**Review: The GE SUPERRADIO III**
David W. Knisely
perhaps its the same circut board. Here below is the review. Enjoy.
--
David Knisely KA0CZC dk8...@navix.net
Prairie Astronomy Club, Inc. http://www.4w.com/pac
Hyde Memorial Observatory, http://www.blackstarpress.com/arin/hyde
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* Attend the 6th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* August 7-14th, 1999 http://www.4w.com/nsp *
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Michael
>
> Well, I finally got one. Its a lot like the Tandy Optimus radio, and
> perhaps its the same circut board. Here below is the review. Enjoy.
> David Knisely
David,
That was one of the best and most informative product reviews I have
read. Thanks for posting it.
73's de
Michael K.
Steve Fritts
<MKlev...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>David W. Knisely wrote:
>>
>> Well, I finally got one. Its a lot like the Tandy Optimus radio, and
>> perhaps its the same circut board. Here below is the review. Enjoy.
>
>> David Knisely
>
>David,
>
>That was one of the best and most informative product reviews I have
>read. Thanks for posting it.
Please repost it!!! I wouldlike to read it.
John Garrison
Well, I had a Superadio II that I positivley beat to death! It kept coming
back for more. Superior selectivity, and sensitivity, excellent audio
quality, too
RRich52806
David W. Knisely
"clone"), and it is rather obvious that, other than overall looks, the
two radios are *not* the same. The PC board in the Optimus is
considerably different than that of the SRIII. In fact, judging by just
the looks, I would say that the Tandy Optimus 12-603A is a better
engineered radio, with a quieter noise floor and fewer alignment
problems. The slide-rule dial is easier to read, and the wide bandwidth
switch position is more useful in the Optimus than on the SRIII. The
SRIII may have a very slight edge in AM performance in the expanded
portion of the band, but overall, the Optimus provides comparable
performance and a slightly better-built radio.
j...@randomc.com
HI, David,
Your review of the GE Super Radio III was a Nicely done piece. I wonder if
the model you bought was one of the early ones made in China, or one of the
later and current ones made in Indonesia. I understand that the radio's
quality and performance, and the sample-to-sample variability of both went
downhill precipitously when the manufacture went from China to Indonesia. I
got one of the Super Radio III models in 1996 and found it to be just about
on par in performance with an original Super Radio and with a Super Radio II
that I compared it to. It sounded better than the Super Radio and covered
more of the expanded AM broadcast band than did either the I or the II, so
that's the one I kept. I had to look at more than two units to get two good
ones, one as my keeper and the other as a gift purchase
I later bought Tandy's Radio Shack Optimus Radio catalog number 12-604,
which is similar to the 12-603 with the addition of more antenna
connections, and five bands to cover VHF TV 2-6 and VHF TV 7-13 as well as
UHF channels 14-69 on three bands. It is a sturdier radio than the Chinese
GE Super Radio III and only slightly below it in AM radio performance, and
slightly above it in FM radio performance. The Optimus radio does not have
the narrower more crowded band spread of AM frequencies above 1200KHz as
does the GE, either, and they sound about the same. I had to closely
examine five samples of the 12-604 in two stores to find the one good one I
bought. One radio had a dented speaker grille. One had defective band
selector switches, and one of them had a bad power switch, to name a few
problems I saw on the models that I rejected.
In recent years, it seems that the only company that has managed to avoid
the wide sample-to-sample variability in quality of construction in radios
made in China and southeast Asia has been Grundig. This was so notable that
in their review of the YB-400 which you can read on the Radio Netherlands
website, they nboted that in testing several YB-400 samples from 1993-1996,
that they noticed a remarkably high consistency in sample quality over the
period, something that has been almost taken for granted not to be expected
in the under $200 radio category if it's made in places like China,
Indonesia, or such similar countries. Tadio Shack got a whole flock of
really bad DX-398 units from Sangean's factory in the first four months they
offered the model, and Sangean got lots of criticism earlier than that for
the variability and poor quality of ATS-909 samples as well. I've heard
that the quality of Sony ICF-SW7600G and even ICF-2010 samples has varied
widely in the last two years. If you're going to consider the YB-400PE
against the Sony ICF-SW7600G, the quality factor might be worth weighing
into the equasion. The thing that ultimately stopped me from buying the
YB-400, even at close-out or refurbed prices, was it's lack of a tuning
knob, which is available on the Sony -SW7600G, the Sangean ATS-909/RS
DX-398, and even on the Sangean ATS-808B/RS DX-380. Once I've entered a
frequency, I prefer to tune the general area with the knob rather than the
up/down push buttons.
As for the GE Super Radio III or the Optimus 12-603, my advice is, that it
sounds good, especially on strong local stations. For the price, it's a
great not-so-little radio. If you buy one, be prepared to look carefully at
every sample in the store, and be prepared to return one or more samples
until you get a good one that does what it is designed to do, with smoothly
sliding switches, smooth-turning knobs, no dents, no lousy sound in the
speakers. When you are sample swapping at Radio Shack, be sure and note
those serial numbers. Many RS dealers are known to just take the returned
models and stick 'em back on the shelf for the next sucker to pick up
instead of returning them to the service center or the nearest authorized
distribution center like they are supposed to do. You don't want to keep
lugging home the same sample two or three times.
Unfortunately, Tandy seems to have discontinued the 12-604 with the TV audio
frequencies. Considering its price, I think it is a nice DX machine. After
all, it's not exactly fair to compare a radio that regularly sells for under
$40, even closer to $30 in many stores to one that regularly sells for
around $200, even if that $200 model adds shortwave coverage. It is just
plain ludicrous to be too serious about comparing its performance with that
of a $900-$1800 communications receiver. If I bought a Drake SW8 and it's
medium wave performance was no better than that of a GE Super Radio III's MW
performance, R. L. Drake would certainly be one duck who would be hearing
some serious angry quacking from me, and they'd also be looking for some
shelf for that returned SW8. As for AM broadcast band performance, I still
have yet to find anything at any price that can match the sensitivity,
selectivity, and high-quality audio sound of that old Telefunken Gavotte 7
consumer market table radio I had in the '70's and '80's. I'm sure that
with the right antenna setup, my R390A should match it, although it would
never come close to that sound quality. The Kenwood R-1000 with a $170
WorldComm Active indoor 20-inch loop comes within hailing distance of it,
but can't come close to that rich, warm, wonderful sound doing it, even on a
weak station between two very strong ones. I never had the pleasure to see
that Medium Wave wonder made in New Zealand that McKay Dymeck sold in the
'60's and 70's so I can't speak to that one from personal experience.
Reply to: j...@randomc.com
Brent Reynolds, Atlanta, GA USA
Is it ok to use my AM radio after NOON?
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