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Reviews For: Grundig Yachtboy 400

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : Grundig Yachtboy 400
Reviews: 67MSRP: 199
Description:
100 Khz - 30 Mhx portable receiver
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.grundig.com/produkte/highlights.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00673.9
KD7CQX Rating: 2002-08-29
Good but not great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this radio for over 8 years. It just died after using a reversed-polarity DC input.

The receiver circuit itself seems to work pretty well. It's easy to overload the front end, though. MW hears very well.

My main complaint is really the lack of a tuning dial. I like to scan through bands and see what I can hear. With the YB400 this was an incessent series of "chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff" sounds as you hit the up/down buttons. The "chuff" is very loud though headphones or external speaker and resulted in headaches and fatigue before too long.

Other problems were that the plastic piece used to prop the radio broke off and it's hard to get the radio in a good operating position without it. Grunding charges a lot for a replacement part. The zero button is not in the standard telephone location, but at the bottom left. No alpha tags for the 40 memories.

In all, this radio is pretty decent, but some of the interface and construction issues will lead me to a different model if it needs to be replaced.
AE4SE Rating: 2002-03-28
Great Portable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two Yachtboy 400 PE. One I have had for three years, the other I just purchased because the price has fallen to almost half the price I paid for my first one.
The radio is just what a portable should be. Small package, good looks, easy to operate, dual conversion, dual timers, has option for outside antenna, and the list goes on.
I dont understand why people use a standard for comparison on CW that you would use with a base unit. The radio is primarily for AM use on the BC and HF band. I have no problem at all using the BFO while on SSB, it can be used on any of the ham bands quit easily. I have never had any dificulty picking up station on CW, SSB, or AM with it. The selectivity, and sensitivity is easily switched and really do work, unlike the SONY or RS in its price range. The only bad thing I can say about this portable is that it could use a larger memory.
Grundig hit the mark on this one, and for a truly portable radio it shines as a portable. No portable in its price range can compare. Get one and use it as a portable should be, not as an over priced so called higher end other brand trying to replace a base unit.
HUNTLEIGH Rating: 2002-03-27
Ignore the hype. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A 3.5 rating. I can't add much more than what WA0ZZG or particularly HFHAM have said. I can't believe that this fragile little Chinese box has gotten the reviews it has. Forget FM; it sounds like the cheap transistor you had when you were 5. All the reviews that say it has a "big" speaker and sounds great are a joke. These reviewers must have tin ears. Sounds about average to me for a portable on SW. However, great owners manual for novices; good packaging; Pro model is a nice package and includes accessories like charger and earbuds. OK for a portable for world-band listening. Don't even think about paying list for this. Otherwise, spend another $150 or so and buy a real radio, maybe a Sony ICF2010 or similar.
JSCHAEFF Rating: 2002-02-07
Good starter radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Got this radio as a gift. What I like about this is you get everything you need right out of the box except the batteries. The controls are very intuative and the display gives you all the info you need. The build quality could be better. It seems a bit fragile. Audio is good.
HNLUTE Rating: 2001-10-02
Nice Travel DXer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Nicely laid out portable SW receiver w/good controls, nice tuner and well designed throughout.
Nice feel to it, not as solid as the Sony 7600G but better than any Sangean. Good sound from a decent sized speaker. Good sensitivity with little overload on a long wire. Good intelligibility as well even on weak and fading signals. Good battery life on alkalines. Nice clock controls, makes a wonderful travel DX machine with a long wire plugged in. Actually a 4.5 if we could rate it as such, not perfect but very, very good. Wants? Recorder output and sync detection better than the Sony 7600G's implementation.
SW4DX Rating: 2001-09-25
See Review Below Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Sorry if you read the review BELOW
I forgot to mention that I live in
Australia,that is why I was so happy
with the DX from Sth America.
Thank You.

