Review of Radio Shack Accurian 12-1686 HD receiver by Bob Foxworth - in 4 parts
I bought a RS Accurian HD radio for evaluation on a promotional sale and rebate which ended last Saturday. I bought it at a R-S store in the Citrus Park Mall, in a factory boxed carton. The young sales clerk knew what it was and did not mistake it for X-M/Sirius, and said they were selling "lots" of them, though I have to put that in some context. They said I could return it within 30 days, which I might yet do. With the rebate this made the net $100, within my pricing model. The box contains the receiver (and remote), power supply, and 1 AM and 2 FM external antennas. The receiver is approx 7.5 inches high x 12 in. wide x 6 in deep (max) and presents a slightly curved panel with 2 speakers, one in each side and a control area in the middle. There was a slight temp. rise from the top air vent. The brick power supply is appx 4-3/4 x 2-1/4 x 1-3/8 inches and accepts a standard PC 3-pin cord on one end and has a cable feeding a barrel connector on the other, which goes to the rcvr. The power supply output rating is DC 5V at 5 A. The receiver tunes AM 530 to 1710 in 10 kHz steps, with a rollover at the ends, and the FM tunes 88 to 108 MHz. The AM loop is a plastic rectangular frame appx 5-3/4 in wide x 5 in high with seven turns of maybe 28 ga stranded wire solenoid wound on the frame. There is no tuning or resonating cap. The two ends of the winding lead to a appx 6-1/2 foot mini coax leadin, terminating in two tinned wire pigtails, heat-shrunk at both ends. These tinned leads are placed into the antenna input pushclips by the user. There is a choice of two FM antennas, either a single unipole of length 4 ft 10 inches, or a dipole (not folded) made of mini twinlead with a feedline of 4 ft 10 inches and the tee is 31 inches each side. Each FM antenna terminates in a F connector and has plastic hanger eyelets. The instruction book is 13 pages, well illustrated and moderately technical at a user level, but has no real technical internal operational receiver info. end part 1 of 4 _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
