Thursday, January 05, 2017

Grundig Hit Boy 100

In Wednesday's post I wrote about some of the receivers and antennas I use for tuning in to the Dutch pirates. I briefly mentioned it was possible to hear these stations using inexpensive equipment, so I thought I'd prove that theory with a very nice little radio I was given at Christmas - the Grundig Hit Boy 100, built in 1980. The one I got has been reconditioned and is in superb condition.



On Wednesday night I had a tune around at the top of the MW band without any antenna other than the in-built ferrite rod. And, sure enough, I heard Uniek on 1619 and Napoleon on 1622 kHz - it was even possible to separate the two stations who were transmitting at the same time. This reception was indoors where there is any amount of noise knocking around from the appliances around the home.

Tonight (Thursday) I thought I'd throw my little portable loop antenna into the mix to see what I could hear. I took the setup outside into the garden (I must be mad, it was freezing!) and made a small video of the results:




As you can see and hear, that's super reception of the Zwarte Arabier on 1620 kHz. I also heard Witte Tornado coming in pretty well on 1647. So you really can hear pirates stations without all the fuss and expense of big desktop receivers, and it's fun tuning around without know exactly what frequency you're listening to.

3 comments:

  1. Hi David - HNY. How, if at all, do you attach your Wellbrook to the Grundig?

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  2. Hi Charlie. Happy new year to you as well. Unfortunately there is no external antenna socket on the little Grundig, so it's the portable box loop only. But, as you can see from the video, that can certainly be good enough. Cheers

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  3. Great work on the 'Hit Boy' and caught my eye since my early MW DX was with it's brother - the 'Melody Boy' (the DX was Domestic USA and Canada using a 1.5m loop ! )

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