Thank you for this review. So many UA-camrs 'review' a product merely by regurgitating marketing info instead of actually testing the products. I can read marketing info myself. Again, thank you.
Just received my Elite Executive lately and I too was a bit perplexed when wanting to tune in SSB via the bottom button. I was outside on a clear night with no interference but I received nothing except noise. Got back in the house to browse UA-cam to try and figure out why. Am I glad I came across your channel...now I receive SSB loud and clear! This radio is superb and so are your vids mate. Thanks a lot mate!
@@gurneetsingh6100 hello... I've read that Panasonic is quite good too, but I've never owned one to be sure. I'm quite satisfied with this Eton Executive...especially at a reduced price. Good luck.
In the late 1980's my husband picked up Atlantic 252 . This was on a summer evening in Antigonish Nova Scotia. This was his only experience with a European Long Wave Radio Station. Cheers.
Hi, Thank you for this video. I recently purchased the previous Elite version of this radio.By all accounts, this is much the same as the Executive except for the color of its case. I have been dxing for many years and I think that it is a good radio on SW and FM. As for MW performance, I have had no issues. Mine is very sensitive. I am able to hear relatively low powered MW stations from England and Ireland, up here in Scotland. LW broadcast sensitivity is only fair but acceptable. In many ways this radio is similar to the XHDATA D808. 73 and GDX
Great review and great comparison. Thank you for putting this together. I think it has convinced me to purchase one (after watching several reviews on this, and other portable radios). Well done!
I just ordered mine directly from Eton will arrive Wednesday! Thank you you helped convince me that I did a good upgrade from my old Sony 111 that I have owned since 2004. I always wanted to listen to SSB and my local airports here in kansas. As a former CB SSB radio user it’s nice to get back into doing this again.
My Eton is the most sensitive on airband of all my radios and the best on SSB too. Very good on the AM band as well. I can`t wait to test it soon (after I move) with a proper external antenna.
I got my Eton Elite Executive for $80 US on a special deal at Woot (an Amazon company) in August of 2022. It costs $180 US at Amazon now in May 2023. I wouldn't have bought it at today's price. My experience with the radio is quite similar to yours, but I wouldn't travel with it -- it's too heavy, it's too expensive to replace, and you either have to take along the battery charger (and whatever power adapters you need), or buy AA batteries. For travel I'd take the smaller and lighter Tecsun PL-330 that I can charge with a USB cable. One correction: the Eton takes 4 AA batteries, not 3. One odd limitation of the Eton is that auto tune storage (ATS) only works on FM. Your segment on RDS was informative. No FM station in my area (central Virginia in the US) has an FM station with RDS time data.
Absolutely excellent review. I can tell by your presentation skills and manner in which you review things you have exactly the personality of someone I would be friends with. Well done sir.
Hello - Mike Here.......Just getting into emergency/Communications radio. With what's going on out there in society, I think its a good idea to be able to at least listen in to others out there reporting, and to be able to get information, if things go south. I like the review you gave here, because your a Ham guy, and you know what your talking about, especially when discussing SSB. I may have some questions for you, if that's ok. There is another Ham radio operator that is on the John Moore show I catch Mon-Fri on Republic Broadcasting, Its online....He is a guest once a week, Tom Berryhill I believe, maybe you know him. I am in Michigan near Lake Huron/St Clair River. Sarnia is right across the way. Have a blessed week!!
Excellent! The video's host has a clue. My Eton is joyful to operate and listen to. Compared with my venerable Yeasu Ft-950, the little Eton rocks. Topic not covered was the radio's ability to manage rechargeable batteries. Sweet rig!
This is the best radio review and comparison I've seen yet on You Tube. Good job! You've convinced me to buy the Elite Executive, it should be here in four days. Thanks for the great review.
Great Review- new sub. - I think the Speaker frequency response on the Eton has considerable factor in it's agreeableness to our ear. I think I will get one.
Eton sent me this radio as a replacement for the E10 that had the sticky surface issue. I was surprised at the excellent customer service. In fact Eton swapped the first generation Elite Executive for the improved version. Who would do this!
My Eton/Grundig G6 Aviator Buzz Aldrin Edition was sticky when I bought it on a closeout deal at Radio Shack. It`s a very complicated radio but was very sensitive on AM and the lower shortwave band and had SSB and aircraft band too. Our NOAA weather bleeds over on an aircraft band frequency so it was my weather radio too! LOL! Tiny little receiver smaller than the Tecsun PL-330 or CCrane Skywave with a music/talk switch so it sounds very good for its size. I used it nearly 24/7 for almost 5 years. I left it on at night when I slept using rechargeable batteries. I got it for only 50 which surprised me. It`s so sensitive on the lower shortwave HAM bands that it overloads and the antenna has to be collapsed. But in the 14 mHz range it`s deaf. I really appreciated having it though until I could afford to get two Tecsuns (660 and 330) and an Eton Elite Executive. Sadly I dropped the G6 and broke the kickstand and battery cover. Otherwise it`s still a nice little radio. It just looks beat up.
I had the sat 750 and the dial came off and I sent them the unit and they called me to say they can't fix it but sent me a new one instead.. great customer service.
Thank you for the great review. Was on the fence with this unit, but I love aircraft listening along with everything else, and for the price on Amazon this seems like the radio for me.
Good review. I appreciate your Ham perspective. You might spring for a Belka someday. No DSP soft mute (chuffing) & the AGC is very good and it is very stable. SSB is superb. I bought mine directly from Belka. It's my best small portable.
There was a small handheld scanner that received from 100 khz to 1 GHz and it did ssb and AM/WAM/WFM/FM/NFM/SNFM I don't remember if it was an ICOM or something else It might have been a China company and they don't sell it in America It was INCREDIBLE The reception was the best I have ever seen I wish I could have bought it
Radio Topics I have the Eton Elite Executive with ssb air band mw lw fm shortwave receiver now I no how to used ssb now thanks for show me how to used ssb and not snak ssb on your utube video keep making new videos
It's a very nice and efficient receiver, but I wish it had at least the Ham UHF bands, with some digital modes. I'd certainly buy one, even if it was more expensive.
