The radio arrived yesterday. For those who wish to find out more about the new Eton Satellite note that the Satellite in the name of the radio is spelt without the trailing E, I would never had known this if it weren’t for my Braille Display <smile>.
List members would have read the review of the radio I posted and I agree with pretty much every point in the review so there’s little point me going back over old ground. Audio out of the speaker less than 3 inches in size is nothing short of impressive, not as good as the audio from the Tecsun PL880 but still good all the same and of course the speaker of the PL880 is a 4 inch unit so if its audio quality you’re looking for in a small unit then the Tecsun PL880 sets the bar though its slightly bigger than the Eton. The Eton is well thought out in just about every way, everything from the double-jointed telescopic whip to the arrangement of functions. The presets are arranged in pages, press the “Page” button and you can type in a number of a page of presets followed by the page button to get there. Once there just press one of the preset buttons above the keypad or tune to a station and hold down the preset button for 3 seconds to set. This Satellite is one of the very few radio sets around that performs well on each and every band and I can only say its about time. The clicks when turning the jog dial feel most satisfying so you’re not going to accidentally turn 2 clicks instead of 1, certainly one of the best mechanisms I’ve seen in a jog-dial. The speed of the dial can be changed either between fast, slow or off by repeatedly pressing the dial. I’m extremely glad Eton chose to add an Aux-In function to the radio though this function isn’t immediately obvious to the user, the Line-out jack can be switched to an Aux-In jack so the user can take full advantage of the audio powered packed into the radio through an external source. Stereo headphones sound really nice through this radio, perhaps a little quiet for some models of stereo but good enough for most. so is the Satellite worth the $200 U.S. price tag? Most certainly and I have the feeling this is the last great Shortwave radio we’re going to see for quite some time, or perhaps this radio may well be the last we’ll see in a good line of radios, time will tell. ********** Those of a positive and enquiring frame of mind will leave the rest of the halfwits in this world behind.
