RE: GE SuperRadios

[dan.strassberg@att.net]

My SR III must be at least five years old. It was one of 
the early SR IIIs. I guess I was lucky; although the 
dial calibration (on AM especially) is bad and the there 
are birdies at a couple of spots on the AM band (the 
worst is around 890--probably the second harmonic of the 
IF--which is supposed to be at 900), I wouldn't call the 
FM selecticity atrocious. OTOH, I wouldn't call it great 
either.

However, my unit suffers from a defect that apparently 
was corrected in later production. Selecting the 
wideband mode for AM makes the radio all but useless. 
WRKO probably delivers the strongest signal where I live 
(WAMG is the closest AM and WWZN, which is also close 
by, also delivers a very strong signal during the day). 
If I select the wideband mode, everything below 850 
except WRKO pretty much disappears. I've noted similar 
effects near all of the strong AM signals, so I don't 
use the wideband mode. I've been told that newer samples 
don't work like this and the Radio Shack "equivalent," 
which I tired out in a store seemed to behave more as I 
would have expected in the wideband mode, though the RS 
unit did not seem nearly as sensitive as my SR III.
--
dan.strassberg@att.net
617-558-4205
eFax 707-215-6367
> 
> The GE SuperRadio-III is usually available at the Reny's Department
> stores scattered around Maine.
> 
> Note that most of the radios are "refurbished", (as in
> factory-serviced). But for the price you probably can't go wrong. I
> bought one last summer to replace my 17-year-old GE SuperRadio-I. It was
> on sale for $29.95.
> But, take note that the new SuperRadio-IIIs 
> are notorious to us DXers for widely varying quality-control.. Some work
> like charms, others are lemons. The refurbished one I got works well,
> although the AM tuning dial was 30khz off, and I had to pull it apart
> and re-calibrate and adjust the tuning capacitor..a real pain.
> 
> I will NOT recommend the SuperRadios for FM DX. Selectivity is
> atrocious, and the FM antenna is quite flimsy. Connecting an external FM
> antenna will result in severe overload.
> 
> On a side-by-side comparison my Original GE SR-I  is slightly more
> sensitive than the SR-III and much more solidly built. On the other hand
> the SR3 has a wide/normal band range switch and does have a fuller
> richer sound for music.
> 
> On a related note..Has anybody tried the Bose WaveRadios for DX? My
> folks have one, and when over at their place in NH last week I was
> surprised at how sensitive it was on AM. The FM also  sounds great...but
> then for $349 it should.
> 
> Rod O'Connor
> Southwest Harbor, Maine
>