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| Reviews Summary for Eton E5/Grundig G5 |
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write your own review of the Eton E5/Grundig G5.
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N4CQR
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Rating: 5/5
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Nov 9, 2008 05:06
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Excellent Performer
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Purchased one of these from Radio Shack about 8 months ago and have been completely satisfied with it's performance. AM reception especially.
It seems that later producation models (after mine anyway) includes the protection diodes. I added the diodes to mine (www.kiwa.com) which is a simple proceedure requiring about 5 minutes and a 10 to 15 watt soldering iron. If you purchase a G5/E5 take it apart and make sure the protection diodes are in place. There is a Yahoo group that can help you with this.
Bottom line: Wouild I buy another? Absolutely!
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WB4NAF
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Rating: 2/5
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Jan 24, 2008 20:46
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Three Bad Ones
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I tried three of these radios (bought new at Radio Shack) and all were (or became) defective within just a few days.
The features, pros and cons, etc., have been well covered in other reviews so I won’t mention them here but will just say that I became fond of this little radio because of its ease of use, sensitivity, and stability for copying SSB and CW. It had a been a long time since I had tuned SSB via a BFO and it took a little getting used to, but it works really well on this radio and I was surprised at the quality of SSB reception that can be obtained. So I was very disappointed at the failure of all three radios that I tried.
• The first radio quit receiving above 3000 KHz, and once, the operating system froze up requiring me to remove and reinsert the batteries before it would reset.
• On the second radio the auto-scan was defective and the frequency readout was off by 1 to 2 KHz.
• The third radio quit receiving above 3000 KHz just as the first.
The first radio failed as I was adjusting the whip for reception while monitoring the 40 Mtr. band. Below 3000 KHz the G5 switches from the whip to the built-in ferrite antenna. The radio still received OK below 3000 KHz and on FM so my assumption was something went amuck in the front-end whip antenna tuning section for HF. So it was back to Radio Shack for an exchange.
The second radio was anxiously unpacked, batteries inserted, and switched on with fingers crossed only to discover that the auto-scan was defective. The slew buttons would initiate scanning but scanning would not stop on any stations. It was also noted that the frequency display was off by 1 to 2 KHz. So it was back to Radio Shack for another exchange.
The third unit worked fine for a couple of days and I thought I had gotten a good one, when it too failed, just as the first, as I was adjusting the whip while monitoring around 6000 KHz. And it too worked fine below 3000 KHz and on FM. So it was back to Radio Shack, this time for a return.
My assumption is that this radio must be unusually susceptive to damage from static discharge to the whip antenna. I have had many (and still have several) portable radios and this is the only one that has ever failed while adjusting the whip. My thinking is that there is either something wrong with the front-end design or there is an error in manufacture. Maybe I just happened to get a couple of bad ones from the same batch. I plan to try another but after a wait of some time. If it is a common problem surely Eton/Grundig will discover the cause and implement a fix.
If not for these problems I would give this radio a 4 rating. Not a 5 only because of some objectionable PLL birdies in the 160 Mtr band as well as a couple of strong birds from the BFO also in the 160 Mtr. band.
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KC3RT
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Rating: 1/5
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Dec 26, 2007 15:54
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I got a bad one...
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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After a 3-county search I was happy to find and purchase a G5. I based this receiver choice on these reviews and others.
Once powered on I immediately noticed a barrage of squeaks and squawks while tuning up and down the entire band. I also kept hearing the same local 50,000 watt AM and 43,000 watt FM broadcaster continuously as I tuned the bands. The imtermodulation distortion was so bad that it was difficult to easily tune in valid stations.
I compared these IMD results with my other receivers, Icom 756Pro3, Uniden CR-2021 and a cheapy Garmin Mini 300. To my surprise only the G5 was susceptible to the IMD interference. I guess I got a bad one so back it goes.
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DAVIDVD59
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Rating: 4/5
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Dec 8, 2007 07:37
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update
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I purchased a new ac adapter for the radio from radio shack, 300 ma and the radio works well on ac on this adapter ssb signals are not garbled like on the previous adapter so I am raising my rating.
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DAVIDVD59
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Rating: 3/5
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Oct 20, 2007 20:21
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ok
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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My Grundig G5 I bought at Radio Shack. It has a bfo for ssb reception. One problem for the receiver, when I use the ac adapter the ssb is all garbled. I do not know why. This is my second unit, the first unit the external antenna jack broke and neither the external antenna or the built in antenna would work. On my second unit the ac adapter quit working after 3 months????? On batteries the unit seems to work fine within its limitations ie: selectivity and lack of noise blanking.
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KB0HAE
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 20, 2007 10:56
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Great portable shortwave receiver!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Grundig G5
By Martin Campbell
(KB0HAE)
My new Grundig G5 arrived today. I had bought a Kaito KA 1102 just 5 weeks ago, so why did I buy the G5? Not because the KA 1102 is not a good radio, it is a very good radio for the price. The truth is that I came into some extra money, found a good price on the G5, and had been reading about the Grundig G5/Eton E5 radios. I knew that I would like the ergonomics better than the Kaito, and the extra features. Plus the G5 is supposed to be a better receiver. I chose the G5 over the E5 purely because I liked the darker color. The two radios are supposed to be the same except for the color and the name.
