66 MONITORING TIMES March 2005
WRX911 (both pocket analog sets), as tempo-
rary measures while I hunted for a replacement.
(See October 2004 Monitoring Times for my
comparison of these two sets.) I was pleasantly
surprised at the performance of these tiny, inex-
pensive units – pulling in African and European
stations here on the U.S. West Coast.
Nothing beats the analog feel for band-
scanning, but I still wanted a radio with digital
precision for DXing. I was holding out for the
ideal radio which would meet my list of desired
features:
* Full coverage of 100-30,000 kHz
* Dual conversion for image rejection
* SW tuning in 1 kHz increments
* A tuning knob
* Direct entry
* Memories (20 to 40)
* SSB reception
* Sleep timer
* Dial light
* Small portable
* Operation on two to four AA batteries
Of course I also wanted the radio to be
sensitive and selective. And in the spirit of the
poor man’s shortwave listening post, I wanted
to pay $100 or less.
I was curious about some of the analog-
digital hybrids, in which an analog tuner is
fitted with digital readout. Many of these were
intriguing and all had tuning knobs, but none of
them read out to the last frequency digit. Does
9.46 MHz mean 9460 kHz, 9465, or even 9455
kHz? It would be nice to have analog-feel tuning,
but the 15 kHz of frequency guesswork would
hamper DXing.
The Grundig YB550PE had many of the
functions I wanted but omitted LW and SSB.
A huge plus was its scroll wheel which tunes in
1 kHz increments, and it was also fairly small.
But then I discovered the Tecsun PL200, a tiny
version of the YB550PE. The extreme portabil-
ity of that set was almost a clincher plus it had
a tuning knob, but the PL200 lacked the same
things the YB550PE did. Next, I almost decided
on the Grundig YB400PE because of its proven
and venerable record. But it didn’t cover all
of long wave, required six AAs batteries, and
lacked a tuning knob.
Thinking maybe I could find an analog-
digital hybrid which read out to the last kHz
digit, I searched online and came up with the
reverse: a digital-analog which read out to the
last kHz digit. The Degen DE1103 came with
a bonus for someone like me with analog lean-
ings – in addition to the precise digital readout,
it had a semi-analog dial and needle. Instead
of achieving exact digital readout on an analog
radio, the engineers here had done the reverse,
adding an “analog” readout to a digital radio.
I thought it was clever, but apparently Sony
experimented with a similar thing several years
ago (ICF SW40) without success.
While I was reading up on this radio which
appeared to fulfill my wish list, I noticed it was
being sold on eBay for a low price. When the
Degen DE1103 suddenly dropped another $10,
I was hooked!
Vital Stats
Aside from all my requirements, the
DE1103 has an extended FM band (76-108
MHz), a built-in battery charger (batteries charge
inside the radio), an AC adaptor, a line-out
jack, an external antenna jack (external antenna
disables whip on SW and FM), a Wide/Nar-
row switch which lets
you select a 55.845
MHz or a 450 kHz
IF (and doubles as an
FM tone selector), a
Hold (lock) button, a
signal strength meter, a
Local/DX switch, two
alarms (radio only), 255 memories, auto scan,
memory scan, a flip-out stand so the radio can
sit at about a 30 degree angle, and all of these
features presented within 6”x4”x1” dimensions
and weighing in at a pound or less with the four
included rechargeable 100 mA NiMH AAs
inserted.
Honestly, I was so glad to be getting a
digital radio with a knob which tuned in 1 kHz
steps, many of these other features were extras
to me.
The Buttons
The direct-entry digit buttons are in one
row, 1-0, beneath the dial face. This is an in-
convenient setup when fumbling in the darkness
at the bedside to enter a memory or frequency,
A Poor Man’s Ideal Portable -
Degen DE1103
By Eric Bryan
W
ith my old Sony ICF SW1 on the
blink, I bought the Grundig Mini
World 100PE, then the Kaito
where the traditional telephone-pad layout can
be operated by touch. There’s a slight ridge on
button 5 to help orient you, and you can count
your way in from 1 or 0. Still, the buttons are
small, and your hand has to move around to
find them, where the usual keypad format re-
quires almost no movement and provides easy
counting. But this is the price for having the
semi-analog dial face where a standard keypad
would normally be.
In the upper left corner are three buttons:
M/F/AL1; STORE/AL2; and VOL/CHG.
Underneath the direct entry buttons are seven
more buttons: Power/
Sleep; Reset; Hold;
Time/Del; SSB/St-
Mono; Band-/FM
enter; Band+/AM
enter.
The Jog Dial
Probably the main thing to keep in mind
when approaching this radio is to recognize the
jog dial as the multi-purpose control it is. Besides
being a tuning knob,
it’s also for memory
setting and scanning,
charge, sleep, clock,
and alarm time setting,
and volume control.
But all of these func-
tions can be operated
through direct entry, too, including volume
(press a desired volume level/number, then push
VOL). The volume control is easily mastered.
The LCD/Semi-Analog Dial Face
Information at the top of the dial includes
a 4-position triangular signal strength meter,
mode (AM or FM), frequency, volume (0-63),
a note if either of the alarms is set, and a bat-
tery icon which appears during charging and
which flashes when the cells are about to run
out. Pressing Time changes the frequency to
the clock momentarily. The clock displays when
the radio is off, and while charging, the signal
(20 pages)
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