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Reviews For: Grundig S350 AM/FM/SW World Receiver

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Grundig S350 AM/FM/SW World Receiver
Reviews: 72MSRP: 100.00
Description:
Continuous coverage from 2.3 to 27.41 mHz shortwave; medium wave band; FM band
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.grundigradio.com/asp/Product.asp?productname=s350&function=overview
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00723.6
KW7CD Rating: 2005-05-08
Glossy cover - shallow performance Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a friendly looking Chinese-made radio with a Grundig name on it. It is a jazzed-up re incarnation of an old 455 KHz IF single conversion superheterodyne receiver. Because of its low IF choice (455 KHz), this receiver performance on SW exhibits powerful Image problems from any signals located 910 KHz up from where it is tuned. Image rejection is almost inexistent (no specifications provided). For instance, if listening to 9.090 MHz, one can hear WWV image signals coming from the legitimate 10 MHz WWV station and iterfering with a possible desired station at 9.090 MHz. By the same token, the entire 9.5 MHz SW broacast band can be heard 910 KHz down from corresponding frequencies up, interfering with wanted signals. The radio's tunability is rather poor with plenty of backlash due to its open loop LO nature. Stability may be OK for AM reception if the radio is left on indefinitely so the the oscillator's circuits are already warmed up. The radio is equipped with an RF gain control which only works for 1/3 of the pot's range. Two ceramic filters (narrow and wide) are provided and seam to make some selective difference. The radio is very sensitive and despite its cheap electrical design, provides some level of selectivity for the price. The low resolution illuminated LCD digital frequency counter is only helpful in showing the VFO/LO drift and is rather anoying in showing the tuning backlash of the cleverly designed dual concentric (coarse and fine) mechanical tuning. One would like to re design this radio, but in a conversation with the manufacturer rep in California, the schematics are not available to anyone. This is unheard of. Overall, the radio provides some enjoyment for the money due to its sensitivity and actually holds up against some strong adjacant signals, if it was only stable enough (short term). Interesting marketing concept, but you get what you pay for. If you are a casual listener, this radio is inexpensive enough to give you some cheap enjoyment. Million Dollar looks for for a hundred dollars. Very interesting.

Cornell Drentea - KW7CD

~^~
NIGHTHAWK Rating: 2005-05-06
Nice, portatop radio. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have owned this radio for about four months now and I'm starting to love it more and more. I have heard countless AM stations from Nashville, Detroit, and pretty much the whole East Coast.

Shortwave preformance is also good considering the price of this unit. I have heard tons of broadcastors from Asia and Europe pretty clearly. I can occasionally pull in a lot of weaker signals from Africa and the Middle East. The strangest station that I have heard was Radio Ethiopia for a brief period before it faded out.

This unit does have a drifting problem but I don't find it to be a big problem, once you find the sweet spot it calms down, wait for it to warm up then I won't drift as much probably only 1-2kHz. I would reccomend an external antenna (other than the telescopic one provided) for this radio. I use a passive longwire antenna from Radio Shack for $11.00 and it helps a lot, just don't put it near anything that would cause interference like TV's, powerlines, etc.

In all, this was well worth the $100.00 I spent on it.
ROADRUNNER_777 Rating: 2005-04-30
Just right for me... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Built a Heathkit entry level SW radio when I was a kid (1975 or so), never really got it working right but I kept it in my head that I might want to come back to this hobby eventually. 30 years later, I think, maybe I will. But, before I started building a serious rack of radio, I thought I had better see if I still had the bug. I bought this set at 2PM, and I have used it continuously until now, 11PM. I've logged dozens of stations just in the lower portion of the first band, and having a great time. All this in a really bad radio environment with 200kv transmission lines in my backyard and 3 broadcast radio towers within a 2 mile radius. I never noticed any of the problems that others mentioned... but I am not a serious amateur, yet. If I am still using it a year from now, I'll know to trade up to the good stuff.
AD5EM Rating: 2005-04-29
A Lot of Bang for the Buck Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought one for a garage AM/FM radio, that would also get shortwave. I started playing around with it, just to get familiar and, well, it's not seen the garage, yet! I like the look, the VFO tuning and it does great at picking up shortwave AM stations. Yeah, it drifts a little, but it's a hundred dollar radio! I wish it had a BFO, but I knew it didn't when I bought it and it's exceeded my expectations on shortwave. Oh yeah, it sounds pretty good listening to music, too. And, it's got an alarm built in.....pretty good deal, in my opinion.
WA3LGG Rating: 2005-02-28
a better cheap radio is the degen 1103 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
should be called the driftwood s350 with options like image upon image....it's the year 2005 and in this day and age, $99 radios shouldn't do this....if you want a cheap radio, get the degen 1103 instead....with side band to boot....
W8ORD Rating: 2005-02-18
Great Rig Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For the money it out does radios 3 times the price. I have the Sangean 909, 818, and for SW this puppy really pulls in the distance. Not to mention when you hook a ground wire up and a 30 foot copper wire antenna. I A-B it against the Sangean 909 for shortwave and its got more signal on the weaker stations. There were a couple I couldn't get with the sangean that I could with the Grundig. Yea there is some drift but once you get use to the rig you get better at finding the sweet spot. Its about retro also, being analog you have to expect some of the traits that come with analog. I really like this radio. It is strong in the AM DXing also. I haven't tried the CCrane but I would bet this would hold it's own on matching stations. I also have a Zenith Transoceanic from 1958 and the grundig S350 reminds me of that radio but with the digital readout. I can't put it down.