So watching your video I just discovered something new. I'm new to this I just got my radio( Eton elite executive) I wish you could do a video on all the buttons n holes!
I love my EEE, but a few things I don't like about it. 1. When searching or manually tuning the backlight goes from what you set (as example lowest brightness setting) to the brightest setting which causes the radio to suck the batteries empty faster. Also if you have the brightness set to a level it doesn't shut off the backlight when you "turn off" the radio, you have to manually turn the backlight off 2. The location of the antenna, and how the antenna is set up. 3. External antenna can't be used for AM. 4. Scanning in FM broadcast band will overwrite the memory.
Try the Tecsun PL-330. It`s superior to the CCrane EP PRO and Sangean PR-D4W on AM DXing at night with a direct connection to the tiny 9 inch AN-200 loop. I plan to build some giant loops for further testing. You can see a 16 inch pizza box loop on my channel.
Great video. It was between this model and the the Skywave SSB. I always liked the leather case on my Grundig. I went with the Skywave for the small size, ease of use, includes external wire antenna and features. Downside was the price.
I have the C.Crane CCSKywaveSSB, and the Eton Executive. Both are excellent. (( I also have the XHDATA D-808, Tecsun PL-880, The Tecsun PL-680, and the Kaito KA-1103 [ the KA-1103 is my least favorite])). 📻🙂
I bought this Eton. Very good receiver on all bands. The much less expensive Tecsun PL-330 has more stable audio on SSB compared to the Eton when both are connected to a 100 ft long wire antenna. Perhaps there are controls in the Eton to reduce or change the audio gain attack that causes clipping/distortion at the beginning of words similar to the Tecsun PL-880 on SSB? The audio remains stable on the 330 even though it has no DX/Local antenna control. I have to test the receivers more. The 330 can be set to use external AM antennas which is incredibly useful to bring AM signals into my camper and get super daytime reception with a direct connection to large homemade loops. The Eton has excellent AM broadcast band reception and is my best aircraft band radio. Of course FM is top notch too.
Yes, I have also noticed that the BFO on SSB is less stable than expected. If you give the radio a shake while on SSB, the audio 'wobbles'. I agree about the AGC as well, but there is no way that I can see of changing it from fast to medium or slow. In fact, the quality of SSB audio is a bit of a disappointment, but still useful. I guess we can't expect communications receiver features in a small portable, though😒
Love this radio. Only thing I didn't like is the DSP tuning circuitry because you have to go slowly with the tuning knob. If you know the frequency, however, or you are very patient, it really is a very good radio! Very, Very good on batteries as well!
I thought the same thing about that antenna but there is a fix you have to open it up and get right to it it’s self-explanatory but yes there’s a screw that you tighten up on the inside mine is good as new it’s been like that for over a year now right now
I enjoyed watching this video, learned a lot about the Eton that I just ordered. Very similar to the Grundig Globe Traveler G3 that I have that somehow lost its AM and shortwave capabilities. Also surprised that the airband works will on the Eton, while the G3 only worked if you were physically at the airport.
Great review thank you! I have ordered this radio from Amazon, looking forward to enjoy it. Regarding the loose antenna... Is there a screw there that might be getting loose by chance? Thanks, 73.
Enjoyed your thoughts on the Radio it really sounds good. I just purchased a ETON Elite Satellite now I have it hooked up to my outdoor antenna and it sounds fairly good. The noise floor is a bit high but it seems all the other problems have been worked through by the software update and the display fix to cut down on noise. I reserved the radio over 2&1/2 years ago so I got a really great price for it otherwise I may have stuck with my Tecsun 990 which is also a great radio for being a small radio. Anyway new sub! 73, de K9HDT
Bigger is not always better looks and sounds a lot like my Eton G3 globe traveller very good thought about getting a big all knobs and whistles table top receiver but seeing your tests I think I'll stick with the G3 and save my money
I have been using the Sony ICF -38... for AM DX....I got California and Oregon 740 San Francisco and St Helen on 1500... very good from my area in the Pacific....The problem with the Eton it is chugging... they should go back to Analog....I have a Jensen that is bad on AM... very hard to DX with it
*Thanks for the review. I've bought one because of reviews like this.* Great AM reception, but I guess I was hoping for more: It's not so great with SW in Toronto. That's not Eton's fault; the battery charging is weird, and I don't understand if it's broken or if I don't understand something; to turn it on it confuses me with pressing once or twice, or even "thrice!", then it doesn't land on the _page_ I was on previously; and the obviously-useless leather case; oh and (perhaps not finally) the double-armed antenna is weird, though... honestly I think it's actually useful; got more, ummm: programming onto a Fn key is too easy - all you need is to hold a wee bit of time; the FM tuning going backwards is messed weird and there should probably be some kind of locking system so secure your settings/stations, instead of its pretty useless function now (I mean that existing key-icon lock thing); scanning should be able to scan through your own presets, even a set of _pages_ ; the digital info should be there for radio stations, not sure why it's not; USB! _Come on, Eton, what's up?_ ; Recording would be nice too. But then... sometimes a line between simple and complex needs to be made. I don't know if some of these features I mentioned are things that exist and I don't know how to apply them, or if I'm dreaming up the best radio, like we all do. Sorry. I complain too much about everything. Did failure mode analysis in avionics and it stuck. All I can do is find fault and I don't mean to chop up a fine radio. The line input helps when alone in a quiet room and you wanna plug your guitar through an effects pedal. So that's a feature I thought useless, but instead it's useful. Had it for about a month now.
I agree about the power button. Still confounds me even now. Is it on, is it off? I still believe the radio is good value for money. That said, it's basically a Grundig spinoff, and I've seen some questionable quality Grundigs (although in fairness I've never used their flagship Satellit). Don't blame you for being critical - I would feel much better about flying if I know the avionics can be relied upon!
