[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] ARC SHORTS AUG 2018 Supplimental

[Rick Bunn]

ARC SHORTS
August 2018 Supplement



This review was submitted by Tom, KJ4FUU, but I forgot to include it in the
ARC SHORTS.  Below is a great review by Tom of the CountryComm GP-5 SSB.
May of us fondly remember the transistor radios of the 60s, but they have
gave way to other forms of entertainment.  However, if you lose power,
having a portable radio around is very handy.  No need for the internet to
get the news or the weather.  There are several radios that provide not only
AM/FM broadcast, but Weather channels and access to the shortwave band.
Tom's review below is very well done.

I recently bought a CountyComm GP-5 SSB (Gen 3) portable radio. The price,
$89.95 was pretty good for a receiver that covers from part of the long wave
band to 29.999Mhz and includes SSB. After playing with it for a few days,
here are my thoughts.

REVIEW OF CountryComm GP-5 SSB. By Tom, KJ4FUU

Pros:

1.)	CHEAP for a radio that does single side band.
2.)	Pocket sized, or you can use the belt clip.
3.)	Add on external antenna with some directional ability for AM
broadcast.
4.)	Decent audio.
5.)	Has a USB port for recharging RECHARGEABLE batteries (not for use
with Alkaline or others).
6.)	Plenty of memories.
7.)	Can receive FM broadcast, in case the hams are boring that day.

Cons:

1.)	NO digital input. You have to move the dial to change frequencies.
This can be mitigated and the process is described below.
2.)	Not the user-friendliest interface I've ever seen. I've seen worse,
though.
3.)	TINY buttons (not big, fat finger friendly).
4.)	Built-in antenna may not be the strongest, so take care when
opening/collapsing it.
5.)	Receiver mutes when changing frequencies.
6.)	1khz is the finest adjustment possible while tuning.
7.)	Durability may be an issue. A warning is issued about using anything
other than the supplied AM antenna.

This radio is a rebranded (and possibly modified) Tecsun PL-365. Amazon does
not sell that one, but they sell the PL-360, which has NO SSB capability. I
bought mine directly from CountyComm, but it is also available from
Universal Radio. Mine came with a bunch of frequencies near the ham bands
already in memory, so adjusting in the ham bands wasn't too terrible (this
is the mitigation I mentioned above; if it isn't in the radio yet, you
should add a bunch of presets to allow you to skip around without wearing
out your tuning finger). It still wasn't as convenient as direct frequency
entry, though. I think the BFO may be somewhat adjustable when dealing with
the lack of any fine tuning, but so far, I haven't run into any issues. My
radio copies SSB and CW on 40 meters just fine. You aren't likely to run
into any AM station that uses an odd frequency offset, so the 1khz
limitation in tuning shouldn't be a problem. On FM, I was able to easily
receive my favorite station, WIYY (97.9Mhz) in Baltimore from my bedroom.

You can use an external antenna, but it is only the kind that clips onto the
existing antenna. Ear buds are included, but so far, I've only used it in a
quiet environment where they weren't needed. As mentioned above, the radio
fits in a pocket, however it is rather long so a lot of it will be left
sticking out if you put it in a shirt pocket. There is a lot of plastic
involved, so I don't know that the radio could take much abuse, but we're
hams and don't abuse radios (our own radios, at least).

Conclusion: It's a pretty good radio for the money. While it has
limitations, there are some mitigations, and the receiver seems OK. Maybe
not as sensitive as an Elecraft or TenTec, but we're not talking that kind
of money either.

This radio is a very portable, modestly priced shortwave receiver that will
do SSB. If you can't open the attached e-mail, let me know and I'll cut and
paste the text into another e-mail.

    73,

-- Tom KJ4FUU