grundig yacht boy review

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Grundig yb-500.

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Portable Spy Station: Grundig Yacht Boy 400

JOEL JOHNSON — The Grundig Yacht Boy 400PE is ostensibly a portable marine device for tuning in AM/FM and shortwave radio stations (as the 'Yacht Boy' moniker might have tipped you off to.) For those that want to explore the darker side of radio reception, however, the Yacht Boy becomes a indispensable tool for discovering and monitoring 'Numbers Stations', the shortwave radio stations that broadcast mysterious streams of five-figure number blocks throughout the night. Although no one knows exactly what they are for, hobbyists poking about the edges have inferred that the broadcasts are the messages of various spy organizations, utilizing nigh-uncrackable one-time pad crypto. Since short wave can be bounced around the world without a repeater or an amplifier, it's perfect for international communication where large transmitters or receivers could be a liability. There are better shortwave radios than the Yacht Boy, but few as portable (or as cheap.)

Related Content

If that isn't enough to spark your interest, according to Wikipedia, both Stereolab and Wilco have used excerpts from numbers stations audio in their music, while the Scottish bleep masters Boards of Canada were 'influenced by numbers stations at an early age.' [ Thanks, Chris! ] Read - Grundig Yacht Boy Read - Wikipedia

The Yacht-Boy 400PE Portable Receiver

Overall descriptions:

The YB is roughly 8x5x1.5", and tunes 144-353 kHz and 520 kHz to 30 MHz in 1 kHz steps (5, 9 and 10 kHz steps are also available depending on the band and settings), as well as FM. It has the usual clock and alarm as well as 40 memories. There are two IF filter settings, and SSB can be monitored using a "fine tuning" control to clarify the USB or LSB signal being received. Tone switch, a bar-graph S-meter, DX/local switch, external antenna jack, headphone jack and external power jack round out the features. (As you will know from other reviews, the ICF-2010 has a few more features as befits its greater cost. The principal features are synchronous AM detection, a switchable choice of LSB or USB rather than a fine tuning control, readout and tuning to 0.1 kHz, and a tuning knob rather than up/down tuning buttons.)

Sensitivity (using the DX position of the front end attenuator):

In order to try to level the sensitivity playing field, I placed each radio in the center of an unamplified 3-foot air core box loop, with the loop lobes lined up with the internal loop lobes. The sensitivity difference between the two radios is not so pronounced under these circumstances, and most signals heard on the 2010 were also heard on the Yacht Boy, but when the received signal was marginal, as 1580 kHz was above, the YB400 still didn't deliver quite as solid a signal as the 2010 did. Both receivers have external antenna jacks, but only the 2010 switches out the internal ferrite loop when that jack is used. Not only does the Yacht Boy continue to use its internal antenna, it seems to attenuate an external signal quite severely below 1600 kHz. In fact, below 1400 kHz, it was impossible to tell whether an external antenna was plugged in or not; presumably this is to prevent strong MW signals from overloading the set when it is tuned to shortwave using an outside antenna.

The only way to couple a random wire to the set at MW and LW frequencies was to wrap a few turns of wire around the case, and feed the antenna and ground to either end of the wire. The external antenna connector does work fine for the tropical bands and above however.

Selectivity:

It's sometimes difficult to tell how much of a radio's performance is due to its selectivity and how much is due to signal handling capabilities, but the YB400 is capable of separating out most 10 kHz domestic channels quite nicely, even using its wide filter. Channels next to my two 10kw locals were more difficult, but that was as much due to the sheer volume of the splatter and to signal handling problems as to lack of selectivity (see further comments below). The filters on the Yacht Boy and on the 2010 seem comparable when I used the test of tuning past a local and noting where the signal became readable as the carrier was shifted into the IF passband, then became unreadable again as the carrier was shifted out. For example, the narrow filter on the YB400 delivered readable audio on my 900 kHz local between 898 and 902 kHz (i.e. tuning to 897 or 903 yielded just loud splatter) while the 2010 showed a readable signal between 897.3 and 902.8 kHz. Conditions lately have not been good for overseas stations, but I would imagine that there shouldn't be too much problem hearing split frequencies within 4 or 5 kHz of domestic channels.