I don't know of a portable that would cover all bands offhand, but research well known brands like Tecsun, Sangwan and Eton to see what they offer. There are also some lesser known Chinese brands that you might find on places like AliExpress.
Let's not forget, they haven't come a long way on the finger print options either...lol Question; this radio is digital and the 750 is Analog, or am I mistaken? Thank you
Good comparison. I have to admit, I just don't like the few choices we have anymore. The digital tuning on these new radios, including the Tecsun PL880 is pretty horrible. I want the advantage of the older analogs but the size of the newer, smaller radios. To few choices I'm afraid.
I’m curious if you have tested it receiving cw signals. Can the bandwidth be set narrow enough? Thanks for your review - it was very helpful. John - WA4RXO
I'm in the market for a small radio to sit on my desk, primarily to just listen to AM/FM, but that can also be thrown in the car as a travel, or emergency receiver. Good audio quality (though that conflicts with small size, I know), Shortwave and SSB capability, AA batteries... This and the Tecsun PL-660 seem to be the two front runners. Any thoughts on which one is has the best sound quality from their small speakers?
I think the telescopic short whip has thousands of Ohms (high Z) and probably a bad mismatch to the 50 Ohm antenna port on the 7700, and might have some loss unless you use a transformer. Granted the loss isn't much for RX, but I wonder if it affects this side by side comparison.
Enjoyed very much this video, I have this radio but must admit have not experimented much with bands outside of FM broadcast. As far as adding an external antenna I would be interested in knowing what type of input jack the radio requires. Thanks for any help.
Just a further observation on this radio...not worthy of another video. I noticed the VHF aircraft band sensitivity dropped noticeably. The battery indicator showed "full" but dipped down to 2 bars briefly. I decided to fully charge the batteries anyway, et voila!, the sensitivity returned. Bottom line - don't trust the battery indicator on this radio.
Thx for the informative video. I'm considering this radio, can you tell me what sort of setup is recommended for an external antenna? Is that a DIY item or is there one you would buy for this radio? thx
Practically anything should give you improved performance. A long insulated wire stretched between the house and the tree will do. A dipole would be better, but they tend to be resonant at only one frequency. You can also buy a pre-amplified receiving loop (Google W6LVP), but be prepared to part with some coin.
Good afternoon. Would you let me know if this radio receives FM HD subchannels? I will appreciate any information you can provide concerning this radio.
I have a Tecsun PL-660. There isn`t any muting/chuffing while tuning. I can very quickly tune and find stations on the shortwave or AM broadcast band. My Eton Elite Traveler is almost useless on shortwave because of muting while tuning. I bought it because it was the only DSP radio I knew of at the time that didn`t have soft mute on AM. That`s the only real advantage of the radio and I didn`t know there were others without muting in that price range. It sounds absolutely horrible with headphones and will kill your ears with deafening pops and beeps if you hit the wrong button or change bands. I have better radios now and need to sell it or give it away. I could have bought a Sangean PR-D4W but was ignorant about that amazing radio at the time.
Hi I have a question since I want to purchase either Sony sw77 or tecsun 990x or this Eton Grundig Satellite, which turns out to be the best in term of price and performance? Thanks
Why do so many of these radios still have muting while tuning when we know it can be disabled? Surely the manufacturers know that most shortwave listeners hate it when radios do this.
It's a nice little radio! I find that mine draws heavily on the batteries, though. (NiMh) And of course, I'm still learning all the multifunction buttons. LOL Keeps me off the street, I guess. Had to subscribe, so I can follow up if you have any updates on it! 73 de Karl, VE3GUN (FN04)
Thank you for your excellent review. I just received my Elite, and the first thing I noticed was that the Auto Scan skips the 20 Meter band entirely - e.g. scans up to 13.8 MHz then jumps to 15.1 MHz and continues from there. I haven't checked yet for other band skips on Auto Tune. Is this 'normal' for the Elite, or do I have a defective item? Thanks, I'm subscribing.
I saw your question on Amazon and also answered it there. In the scan mode (where you long press the "Auto" up or down buttons), it only scans shortwave broadcast bands. In your case, it jumped from 22m to 19m, which is normal. Ham bands are not scanned in this way. The manual is not explicit on this.
I bought this Eton Elite Executive, from Amazon, USA, sometime in November 2021. It has been working fine, till a few days back, when I found there was NO sound. The dial lights up, channels and time are stored, and all keys functioning, but there is no sound. I did a factory reset, by long pressing 1, and quick pressed the reset button, still no result. All stored channels and time zone…are erased, still not even a scratch of sound. Please help and guide me on trouble shooting, I hope there's nothing very serious, Thanks,
Do you hear sound when you plug in headphones? If you do, then the headphone jack may be faulty. Also, try connecting an mp3 or similar into the line in jack and see if you hear music. If music is heard, the receiver chip(s) may have failed OR you have set the squelch too high. As far as I'm aware, there is no other mute function on this radio. If all else fails, contact Eton support
I have a ETON ELITE 750, can you tell me what type antenna connector I need to plug into the receiver so I can use the EXT ANTENNA. Now I have the long copper wire antenna going into the other EXT ANTENNA with the red clip on the radio, like to use plug in for better signals. THANK YOU, appreciate any information you may have.
Hello Andrea: The radio gives you 25 kHz steps in FAST mode and 1 kHz steps in SLOW mode on the VHF Air Band. By repeatedly pressing the tuning knob in, you will notice that it toggles between STOP (which doesn't allow you to tune), FAST and SLOW modes. Pushing and holding the tuning knob will give you SQUELCH mode. I hope this helps.
On Long Wave Northern China and Russia are on 280-289khz...in my area in the Pacific and on. medium wave Australia and New Zealand and Korea and Japan are on though out the Band
Interestingly, this is one of the many reason I chose this radio. I don't like those LCD displays that have a backlight that always goes out just when you want to see something.
NiMH has advantages, I prefer it, and you can swap in allkalines. Get external solar, built in panels are too small. Totally agree on USB jack for power vs coax 6v. You probably could use a usb A to coax plug cable at 5V. The NiMH charging is a little ridiculous- timed C/10 is NiCd level tech.