If you like retro style and the old fine tuning knobs with analog you will like this radio. It has a lot of potential with the external antenna and ground hookups, plus the RCA stereo outs for FM.

If you are looking for bells and whistles, presets and drift free tuning this might not be for you. Buy a Sangean 909 for 250.00

I have had this radio 1 week and I have over 20 hrs on it. Its a keeper.
RADIODORK Rating: 2005-02-15
Well worth $99.00 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had this radio for almost a year now
and it is still one of my favorites.
Even with the drifting, I find it to
be far more superior than the overated
YachtBoy 400.
SCANNUT99 Rating: 2005-01-13
AVOID THIS RADIO Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have owned several radios over the years and was very excited to find this radio available. I am on a budget now and back into the hobby for the first time in many years. Alas, I had owned a sony 2010 at one time but sold it!! Yeah, I know silly me. But I am back into the hobby to stay so that won't happen again. While I save for a nice table top, I wanted something to get back into the saddle with. Well, this is one nice looking radio. And it is readily available. I mean really readily available. From Circuit City to Radio Shack to Sharper Image. Everyone carried it. So I could no longer avoid the urge to buy it. I returned it 2 days later? Why? It really is one bad radio. Not only does it drift, it drifts badly. Worse than a $20 pocket shortwave. It can not stay on a frequency without shifting off. Not at all. While I think retuning is part of owning a radio, quite frankly part of the fun, it shouldn't be something you have to do EVERY 30 seconds. And it is $100.00. What did I do instead? I spent $35.00 more which includes free shipping from Amazon.com and bought the Sony sw7600gr with sync detection. Do yourselves a favor. For $100 plus, avoid this radio. Actually avoid Grundig. The yb400 was only marginally better.
MISTERT Rating: 2004-12-06
Great For AM Broadcast Band Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
While definitely not targeted towards serious SWL's, anyone who enjoys occasional broadcast band DXing and doesn't want to spend over $100 will surely appreciate the S350's excellent AM reception and better-than-average audio quality. This user-friendly radio delivers a big bang for the buck, especially for those who live in rural areas or work in larger office buildings where good reception is often difficult. As for the SW bands, well... consider them a bonus. You'll have no problem tuning powerhouse broadcasts (BBC, etc.) but weak international signals are pretty much a lost cause. Several 3rd party filter kits are available for those who want to kick it up a notch and don't mind spending the additional bucks. Before doing so, you might also consider C. Crane's "CC Radio Plus" which sells for around $150. Overall price vs. value rating for the Grundig S350, 4 out of 5 stars!
BAD_DAD_ALAN Rating: 2004-11-25
Love The Nostalgia of the Knob Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
For 100 bucks (and I got Eton's $30 retail Backup Buddy radio for free via a Circuit City promotion when buying the S350) I don't think you can beat this radio for really good AM/DXing and an interesting shortwave reception experience.

Make no mistake, this is not a great SW radio, indeed it is just okay for the casual user. It is however a darned good AM/DXer. Almost as good as the CC.

I live in central Illinois and I easily pulled in at night most major East Coast and Southern AM DX stations. Chicago majors anytime of day are crystal clear with no distortion. The farthest west was Dallas so far. The farthest east was WCBS New York. Toronto stations are strong. KDKA in Pittsburgh was like just next door.

But this radio is really all about that fun tuning knob. The analog tuner with a digital display is a real treat and it harkens back to my youth, when I turned the analog knob of an old HeathKit SW radio and imagined Martians invading Earth via bizarre frequencies.

It is simply so much fun to slowly twirl that knob. To listen through the static, the weird alien sounding buzz, an occasional morse code, the pirate station, the distortion, and then a signal jumps out loud and clear. Just twirl.

Sure you have to keep fiddling with that magic knob to keep from drifting, but that is part of the pleasurable nostalgia of old time radio that this reasonably priced receiver gives. Want more - pay more.

This radio is a serious AM/DXer but for SW it is just for fun.

Oh and by the way, it sounds pretty good with that big speaker, bass and treble controls. FM sounds great through this large audio.

I can't give the radio a 5, but it is a very solid 4 considering the low price.