Strong signal handling:

Using its internal antenna, the Yacht Boy was able to hear a mixing product from my two locals at only one spot, and that was in the longwave band. Those with many more locals may not be so lucky, and plenty of MW overload was found on longwave if an external random wire was coupled into the set through turns around the case as described above. (See "Spurious Responses and How To Recognize Them", IRCA reprint T10 for details on calculating second and third order products)

More importantly, without any external antenna I was able to get muddy but readable audio from local CKMO-900 (10 kw at about 3 miles) on top of semi-local KIXI-880, when maximizing CKMO's signal by rotating the radio. If one uses the YB400 inside an air-core loop, this effect is not noted, as long as one tunes carefully to make sure the loop is tuned to the same frequency as the radio is. That's a good general rule in any case as overload can certainly occur in the Yacht Boy if the box loop antenna is mistuned to a strong signal. An image 0 kHz below my local on 1070 kHz was found on the Yacht Boy, but the 2010 has that problem also, and overall image rejection seemed good enough that there were no birdies heard on 10 kHz channels below 790 kHz (1700 kHz-0 kHz), as has been a problem on some other portables tested including the ICF-7600G. Interestingly, there wasn't much evidence of images on the lower end of the MW band even with an external wire coupled in. Finally, there were no internally generated "birdies" found in the LW and MW bands.

S-meter and memories The S-meter on this radio is not quite as impressive as it looks at first glance. Although there are 21 bars in the display, they are actually illuminated 4 bars at a time, so there are really only 5 gradations in signal strength, not quite as impressive as the 2010's 10 LED display, but good enough to indicate loop nulls in most cases.

The 40 memories store frequency only, as the filter passband and SSB on/off are controlled by slide switches and can't be "remembered". What is more of a concern to me is the delay (a good portion of a second) going from one memory to the next, effectively making the memories useless for checking parallels. I've been spoiled by the virtually instant response of the individual push button memories on the ICF-2010.

Synchronous detection:

It's hardly fair to evaluate the YB-400's lack of synchronous detection, but unfortunately, the ICF-2010's sync detector really does make a difference to the readability of medium strength signals which are suffering from interference. It substitutes for a steeper sided filter, and allows one to monitor the sideband which is affected less by adjacent channel splatter. For example, only traces of audio were noted when tuning the YB400 to the Calgary station on 1060 kHz next to my local on 1070, but using the 2010's synchronous detector on the low side of 1060 yielded a readable signal in the splatter, even though the IF filters on both radios had similar passbands. In addition, non-synchronous heterodyne detection (using USB/LSB positions to demodulate AM) is not possible on the Yacht Boy because the continuously variable SSB fine tuning control does not tune to the edges of the passband of the narrow IF filter, so tends to receive both sidebands of an AM signal at once.

Overall, audio quality on the YB400 is crisper than on the ICF-2010, even when using the narrow IF filter.

Conclusion:

Unsurprisingly, the Grundig Yacht Boy YB400 is not a replacement for the Sony ICF-2010, but its narrow IF filter, 1 kHz tuning steps, good quality audio, and relatively good sensitivity and signal handling capability make it a reasonable starter radio for a MW DXer, particularly one with shortwave interests. However, it does suffer from an external antenna input which doesn't switch out the internal MW antenna, and attenuates severely MW signals from an outside antenna. In addition, the lack of synchronous AM detection means that it is not as capable as it could be in demodulating weak signals next to stronger ones.

Of course, if I'd been offered this radio for MW DXing in the 60's, at the comparable 60's price, roughly equivalent to that of an "all-American 5", I would have been in DXer's heaven. We've come a long way in that time.

(Thanks to Colin Newell for the loan of his Grundig YB400PE)

Nick Hall-Patch is a Victoria resident and radio expert - In the last 30 years he has contributed greatly to the telecommunications knowledge base and helped promote solidarity and cooperation among radio enthusiasts.

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Grundig Yotboy yb400pe

• Thread starter jbsarandolphmonitor
• Start date Aug 27, 2004

jbsarandolphmonitor

Air band monitoring jbsa-randolph.