I unpacked my Eton Elite Executive and wasn't impressed at all. I live within 10 miles of an urban area and scanned the AM band, only four stations came through and three of those were too weak to listen to comfortably. Dx switch had no discernible effect. Probably the worst AM receiver I've ever used. I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
The DX/Local switch only functions on bands using the telescoping or external antenna input...eg SW, FM & Air Band. This is because AM & LW use the internal ferrite core antenna. In terms of sensitivity, it should be good on AM. I would consider sending it back if sensitivity is poor.
Creating page memories and labelling them is a bit too involved for a quick answer here. I would recommend referring to the manual on pages 13/14 for how to set up a page and page 15 for how to label a page.
My two biggest performance complaints about this radio: 1) If you get near the transmitter of any medium wave station, even a 100 milliwatt Part 15, the sensitivity in that station's area of the band decreases remarkably. Nearby stations don't have enough loudness even with the volume control turned all the way up. You don't get this problem with any of the Sangean portables. 2) Even though the audio quality of AM mode in the 6 kHz bandwidth is remarkable (like a small version of a GE/RCA Superadio), the audio quality of SSB is as muddy as most post-2002 AM radios. The SSB bandwidth is a poor choice. (Standard AM shortwave sounds much better even using the 4 khz bandwidth).
I don't live near a medium wave transmitter site, but I tried to emulate your problem using an RF generator with a short antenna. With the radio's ferrite antenna broadside and right next to the generator's antenna, I found that the receiver would de-sensitize over about +/-200 kHz around the generator frequency, but not dramatically. Backing the radio off by about 10cm, the de-sensitized bandwidth would reduce to about +/-20-30 kHz. This effect was more emphasized at the low end of the MW band. Two things could cause this -a sloppy front end tuning circuit or a misbehaving AGC. Since this is a DSP radio, I'm not sure if they implemented AGC digitally or in analog fashion. There seems to be no way to adjust it or switch it off to test this. I agree that SSB isn't as clear as on a good old fashioned analog radio, but again, DSP is responsible for that. Too bad it's creating a problem for you. I think that's one of the shortcomings we have to deal with on portable radios - compromises in design.
Have you been keeping up with the latest Eton drama with the Eton Satellit HD? I'm so, so happy NOT to be an early adopter on that product. My Tecsun PL-368 is a better performer at a 10th of the price than the new Eton receiver. That's really not a great look for Eton. Shame given how utterly fantastic a performer the Eton Elite Executive is.
Absolutely I have. Eton should be ashamed for trying to put out garbage at a premium price. I think they are hoping to cash in on the Grinding legacy, which they inherited. It's going to take a lot of marketing back-pedalling to restore their reputation.
Thank you for this review. So many UA-camrs 'review' a product merely by regurgitating marketing info instead of actually testing the products. I can read marketing info myself.
Again, thank you.
Just received my Elite Executive lately and I too was a bit perplexed when wanting to tune in SSB via the bottom button. I was outside on a clear night with no interference but I received nothing except noise. Got back in the house to browse UA-cam to try and figure out why.
Am I glad I came across your channel...now I receive SSB loud and clear! This radio is superb and so are your vids mate.
Thanks a lot mate!
Thanks David. Glad I could help!
Hi sir, could you recommend me this radio or panasonic RF 2400D. I want for my dad in india
@@gurneetsingh6100 hello... I've read that Panasonic is quite good too, but I've never owned one to be sure. I'm quite satisfied with this Eton Executive...especially at a reduced price. Good luck.
After a while I don't even notice the chuffing noise on my Eton Executive. Thanks for the great review, I completely agree.
In the late 1980's my husband picked up Atlantic 252 . This was on a summer evening in Antigonish Nova Scotia. This was his only experience with a European Long Wave Radio Station. Cheers.
Hi, Thank you for this video. I recently purchased the previous Elite version of this radio.By all accounts, this is much the same as the Executive except for the color of its case. I have been dxing for many years and I think that it is a good radio on SW and FM. As for MW performance, I have had no issues. Mine is very sensitive. I am able to hear relatively low powered MW stations from England and Ireland, up here in Scotland. LW broadcast sensitivity is only fair but acceptable. In many ways this radio is similar to the XHDATA D808. 73 and GDX
Great review and great comparison. Thank you for putting this together. I think it has convinced me to purchase one (after watching several reviews on this, and other portable radios). Well done!
Thank you David.
I just ordered mine directly from Eton will arrive Wednesday! Thank you you helped convince me that I did a good upgrade from my old Sony 111 that I have owned since 2004. I always wanted to listen to SSB and my local airports here in kansas. As a former CB SSB radio user it’s nice to get back into doing this again.
My Eton is the most sensitive on airband of all my radios and the best on SSB too. Very good on the AM band as well. I can`t wait to test it soon (after I move) with a proper external antenna.
I just purchased one over the Tecsun PL-880 or the PL-680. The Eton is a fantastic radio. Thanks for the great content.
I got my Eton Elite Executive for $80 US on a special deal at Woot (an Amazon company) in August of 2022. It costs $180 US at Amazon now in May 2023. I wouldn't have bought it at today's price.
My experience with the radio is quite similar to yours, but I wouldn't travel with it -- it's too heavy, it's too expensive to replace, and you either have to take along the battery charger (and whatever power adapters you need), or buy AA batteries. For travel I'd take the smaller and lighter Tecsun PL-330 that I can charge with a USB cable. One correction: the Eton takes 4 AA batteries, not 3.
One odd limitation of the Eton is that auto tune storage (ATS) only works on FM.
Your segment on RDS was informative. No FM station in my area (central Virginia in the US) has an FM station with RDS time data.
As a fellow ham operator, I say a very good review. I'm considering getting one. 73 de N5NUK.
Absolutely excellent review. I can tell by your presentation skills and manner in which you review things you have exactly the personality of someone I would be friends with. Well done sir.
