by Eldon-Mr.CFAY » Thu Feb 12, 2015 10:17 pm
Greetings,
I found the lockup on the G8 and my G5 small Grundig AM/FM /Shortwave radios to happen when we were dxing either the AM or FM band at no particular time. It just seized up while you were listening on a certain frequency on the AM band or FM band. At that point you could no longer tune up and down the band in any way! Solution was to take out the batteries and wait , wait and wait some more. Then put the batteries back in perhaps half an hour later, sometimes less and it seemed to work again. I found the freezing or seizing up occurred on both the G8 and G5 small Grundig radios. The other thing that sometimes worked is to take a toothpick or very thin screwdriver and put it in the reset hole and click that once or twice. That did work also but not all the time. I do find the problem very annoying and I still have the radios here but prefer to dx using my Grundig 450 and I have two 350s back in Langley , neither of these larger models have any problem at all like the smaller ones! Also the stickyness from that awful coating on the Grundig or Eton G5 and other ones seems to happen after several years and not sitting out in the sun either. Just normal heat from inside the house etc. can cause it! I have a great little wind-up Grundig with the LED light and siren, grey one with the coating and it has the same stickyness problem from the coating. The wind-up Grundig with LED light and siren Does not suffer from freezing on frequency at all though because its an analog tuning radio, its got AM , FM and Shortwave, sensitive but not as good for dxing as the other Grundigs I own.
I might add that none of the other digital radios I have owned over the years from Radio Shack or Sangean seemed to have had this problem with the radio freezing up while in use on AM or FM bands or Locking up is a better word to use! When it locks up you are stuck on one frequency and cannot tune the radio on either the AM or FM Band till it unlocks. It has nothing to do with any locking feature on the radio either! Another point I might make which is a minor one is I have no use for the clock aspect on these radios, I never use them , really find the alarm feature useless as I never set them to wake up or anything like that . To me putting a clock or alarm feature on any of the dx radios is a waste of money as I do not find it helpful. I have plenty of digital clocks and watches all over the place, I don't need one built into any of my radios!!! Just a minor point I thought I would make. I like the plain jane sensitive radio like the C.Crane EP because it does not have any clock built-in period!
Anyway thought I would just mention these points regarding the Grundig Radios I own. Overall I find them pretty good radios but those smaller ones do seem to have a couple problems.
Take care everyone 73s From Eldon