On to my first impressions. I like the anti-slip coating on the G5. Within a few seconds of inserting four 2000 Mah NiMH batteries that I had fully charged, I was listening. I had downloaded (and read) the manual before I got the radio, so I knew the basic operation. The G5 has an intuitive interface that was easy to learn to use. The manual that I downloaded for the G5 leaves something to be desired, as it lacked diagrams. The printed manual that came with the G5 is better, but it is a HUGE 251 pages because it is in six languages. Neither manual lists specs for the radio. I ended up printing pages 9 through 16 of the G5 manual that I found on line to put in the radio case to take along, as the 251 page one is just to big. These pages cover pretty much anything that anyone who has used a shortwave radio with SSB capability should need.
I had already made up a chart (actually a table) in OpenOffice so that I could list what frequency is in what memory in what page. I had done this for the KA-1102 as well, and was able to copy and paste the information into the chart for the G5. So I knew what frequencies I wanted in what pages/memories. Programming the 100 or so frequencies took about 35 minutes or so. Doing so also helped me get used to the memory page system on the G5. I like that I can set the day as well as the time, but am disappointed that there is no seconds display, and no way to easily set the time to the second. It can be done, but its difficult.
The G5' s narrow filter setting works well to limit or eliminate interference from adjacent frequencies. The 1Khz steps when using the tuning knob can help too, making it easy to tune 1 or 2 Khz from the center frequency. On other SW radios I have a significant amount of bleed-trough from a local 50,000 watt FM station on 10.000Mhz Understandable, as the station's antenna is only 2 blocks (as the crow flies) from my home. There was no bleed-through at all on the G5 on that frequency (and very little on ANY frequency that I have found so far!). In fact on both SW, and FM the G5 has good sensitivity and selectivity. On SSB, the fine tuning is not as touchy on the G5 as with some other radios, such as the Kaito KA-1102, and the Grundig YB-400PE. I like the bright back-light and horizontal display on the G5.
The Grundig G5 is an excellent small portable receiver!.
Pros for the G5:
Bright back-light and the buttons are lit too.
Top notch shortwave reception.
Very good FM selectivity.
Nice display and keypad layout.
Ability to program alarms for specific days of the week.
Ability to give alpha names to memory pages.
Nice non-slip coating.
The tuning knob with its 1Khz steps is a welcome addition to the up/down buttons
A real padded case!
Easy programming of memories.
Ability to check what memories are available, and program a frequency into an empty memory while listening.
Being able to listen while charging batteries.
Line output for connection to external audio amplifier.
Ability to copy, and paste memory pages.
Effective signal strength bar graph on the LCD display.
Continuous coverage from 150Khz to 29.999 Mhz (AM and SW) and 87.50 to 108.10 FM.
AM or SSB mode are stored in memory for AM/SW frequencies.
Cons:
No way for the back-light to stay on all the time when the radio is being run on batteries.
No memory scan feature.
No ATS function on shortwave.
Only 7 memories per page. There should have been 35 memories per page, with 20 pages. Memory pages should have been selected by direct entry of page #, and hit page/time, as well as holding the check button and using the tuning knob. In memory mode, the Auto up/down keys should manually step through memories. When the end of a page is reached, the memories in the next higher or lower page should be stepped through. When the Auto up or Auto down buttons are held down for 2 seconds, this should initiate a memory scan. One page of memories should be reserved for ATS scanning in any mode/band. When doing an ATS scan, the scan should end when the highest memory (or lowest) is reached.
No ability to name individual memories.
Radio charges batteries slowly due to not having automatic charging circuitry.
No seconds display on the clock, and very difficult to set the clock to the second.
I believe that the Grundig G5 is the best buy in its size/price class (unless you can find a close-out on an Eton E5...they seem to be being closed out in favor of the G5 right now.)
Just a couple of additrional things I want to mention.
The manual for the G5 does not include any specs beyond the size and wieght if the radio. When I emailed Eton and asked for the specs on the radio, they replied that these are "privileged information", and not released to the public.
Also the external antenna connection attenuates signals, a "feature" that is not mentioned in the manual. Apparently Eton thinks that the only external antenna that you should/will use is coax fed dipole, so this attenuation is need "to avoid overloading the radio".
So when using short external antennas I have found it better to connect the antenna to the tip of the collapsed whip antenna with a clip lead.
I do not regret in the least buying my G5, only Etons policy of not revealing the specs, and lack of knowlege of how most of us will use a PORTABLE shortwave radio.
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N3OJD
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Rating: 5/5
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Jun 27, 2007 10:49
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Brilliant Upgrade to the '1103
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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The Grundig G5 and Eton E5 appear to be identical units. This review is based on the radio marked Grundig G5.
This "new" radio is actually an upgrade to one of my favorite small portables the Degen DE1103 or Kaito K1103. The '1103 is a great receiver with a few flaws and those have been addressed for the most part in the E5/G5. The strange volume control has been replaced by a conventional two button up/down slew set up. Not my favorite but a big improvement. And the odd digital-analog slide rule dial has been replaced by a straight digital readout with easy direct key entry of frequency now possible.
Craig at Kiwa can install or provide an audio upgrade and with that done, you've got one of the best if not the best sounding radio of its size. The upgraded audio is easy listening even on SSB and with headphones, the FM is up to Bose quality. It's a real pleasure.
If you're not familiar, check the reviews of the '1103 to learn about its features. It's really a packed very effective little radio.
Two small dings for the E5/G5: I'm still not crazy about the slew volume controls but the AGC is so effective I seldom have to touch them and secondly the texture on the case of the radio is a bit odd, with a sort of very fine slightly velvety texture to it, but I assume that will wear off with time.
Overall it's a thoughtful improvement to an already great radio and the KIWA upgrade is strongly recommended.
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