You earned my subscription. You actually know how to test radios objectively! A rarity on UA-cam.
The Eaton sounds better for voice. I'm impressed. Thanks!
Just bought this radio. Haven't used it but it had all the features I wanted. Thank you for showing the basics of this radio. I'm subscribed..
Hello - Mike Here.......Just getting into emergency/Communications radio. With what's going on out there in society, I think its a good idea to be able to at least listen in to others out there reporting, and to be able to get information, if things go south. I like the review you gave here, because your a Ham guy, and you know what your talking about, especially when discussing SSB. I may have some questions for you, if that's ok. There is another Ham radio operator that is on the John Moore show I catch Mon-Fri on Republic Broadcasting, Its online....He is a guest once a week, Tom Berryhill I believe, maybe you know him. I am in Michigan near Lake Huron/St Clair River. Sarnia is right across the way. Have a blessed week!!
Excellent! The video's host has a clue. My Eton is joyful to operate and listen to. Compared with my venerable Yeasu Ft-950, the little Eton rocks. Topic not covered was the radio's ability to manage rechargeable batteries. Sweet rig!
This is the best radio review and comparison I've seen yet on You Tube. Good job! You've convinced me to buy the Elite Executive, it should be here in four days. Thanks for the great review.
Great Review- new sub. - I think the Speaker frequency response on the Eton has considerable factor in it's agreeableness to our ear. I think I will get one.
I just picked this Eton up. Waiting for my sangean 909x2 to get back with its v73 update so I can compare these two receivers
And thank you for your review!!!!
Eton sent me this radio as a replacement for the E10 that had the sticky surface issue. I was surprised at the excellent customer service. In fact Eton swapped the first generation Elite Executive for the improved version. Who would do this!
Excellent!
My Eton/Grundig G6 Aviator Buzz Aldrin Edition was sticky when I bought it on a closeout deal at Radio Shack. It`s a very complicated radio but was very sensitive on AM and the lower shortwave band and had SSB and aircraft band too. Our NOAA weather bleeds over on an aircraft band frequency so it was my weather radio too! LOL! Tiny little receiver smaller than the Tecsun PL-330 or CCrane Skywave with a music/talk switch so it sounds very good for its size.
I used it nearly 24/7 for almost 5 years. I left it on at night when I slept using rechargeable batteries. I got it for only 50 which surprised me. It`s so sensitive on the lower shortwave HAM bands that it overloads and the antenna has to be collapsed. But in the 14 mHz range it`s deaf. I really appreciated having it though until I could afford to get two Tecsuns (660 and 330) and an Eton Elite Executive. Sadly I dropped the G6 and broke the kickstand and battery cover. Otherwise it`s still a nice little radio. It just looks beat up.
I had the sat 750 and the dial came off and I sent them the unit and they called me to say they can't fix it but sent me a new one instead.. great customer service.
Thank you for the great review. Was on the fence with this unit, but I love aircraft listening along with everything else, and for the price on Amazon this seems like the radio for me.
I love mine because I can scan the aircraft band for active signals. It`s the most sensitive of my airband receivers.
Good review. I appreciate your Ham perspective. You might spring for a Belka someday. No DSP soft mute (chuffing) & the AGC is very good and it is very stable. SSB is superb. I bought mine directly from Belka. It's my best small portable.
There was a small handheld scanner that received from 100 khz to 1 GHz and it did ssb and AM/WAM/WFM/FM/NFM/SNFM
I don't remember if it was an ICOM or something else
It might have been a China company and they don't sell it in America
It was INCREDIBLE
The reception was the best I have ever seen
I wish I could have bought it
If you really want to be amazed, try a Belka DX. It costs less than the Elite Executive, but surpasses the Eton's performance on HF by a wide margin.
looks like Belka DX is $350 - yikes
Just bought one. Really impressive.
Radio Topics I have the Eton Elite Executive with ssb air band mw lw fm shortwave receiver now I no how to used ssb now thanks for show me how to used ssb and not snak ssb on your utube video keep making new videos
It's a very nice and efficient receiver, but I wish it had at least the Ham UHF bands, with some digital modes. I'd certainly buy one, even if it was more expensive.
So watching your video I just discovered something new. I'm new to this I just got my radio( Eton elite executive) I wish you could do a video on all the buttons n holes!
I'll give that some thought, but no promises😉
Considering this radio here in the Philippines. More research to see what kind of channels/reception I should expect here.
Very professional review, I like it and as per your recommendation I also prefer to purchase this radio.....
I love my EEE, but a few things I don't like about it.
1. When searching or manually tuning the backlight goes from what you set (as example lowest brightness setting) to the brightest setting which causes the radio to suck the batteries empty faster. Also if you have the brightness set to a level it doesn't shut off the backlight when you "turn off" the radio, you have to manually turn the backlight off
2. The location of the antenna, and how the antenna is set up.
3. External antenna can't be used for AM.
4. Scanning in FM broadcast band will overwrite the memory.
Try the Tecsun PL-330. It`s superior to the CCrane EP PRO and Sangean PR-D4W on AM DXing at night with a direct connection to the tiny 9 inch AN-200 loop. I plan to build some giant loops for further testing. You can see a 16 inch pizza box loop on my channel.
Nice direct comparison! Good job on this!
Great video. It was between this model and the the Skywave SSB. I always liked the leather case on my Grundig. I went with the Skywave for the small size, ease of use, includes external wire antenna and features. Downside was the price.
I have the C.Crane CCSKywaveSSB, and the Eton Executive.
Both are excellent.
(( I also have the XHDATA D-808, Tecsun PL-880,
The Tecsun PL-680, and the Kaito KA-1103 [ the KA-1103 is my least favorite])).
📻🙂
@jeffking4176 which one IS your favorite
@@1bads5 I can’t pick anything up on shortwave. Disappointed but will serve as am/fm and weather radio in emergencies.
Great review on the radio, thanks
Thank you for the comparison. Just getting into this.
