their other portables. Why do I say their 'other' portables? Believe it or not, the Satellit 800 IS a portable. Well, at least it's portable in the basic sense of the word. The Satellit 800 will run on 6 'D' cell batteries, DC, or AC power (with the included wall wart
transformer), has built in LW and BC antennas and a built in large telescoping whip for SW high, FM, and VHF air. Despite the huge bulk of
this radio, it is fairly light weight and it does have handles, so I suppose it theoretically 'could' be portable without too much effort as long as space was not the issue (like backpacking).
The Grundig Sattelit 800 covers LW, AM BCB, full SW bands, FM broadcast (in stereo!), and AM VHF air band. Performance wise, the Grundig Satellit 800 is a rock star. Seldom seen on low priced models is a feature no serious SW listener should be without- synchronous AM detector. What this does when listening to an AM signal is amazing. As the signal fades in and out, it can become highly distorted and unreadable in the deepest parts of the fade
(anyone who has tried to copy a CB mobile that is far away can relate to this). An AM synchronous detector strips away the carrier and generates its own and mixes the signals, this makes signals fading in and out sound like
they are stable and perfect. If you have never heard one, check it out, your jaw will drop. The Satellit 800 also has true LSB and USB reception, not just a BFO. Along with a selectable AGC, 1/10 kc. display, and
selectable bandwidths, this is a sideband listeners dream.
The Satellit back panel connections include the external power jack (9 VDC), line audio (L+R) outputs, Stereo speaker output, balanced and unbalanced AM and SW antenna input (PL-259 and terminals), and 75 ohm FM (F type) antenna
input. That's a lot of connections possible for the person who wishes to install the Satellit 800 as a base station, as I have.
On the front, there are controls for volume, bass, treble, squelch (works on AM aircraft band only), attenuator, AGC selection, bandwidth, AM sync, USB/LSB, and bandswitch. The built in dual clocks, direct selectable frequency entry, and VFO controls use all those buttons on the front next to the tuning knob. Yes, the Satellit 800 has an honest to goodness tuning
knob! Most digital radios with a tuning knob experience signal dropout or noises as the processor changes frequency steps when tuning. The Satellit 800 feels as 'analog' as ever! It is a real pleasure to surf the bands, and with the analog S meter response, you may forget this is a digital hot-dog.
The HUGE display is easy to see, even without my glasses on, and the well done backlight makes it easy in a dim room or outside at night. There are 70 memories for storing your favorite frequencies, and they even store the mode and bandwidth with the frequency, real nice! I programmed my Satellit 800 with the standard CB channels as memory 1-40 and it is a lot of fun to
'tune' the CB band on a busy day. I also programmed my favorite SW frequencies and some FM stations I like. Dialing around only through my memory channels is simple, and is a real treat. My only complaint on the display is that when in USB mode, the display adds a line to the L in LSB so it looks like LISB (the L and the I together are supposed to look like a U). This is minor, but slightly annoying.
Although the speaker grille on the Satellit 800 is really big, the actual speaker behind it is only 4 inches around. Still, this is bigger than most 2-way radios out there today, and the sound is really big and smooth, as you would expect from a radio cabinet this big (audio resonance). However, in order to get room filling bass, you have to turn the bass knob almost all the way up. When you put on headphones (included), then everything sounds
real 'boomy', and you have to turn the bass down a bit. Also, I noticed that the FM bands sounds real 'tingy' with headphones on. I do not believe the FM band includes a de-emphasis circuit. You could always hook external speaker up to the 800 by plugging them in the back. If you use hi-fi speakers, you get REAL hi-fi sound!
Sensitivity is extremely good, with the specification sheet saying it does better than 0.5 uV on SSB and better than 2.0 uV on AM. Selectivity from this dual conversion receiver is excellent, except on LW. I noticed that
when listening to LW with a longwire antenna, many strong AM BCB stations image into the receiver at various places below the broadcast band and sometimes swamp out LW stations I am trying to tune in. I suppose that if used with the internal antenna, this would be reduced, but in my noisy office building, the external longwire antenna outside is a must.
Here's the thing, comparing the Grundig Sattelit 800 to other SW radios made by Grundig, Sangean, and Sony, the Sattelit 800 is by far a screamer and really blows the others away. However, considering the typical discount house prices., for only $100 more, you could buy an Icom R75 and be in a whole new class of radio. I admit, the R75 does not cover the FM broadcast band or the VHF air band, or run portable on built-in batteries, but for just LW, BC, and SW coverage as a base station, the Icom R75 will embarrass
the Grundig. This is not to say that the Satellit 800 is a poor radio, it is far from being so. However, on a pure price comparison field, the Icom is 5 times the radio for less than a hundred more bucks. Once you get over
$1000, almost everything has a synchronous AM detector, so that is really not an issue. In defense of the 800, it IS the lowest cost radio I have found with a synchronous detector and good performance.
In summary, I do not at all hesitate to recommend the Grundig Sattelit 800 for those who are active and want a very high performance radio that can go with them. For those only interested in a base station and seeking the
highest performance available, the Grundig Sattelit may not fill your need. However, the 800 will more than fill your need for the highest performance available for under $500, and it will really open up the SW bands in a whole new way most. Compared to the standard SW portable, the Sattelit 800 will seem like night and day, and it very well may become your favorite radio.
Tech 833
Moderators Note!
This Review was e-mailed to me by Tech833 for posting on 03/17/05.
Lon
Tech808
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Keithinatlanta
Advanced Member
Username: Keithinatlanta
Post Number: 508
Registered: 3-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 17, 2005 - 10:26 am: |
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Lon, what a GREAT looking radio! Any chance Copper might start carrying them? Price seems high, however, the best never comes cheap! Please keep me posted if they do decide to carry this new radio. I have an even better idea. Maybe Tech 833 would like to donate the one he tested to me, then I can test it for him as a plain old user and write a second report from the operators standpoint. What ya think?
Keith in Atlanta
CEF 150 |
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