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by SW4DX on 2001-09-25

I just got back from a 7 day DXpedition, I took
a Sony SW2001D and a Grundig YB400, the YB400
proved to be a great little reciever.
Huddled in a tent with only a torch to see by
this rig pulled many South American Stations
out of the hash with ease.
I had it connected to an 80ft wire which I had
tied to a tree, at no time did it overload the
input stages of the radio.
I found it very easy to use and for me the bottom
line is that it did the job and did it well.
Reviewers can nit pick radios as much as they like
but for me the Grundig YB400 is tops.
K4IDX Rating: 2001-09-16
Nice, but not quite perfect Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my 400 for about 1 year now and have been pretty satisfied with the performance. Definitely needs a tuning knob, better signal strength meter, and antenna construction should be improved. My whip has worked loose in the radio and now when holding the radio while listening to SW, there's this irritating static-like noise due to the poor antenna connection. Even with all of this, I'm satisfied but do intend to buy the 7600 from Sony sometime in the future.
WA0ZZG Rating: 2001-08-27
Interesting combination Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just picked up one of these at the local Hamfest. It's an interesting combination of design
choices. Here's my initial observations:
1. MW (AM broadcast) sensitivity has been reduced. I suspect there's a small trap in the
front end to keep local AM stations from overloading and breaking through into shortwave.
Don't get this radio and do a lot of AM DX'ing.
2. FM sounds like an afterthought. It's there. It works. Sounds a bit restricted. I suspect
the audio stages and speaker have been optimazed for the shortwave bandpass.
3. Wonderful SW receiver. The two included filters sound like their bandpass is near
6KHz and 3KHz. You'll be usng the 6KHz filter most of the time. Very steep skirts on
both filters. Rare to hear a 10KHz whistle even on the 6KHz filter. Good sensitivity, but
not easily overloaded, even on an outside antenna.
4. Single Side band is done with a seperate detector. It's possible to put the AM-SSB
switch half way between and have both working. Kind of a poor man's sync detector.
5. SSB does sound a little muddy. This is because the filter is left centered on the
carrier frequency. Half the filter just passes noise. But there's no need for a
USB/LSB switch. You get both at the same time.
If your intent is mostly world band listening, this is an excellant receiver for the
cost. Happy listening.
G4GZG Rating: 2001-08-27
Curates egg... good in parts Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Sorry for the English English style heading...( for those who don't know its an old English saying, actually a misquote ;-))

I got the Grundig YB400 because I wanted a portable radio with SSB that I could take abroad with me where I didn't have time/ permission to operate a full station.

I found it OK and as described, but not as good as some of the UK Amateur reviews said.

Basic faults are :-
Batteries rundown too quick if you leave them in -
yes even Alkalines.

SSB fine tuning not fine enough, a smaller tuning increment, say 250 Hz would have been better than the 1Khz fitted.

Audio sounds muffled and the O/P stage overloads too easily.

Use of the external antenna supplied gives too much crossmod during the evenings here in EU.

However, despite the above it has fulfilled its designated use well and I am pleased with my purchase but also pleased I don't have to use it for serious SWL ing and feel that the less experienced could be misled by the fancy advertising - as someone else said, this isn't a top notch HF Rx - merely a reasonable quality portable.

Larry G4GZG






HFHAM Rating: 2001-08-08
Not all it's cracked up to be Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I can't understand all the enthusiasm for this radio. FM sounds pretty good on it but that's about it. I felt on SW that the audio was muddy sounding and I always had to detune it in order to make the audio crisper (and no I'm not an old fogey with a hearing aid).

SSB reception is just okay and ECSS is impossible on this radio. Also, I always confused the enter button with the auto-search button (very frustrating !) and the narrow filter was hopeless.

I liked the Sony ICF-SW7600G (and the earlier ICF-SW7600) much better than the Grundig.

As an aside, don't be fooled by the hype. This class of radio is really the bare-minimum for short wave reception. Listen to something like a Grundig Satellit 700, Lowe HF150, Palstar R30, Icom R75 (or better) through a Hi Fi speaker, or listen to an old Hammarlund, Hallicrafters or the like and you'll want to immediately trash your nipponese/chinese plastic buzzbox. Yes, these are very portable but not very listenable.