I bought this Eton. Very good receiver on all bands. The much less expensive Tecsun PL-330 has more stable audio on SSB compared to the Eton when both are connected to a 100 ft long wire antenna. Perhaps there are controls in the Eton to reduce or change the audio gain attack that causes clipping/distortion at the beginning of words similar to the Tecsun PL-880 on SSB? The audio remains stable on the 330 even though it has no DX/Local antenna control. I have to test the receivers more. The 330 can be set to use external AM antennas which is incredibly useful to bring AM signals into my camper and get super daytime reception with a direct connection to large homemade loops. The Eton has excellent AM broadcast band reception and is my best aircraft band radio. Of course FM is top notch too.
Yes, I have also noticed that the BFO on SSB is less stable than expected. If you give the radio a shake while on SSB, the audio 'wobbles'. I agree about the AGC as well, but there is no way that I can see of changing it from fast to medium or slow. In fact, the quality of SSB audio is a bit of a disappointment, but still useful. I guess we can't expect communications receiver features in a small portable, though😒
Great review. I had this radio. The antenna gave me trouble.
Thank you for the time you put into this!
How does this compare to newer options like the XH-DATA 808? or D109?
Excellent review...thanks!
Love this radio. Only thing I didn't like is the DSP tuning circuitry because you have to go slowly with the tuning knob. If you know the frequency, however, or you are very patient, it really is a very good radio! Very, Very good on batteries as well!
I thought the same thing about that antenna but there is a fix you have to open it up and get right to it it’s self-explanatory but yes there’s a screw that you tighten up on the inside mine is good as new it’s been like that for over a year now right now
Very nice review thanks! Looks like it may perform similar to the xdata radio, at least externally this is the impression I get.
I enjoyed watching this video, learned a lot about the Eton that I just ordered. Very similar to the Grundig Globe Traveler G3 that I have that somehow lost its AM and shortwave capabilities. Also surprised that the airband works will on the Eton, while the G3 only worked if you were physically at the airport.
Try loosening the screw at the antenna base first, then tighten. I've done this several times over the years and the antenna became very tight.
Great review, very helpful thanks!!
Great review thank you! I have ordered this radio from Amazon, looking forward to enjoy it. Regarding the loose antenna... Is there a screw there that might be getting loose by chance? Thanks, 73.
It indeed was a loose screw, but you had to take the radio apart to get at it. I outlined the repair in another video on this channel.
Thanks a lot for the review! Sounds like a very good purchase!
Enjoyed your thoughts on the Radio it really sounds good. I just purchased a ETON Elite Satellite now I have it hooked up to my outdoor antenna and it sounds fairly good. The noise floor is a bit high but it seems all the other problems have been worked through by the software update and the display fix to cut down on noise. I reserved the radio over 2&1/2 years ago so I got a really great price for it otherwise I may have stuck with my Tecsun 990 which is also a great radio for being a small radio. Anyway new sub! 73, de K9HDT
Well, its not an Icom 7300! lol
Bigger is not always better looks and sounds a lot like my Eton G3 globe traveller very good thought about getting a big all knobs and whistles table top receiver but seeing your tests I think I'll stick with the G3 and save my money
Nice review. Easy delivery.
Thank You!
I have been using the Sony ICF -38... for AM DX....I got California and Oregon 740 San Francisco and St Helen on 1500... very good from my area in the Pacific....The problem with the Eton it is chugging... they should go back to Analog....I have a Jensen that is bad on AM... very hard to DX with it
*Thanks for the review. I've bought one because of reviews like this.*
Great AM reception, but I guess I was hoping for more:
It's not so great with SW in Toronto. That's not Eton's fault; the battery charging is weird, and I don't understand if it's broken or if I don't understand something; to turn it on it confuses me with pressing once or twice, or even "thrice!", then it doesn't land on the _page_ I was on previously; and the obviously-useless leather case; oh and (perhaps not finally) the double-armed antenna is weird, though... honestly I think it's actually useful; got more, ummm: programming onto a Fn key is too easy - all you need is to hold a wee bit of time; the FM tuning going backwards is messed weird and there should probably be some kind of locking system so secure your settings/stations, instead of its pretty useless function now (I mean that existing key-icon lock thing); scanning should be able to scan through your own presets, even a set of _pages_ ; the digital info should be there for radio stations, not sure why it's not; USB! _Come on, Eton, what's up?_ ; Recording would be nice too. But then... sometimes a line between simple and complex needs to be made.
I don't know if some of these features I mentioned are things that exist and I don't know how to apply them, or if I'm dreaming up the best radio, like we all do.
Sorry. I complain too much about everything. Did failure mode analysis in avionics and it stuck. All I can do is find fault and I don't mean to chop up a fine radio.
The line input helps when alone in a quiet room and you wanna plug your guitar through an effects pedal. So that's a feature I thought useless, but instead it's useful.
Had it for about a month now.
I agree about the power button. Still confounds me even now. Is it on, is it off? I still believe the radio is good value for money. That said, it's basically a Grundig spinoff, and I've seen some questionable quality Grundigs (although in fairness I've never used their flagship Satellit). Don't blame you for being critical - I would feel much better about flying if I know the avionics can be relied upon!
Thanks for the review! 73
Great detailed review! What would you recommend for a great prep emergency radio that can pick up police, weather etc? Thanks
I don't know of a portable that would cover all bands offhand, but research well known brands like Tecsun, Sangwan and Eton to see what they offer. There are also some lesser known Chinese brands that you might find on places like AliExpress.
Let's not forget, they haven't come a long way on the finger print options either...lol Question; this radio is digital and the 750 is Analog, or am I mistaken? Thank you
Thanks for such an in-depth video :)
Good comparison. I have to admit, I just don't like the few choices we have anymore. The digital tuning on these new radios, including the Tecsun PL880 is pretty horrible. I want the advantage of the older analogs but the size of the newer, smaller radios. To few choices I'm afraid.
Agreed. My analog desktop radios are never leaving my possession for that very reason!
Try the Tecsun PL-660. It tunes more like an analog without muting. Very fast ability to scan the bands with the tuning knob.
