| WB5HKO |
Rating:      |
2003-12-15 | |
| Best in its class. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
No, it's not a Grundig Satellit. And it's not Japan Radio Company NRD-545. It's little portable that costs less than $200 and performs brilliantly in its intended use.
I've owned my Grundig Yacht Boy 400 since 1996 and still use it frequently --mostly as a travelling companion.
It's a darned good little radio. Its noise floor is low and selectivity and sensitivity amazingly high. For casual signal catching, the built in whip antenna is entirely adequate. Adding an external aerial makes very little difference in signal level and, in fact, sometimes simply increases atmospheric noise reception.
While its audio can't compare with my old tube-type Collins and Hammarlund boatanchors, the Yacht Boy is certainly loud enough and perfectly intelligible. If you want hi-fi -- use good headphones with the little Grundig (which is especially rewarding in FM stereo mode).
Basic operation and tuning is controlled by the receiver's keypad. It's a versatile mechanism with many nice features that will be lost on those who don't consult the owner's manual. Reading the manual is essential in learning to use this receiver. While many fuctions are intuitive, others are not. Evidence of this is seen easily in a couple of angry, negative reviews of the Yacht Boy 400 on this site written by owners who obviously did not review the book and then blamed the device for operator error. (For instance, one disillusioned fellow apparently punched in the quite useful keypad lock and concluded that his receiver was an inoperative lemon).
It's unlikely that a transistorized portable radio, other than perhaps the ancient Zenith Royal 500, will earn the "classic" title, but the venerable little Grundig with the silly name certainly approaches that category.
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| TR11 |
Rating:     |
2003-10-04 | |
| Rotary tuning dial is missed |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I purchased Yacht Boy 400PE this summer. Preferred it to Sangean ATS909 based on reviews praising Yacht Boy's very good FM performance, so it was little bit cheaper too.
Overall I'm quite satisfied with it - looks nice, is not too big for travelling and has good sensitivity. At least FM and SW are definitely better than with my old workhorse - DUX TR 2810 SW/AM/FM receiver :)
SSB is usable also, only needs sort of responsive finger for fine-tuning those broadcasts.
One thing I liked was that those 40 memory slots can be mixed and matched between any band.
My only real complaint is that unpleasant sound Yacht Boy makes when using Up-Down buttons for scanning bands. Very annoying in long term.
Also I think there should be an option to turn LCD light continuously on at least when AC adapter is used.
Having used this radio for some time now I got to a conclusion that it is really sad not to have a tuning dial on this fine radio receiver. This is matter of taste of course but by my opinion it is much more convenient to use dial for surfing trough those MW and SW channels.
So if I have to happen to buy a replacement for my Yacht Boy 400PE then probably I'm gonna look for a model with the same price, features, performance and battery life, but only with rotary tuning knob. |
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| K2KOH |
Rating:     |
2003-08-29 | |
| Not bad at all |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently took a trip to beautiful sunny Florida, sans radio equipment. Well, I missed listening to HF Aeronautical Comms, so I stopped at a local RS and picked up a Yachtboy 400PE. I sat outside my hotel room, extended the antenna, and tuned in 8906 KHz, listening for New York Oceanic. Loud and clear, folks. It's a little bit of fun using the fine tuning, but no big deal. Now, onto listening across the pond. Shanwick, no problem. Tripoli, Dakar on 11.300 with no problem at all.
It isn't a full-featured HF received, this is true. But for the money (149.00), and for its size, it serves its purpose well, at least it did for me.
By the way, I know people think owning a radio for a week and reviewing it is a little quick, but I still say first impressions are lasting. |
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| GRL02 |
Rating:      |
2003-08-10 | |
| With short outside wire really excellent |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I'm in "weak signal area" New Mexico also, close to White Sands Missle Range, about 50 miles north of El Paso, Tx. I bought the radio at Radio Shack in April.
Once you get the feel of the buttons, this is very easy to use. My one gripe is that the buttons don't have some sort of "glow" to them, because I listen a lot while getting ready to go to sleep and I can't see a thing and by touch, I'm not that good! I find the nos. on the time and the backlite a bit weak.
However, reception is great! I can listen all day and bring in strong signals. The whip was OK and the inside antenna did help, but the 20 ft. wire I put up really made a huge difference. I pull in Voice of Nigeria even during the day and have DX'd the Voice of Indonesia. I get excellent signals from DW and Netherlands and the BBC, all to Africa.
China, Taiwan, N. Korea, Australia, Japan and New Zealand are all like they're next door. The only area I don't seem to pull in is India and the ME.
On SSB, it can vary, but on good nights I get NY Weather Radio and some of the other airports. I often monitor ham on Saturday mornings when things seem to be busy and get a lot of things coming in from California. One Sat. am I monitored a guy calling from Catalina and was picking up responses from Wisconsin, Japan and other points.