@@baneverything5580 Thanks for the input.
I’m curious if you have tested it receiving cw signals. Can the bandwidth be set narrow enough?
Thanks for your review - it was very helpful.
John - WA4RXO
In SSB mode, it will go down to 500Hz bandwidth. I don't work CW any more, so I'm not sure whether or not that's sufficient. Hope this helps
I'm in the market for a small radio to sit on my desk, primarily to just listen to AM/FM, but that can also be thrown in the car as a travel, or emergency receiver. Good audio quality (though that conflicts with small size, I know), Shortwave and SSB capability, AA batteries... This and the Tecsun PL-660 seem to be the two front runners. Any thoughts on which one is has the best sound quality from their small speakers?
Check out OfficialSWLChannel on UA-cam. I believe he has reviewed both radios.
Would you purchase the etom or the tecsun 500x great review
I think the telescopic short whip has thousands of Ohms (high Z) and probably a bad mismatch to the 50 Ohm antenna port on the 7700, and might have some loss unless you use a transformer. Granted the loss isn't much for RX, but I wonder if it affects this side by side comparison.
Solid!
Top KEK!
Why would you support or buy any radio that mutes between stations and has AGC problems because it uses a chip?
Enjoyed very much this video, I have this radio but must admit have not experimented much with bands outside of FM broadcast. As far as adding an external antenna I would be interested in knowing what type of input jack the radio requires. Thanks for any help.
It uses a mono 3.5mm plug on the Antenna jack.
This is the second video I am watching about this radio. Does it have a weather band ?
There is no VHF weather band on this radio. The highest it goes is the aircraft band
Just a further observation on this radio...not worthy of another video. I noticed the VHF aircraft band sensitivity dropped noticeably. The battery indicator showed "full" but dipped down to 2 bars briefly. I decided to fully charge the batteries anyway, et voila!, the sensitivity returned. Bottom line - don't trust the battery indicator on this radio.
P
Thx for the informative video. I'm considering this radio, can you tell me what sort of setup is recommended for an external antenna? Is that a DIY item or is there one you would buy for this radio? thx
Practically anything should give you improved performance. A long insulated wire stretched between the house and the tree will do. A dipole would be better, but they tend to be resonant at only one frequency. You can also buy a pre-amplified receiving loop (Google W6LVP), but be prepared to part with some coin.
Good afternoon. Would you let me know if this radio receives FM HD subchannels? I will appreciate any information you can provide concerning this radio.
Not that I know of.
Nice review 👍
I have a Tecsun PL-660. There isn`t any muting/chuffing while tuning. I can very quickly tune and find stations on the shortwave or AM broadcast band. My Eton Elite Traveler is almost useless on shortwave because of muting while tuning. I bought it because it was the only DSP radio I knew of at the time that didn`t have soft mute on AM. That`s the only real advantage of the radio and I didn`t know there were others without muting in that price range. It sounds absolutely horrible with headphones and will kill your ears with deafening pops and beeps if you hit the wrong button or change bands. I have better radios now and need to sell it or give it away. I could have bought a Sangean PR-D4W but was ignorant about that amazing radio at the time.
Hi I have a question since I want to purchase either Sony sw77 or tecsun 990x or this Eton Grundig Satellite, which turns out to be the best in term of price and performance? Thanks
Check out OfficialSWLChannel on UA-cam. He compares many radios and may well have reviewed the ones you are interested in.
Why do so many of these radios still have muting while tuning when we know it can be disabled? Surely the manufacturers know that most shortwave listeners hate it when radios do this.
I've read conflicting opinions regarding the Eton Elite Executive's external antenna port. Does it require a stereo or mono 3.5mm miniplug?
I use a mono connector with good results.
Thanks! @@radiotopics1874
Which loop antenna do recommend for this radio? There are several choices and I'm not sure which to get.
Check out what W6LVP has. I have one of his amplified loops. Not cheap, but worth it as loop antennas go.
You can buy the AN-200 but you can build a superior loop from a 16 inch pizza box, 17 turns of 22-24 AWG magnet wire, and a 450 pf tuning capacitor.
It's a nice little radio! I find that mine draws heavily on the batteries, though. (NiMh) And of course, I'm still learning all the multifunction buttons. LOL Keeps me off the street, I guess. Had to subscribe, so I can follow up if you have any updates on it! 73 de Karl, VE3GUN (FN04)
Thank you for your excellent review. I just received my Elite, and the first thing I noticed was that the Auto Scan skips the 20 Meter band entirely - e.g. scans up to 13.8 MHz then jumps to 15.1 MHz and continues from there. I haven't checked yet for other band skips on Auto Tune.
Is this 'normal' for the Elite, or do I have a defective item? Thanks, I'm subscribing.
I saw your question on Amazon and also answered it there. In the scan mode (where you long press the "Auto" up or down buttons), it only scans shortwave broadcast bands. In your case, it jumped from 22m to 19m, which is normal. Ham bands are not scanned in this way. The manual is not explicit on this.
@@radiotopics1874 Thank you. I think some of the other ham bands are skipped too. Still a good radio!
A travel radio that comes with a 110v power adapter. They should have included a travel power adapter 100-240v
I bought this Eton Elite Executive, from Amazon, USA, sometime in November 2021.
It has been working fine, till a few days back, when I found there was NO sound.
The dial lights up, channels and time are stored, and all keys functioning, but there is no sound.
I did a factory reset, by long pressing 1, and quick pressed the reset button, still no result.
All stored channels and time zone…are erased, still not even a scratch of sound.
Please help and guide me on trouble shooting, I hope there's nothing very serious, Thanks,
Do you hear sound when you plug in headphones? If you do, then the headphone jack may be faulty. Also, try connecting an mp3 or similar into the line in jack and see if you hear music. If music is heard, the receiver chip(s) may have failed OR you have set the squelch too high. As far as I'm aware, there is no other mute function on this radio. If all else fails, contact Eton support
hello from VU land :)
I have the Eton Elite Executive I am not happy with my Eton Elite Executive it does not work on ssb fine tuning does not I am going to get tensun 909x
I have a ETON ELITE 750, can you tell me what type antenna connector I need to plug into the receiver so I can use the EXT ANTENNA. Now I have the long copper wire antenna going into the other EXT ANTENNA with the red clip on the radio, like to use plug in for better signals. THANK YOU, appreciate any information you may have.