I plan to put up a 20 foot pole so I can get the wire up above the surrounding rooftops. That might even help even more!
I have to say this radio has been so much fun. I don't even listen to AM/FM here in the States at all anymore. Who needs the commericials and the boring "talk." |
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| KC0NDR |
Rating:  |
2003-08-01 | |
| Grnudig 400 PIECE OF JUNK!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| This reciever is a real piece of junk. After initial set up, couldnot turn on or off, no button would work, it just locked up. Bought today (8/1/03) taking back to RAT SHACK tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! |
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| KB9OJS |
Rating:      |
2003-07-10 | |
| Now the DX-390 is collecting dust |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just got this radio from AES in Milwaukee two days ago, and this thing is awesome. FM RX is great, I can hear stations that my two-hundred dollar sony stereo can't pick up. MW RX is good, but kinda crippled. MW RX just is not very sensitive, but I don't listen to a lot of MW. This thing is great for SW listening. It "hears" very well with the telescoping antenna, and it works even better with the supplied "reel-up" outboard antenna. I like to listen to Alex Jones and there is no local station that carries him, so that is why I need a SW Radio. The audio quality is unheard of. Deep, rich, beautiful sound that you can listen to all day. My old, and in need of repair, Radio Shack DX-390 audio sounded like a two dollar radio from the local dollar store. It was hard to listen to because the audio was real "metalic" sounding.
SSB on this radio is good as well. It's sensitivity is close to my ICOM IC-718.
Just by reading the reviews, I assume that the radios that came from Radio Shack are "lemon" equpment that doesn't pass the QC check.
I HIGHLY RECCOMMEND THIS RADIO, JUST DON'T GET IT FROM RADIO SHACK. |
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| FL0PPY |
Rating:      |
2003-06-05 | |
| Excellent Portable Receiver |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
My Yacht Boy 400 has to have one of the best, sensitive front ends of all portable SW receivers. With just the built in whip it does well on SW receive (CW and SSB), with the included external 23' reel antenna it receives very well (am able to copy both SW stations and SSB/CW Amateurs easily) but connected to an external antenna (my Yagi's) it is absolutely incredible.
This receiver is compact, has great audio for a portable (Broadcast AM, FM and SW)and with the additional features (clock, dual mode alarm, sleep timer, lock feature, 40 memories)is just an incredible value. Yes, it does take a bit of playing to fine tune an SSB signal and with practice you will get the hang of it quickly. It would be nice to have a CW filter but for a $150.00 you can't expect it to include a relatively narrow CW filter!
For a packable portable to take around the world or to the beach, I don't think you can beat the value. Knowing you have a quality emergency radio powered internally or externally adds a measure of satisfaction to the purchase. |
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| KF9VH |
Rating:   |
2003-03-17 | |
| You get what you pay for. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
If you need a portable for SSB this is not the radio for you. Does ok for am fm and shortwave but suck on ssb.
I wish I would have bought a Sony 2010. |
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| MARC_1178 |
Rating:     |
2003-03-17 | |
| Excellent value |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This portable has good sound for the size, especially when using headphones, and has amazing FM perfromance for the size. Shortwave reception is good both with the whip and the 23'wire supplied with the radio. It is very sensitive on all bands. A excellent value and easy to find.
The faults are only Fair battery life, and the MW or AM does overload in some areas such as Downtown Toronto where 1430 kHz and 1540 kHz have 50,000 watt transmitter sites on Toronto Island.
A WORD OF CAUTION : the muting mod causes chirping when using the tuning buttons, which is more annoying than the thumping you get with the muting in place. The plastic that holds the antenna in place also breaks too easily. If you don't reassemble it just the right way, the buttons all stick when you try to use them. Only experienced professional with a very steady hand should service or modify this radio. |
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| JUDAH_SMITH |
Rating:      |
2003-03-11 | |
| BEST PORTABLE FOR THE PRICE! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| It is a basic unit -with all the features you need to enjoy broadcast bands, hams, or hard to tune DXing. I live in New Mexico where signals are faint/weak/ and downright hard to tune in. My (original/black) YB400 picks them up like a charm. I would suggest getting the MOD that removes the pause of silence each time you hit the buttons to tune up and down the dial. (gets annoying, and hard to band scan). Other than that, I have taken it on all my trips, and it's a durable, great sounding unit. If you can find one for around $100 bucks....bag it! Trust me you won't regret it. There are other models SANGEAN/SONY....all of them are good as well....but the $$$ is higher. PASSORD WORLD BAND RADIO rated this unit one of the best portables ever tested...especially in WEAK signal areas of the world like the western USA. Also it is one of their favorite radios of all time. Great radio, great sound, very durable, super sensitive....go get one. |
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