It's BNC.
I have this radio awesome dx machine well pleased 😀
hi,i'm andrea.z .
is possible step 1 khz or 5 khz into air band am vhf? beacouse now is the new step frequenzy 8,33khz for air band. thank's.
Hello Andrea:
The radio gives you 25 kHz steps in FAST mode and 1 kHz steps in SLOW mode on the VHF Air Band. By repeatedly pressing the tuning knob in, you will notice that it toggles between STOP (which doesn't allow you to tune), FAST and SLOW modes. Pushing and holding the tuning knob will give you SQUELCH mode.
I hope this helps.
@@radiotopics1874 thank you very much for all information!!! Good listening all band!!! 73
On Long Wave Northern China and Russia are on 280-289khz...in my area in the Pacific and on. medium wave Australia and New Zealand and Korea and Japan are on though out the Band
O rádio é PLL ou DSP ?
wow, excellent review, 73! XE2DHA
Can you turn off permanently the display backlight on this unit ?
I don't believe so. You can, however, adjust it to a very low level by repeatedly short-pressing the Light/EDIT button.
@@radiotopics1874 Thanks
Interestingly, this is one of the many reason I chose this radio. I don't like those LCD displays that have a backlight that always goes out just when you want to see something.
@@OmegaTI I did open my grundig and covered the LED with a piece of plastic. Now the display backlight is much dimmer and easier to the eyes at night
Radio is nice. I like the knob tuning.
Cons:
1.NIMH .. really?, they are obsolete
2. It should have 5V USB power in
3. Should have solar
NiMH has advantages, I prefer it, and you can swap in allkalines. Get external solar, built in panels are too small. Totally agree on USB jack for power vs coax 6v. You probably could use a usb A to coax plug cable at 5V. The NiMH charging is a little ridiculous- timed C/10 is NiCd level tech.
Can anyone recommend an external antenna for this radio
how much better is Eton Elite Execute than Sony icf sw7600g ?
Personally, I have not tried the Sony, but you might want to check out OfficialSWLChannel to see if he has done the comparison.
I unpacked my Eton Elite Executive and wasn't impressed at all. I live within 10 miles of an urban area and scanned the AM band, only four stations came through and three of those were too weak to listen to comfortably. Dx switch had no discernible effect. Probably the worst AM receiver I've ever used.
I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
The DX/Local switch only functions on bands using the telescoping or external antenna input...eg SW, FM & Air Band. This is because AM & LW use the internal ferrite core antenna. In terms of sensitivity, it should be good on AM. I would consider sending it back if sensitivity is poor.
How to store the frequency using the page memmory for short wave m wave and fm
Creating page memories and labelling them is a bit too involved for a quick answer here. I would recommend referring to the manual on pages 13/14 for how to set up a page and page 15 for how to label a page.
Hello do you use indoor antenna any types thank you
I use a W6LVP loop for my desktop radio, but I find that the Eton has very good sensitivity with just the built in antenna.
How does it compare to c cranes version
I don't know, personally, but you may find a comparison on OfficialSWLchannel here on UA-cam.
A mudança de faixa das frequências salvas é via botão redondo da lateral ?
Hello. Does this radio have Bluetooth?
Unfortunately, no
@@radiotopics1874 thank you, I'm looking to buy but not here in Brazil.
Mine uses 4 AA batteries.
My two biggest performance complaints about this radio:
1) If you get near the transmitter of any medium wave station, even a 100 milliwatt Part 15, the sensitivity in that station's area of the band decreases remarkably. Nearby stations don't have enough loudness even with the volume control turned all the way up. You don't get this problem with any of the Sangean portables.
2) Even though the audio quality of AM mode in the 6 kHz bandwidth is remarkable (like a small version of a GE/RCA Superadio), the audio quality of SSB is as muddy as most post-2002 AM radios. The SSB bandwidth is a poor choice. (Standard AM shortwave sounds much better even using the 4 khz bandwidth).
I don't live near a medium wave transmitter site, but I tried to emulate your problem using an RF generator with a short antenna. With the radio's ferrite antenna broadside and right next to the generator's antenna, I found that the receiver would de-sensitize over about +/-200 kHz around the generator frequency, but not dramatically. Backing the radio off by about 10cm, the de-sensitized bandwidth would reduce to about +/-20-30 kHz. This effect was more emphasized at the low end of the MW band.
Two things could cause this -a sloppy front end tuning circuit or a misbehaving AGC. Since this is a DSP radio, I'm not sure if they implemented AGC digitally or in analog fashion. There seems to be no way to adjust it or switch it off to test this. I agree that SSB isn't as clear as on a good old fashioned analog radio, but again, DSP is responsible for that.
Too bad it's creating a problem for you. I think that's one of the shortcomings we have to deal with on portable radios - compromises in design.
Have you been keeping up with the latest Eton drama with the Eton Satellit HD? I'm so, so happy NOT to be an early adopter on that product. My Tecsun PL-368 is a better performer at a 10th of the price than the new Eton receiver. That's really not a great look for Eton. Shame given how utterly fantastic a performer the Eton Elite Executive is.
Absolutely I have. Eton should be ashamed for trying to put out garbage at a premium price. I think they are hoping to cash in on the Grinding legacy, which they inherited. It's going to take a lot of marketing back-pedalling to restore their reputation.
Grinding, not Grinding. Damn auto spell.
Arggh I give up trying to spell the name of that German company (grundig)
@@radiotopics1874 Tecsun must be quite happy at this point. The new top dog in consumer/enthusiast level receivers.
@@radiotopics1874 Personally, I don't see how they get past this debacle short of a full recall and redesign. Ouch.