• Aug 27, 2004

Is the Grundig Yotboy yb400pe a good radio? I am thinking about buying one. Donald Harkins  

Maybe ya wanna lookee here for reviews on all kinds of HF radios http://www.eham.net/reviews/products/8 73, Phil  

donhark said: Is the Grundig Yotboy yb400pe a good radio? I am thinking about buying one. Donald Harkins Click to expand...

thank you very much. I will look for a good price on one. Donald Harkins  

• Aug 28, 2004

OR GO WITH THE KAITO 1102 FOR UNDER 100 DOLLARS GREAT RADIO CHEAP SSB RADIO!! GOOD LUCK!  

You could also try www.grove-ent.com . They also carry the Sangean 505p, a similar radio when compared to the Yacht Boy 400 PE.  

• Aug 29, 2004

thanks I will check the site out. Donald Harkins  

Active Member

I don't think you can go wrong with the Yacht Boy 400PE. It's very sensitive, relatively immune to overloading, and it's a nice small package. It does a better job on most frequencies than my RS DX440, which is a pretty good radio but it's the size of a tank compared to my YB. I've seen the YB on sale for as low as $149 and it's a steal at that price.  

I have looked at other radios and I still like the yb400pe. Donald Harkins  

• Aug 30, 2004

I also have a YB 400 PE (have had it since last Christmas). It's a good radio with good sensitivity, and I think it was worth the money. I've lately been using it to monitor the Hurricane Watch Net (14325 kHz) for each hurricane that comes around. It performs decently on SSB but requires patience and practice using the fine tuning knob. It also has very good FM and commercial AM (mediumwave) reception. The internal AM antenna is nearly 6" long, and the telescoping FM/SW antenna is 36" long, plus you can use an external antenna (a ~20ft reel antenna is included). This is my second SW radio (my first was an analog tuning RS DX-397 that I bought a couple of years ago in college).  

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• HF/MW/LW Equipment

Grundig Yacht Boy 210

The Yacht Boy 210 (also written Yacht-Boy 210) was a vintage radio manufactured by the Grundig Corporation. It is a 4-band radio with FM/VHF, SW, MW, and LW coverage and has an integrated telescopic aerial for the VHF band and ferrite rod for the remaining bands. The circuitry has ten transistors and eight diodes with current consumption of 50 mA at 9 V. For the power supply, it requires six 1.5 V dry cells providing approximately 160-hours operation; however for mains operation it requires the TN 5 or TN 12 power pack. The loudspeaker is a 4 Ω dynamic superphon type with high-efficiency magnet, and the audio power output is 2-watts. The dimensions of this radio are 39 cm × 24 cm × 12 cm, and mass 4.4 kg.

Looking at the circuit diagram, and the IF stages, local oscillator circuit, and heterodyne mixer stage, I always marvel at the wonderful electronic engineering employed in Grundig radios. These radios were so well designed, engineered, and manufactured that even today they are highly desirable by collectors.

The audio output stage consists of a pair of transistors (AC187K and AC188K) in a push-pull arrangement, with a 1000 µF capacitor (C660) at the output. Consequently the sound quality through the superphon loudspeaker is very good. This radio has some wonderful features such as:

• Illuminated dial
• Dial markers and station designations
• Tape recorder connection
• Record player connection
• Tone control
• Loudspeaker/earphone socket
• Battery check meter

These radios are usually for sale on eBay and there is almost always a huge amount of interest on them. A complete unit in mint condition with its original packaging and box could fetch well over one hundred pounds on a good day. However a working unit with issues such as missing knobs, broken aerial, and scratches would be worth around fifty pounds. A completely broken and non-working unit in bad condition would not be worth much as repairing these radios is time-consuming. If you are looking to buy one, then make sure it has the power supply pack fitted as vintage replacement parts are difficult to find and usually very expensive.

This Article Continues...

Manual Library / Grundig

Grundig Yacht-Boy 400

Portable World Receiver (1981)

Grundig Radios

This radio is relatively good sounding for the size and has good AM and FM reception. The sound is not as good as on the older, bigger Satellites or Yacht Boys, though. The tone switch is not always sufficient to adjust for a balanced sound. Usually it sounds good with the tone switch in high position on FM, low on AM. I did not check the stereo FM capabilities via headphones. Unfortunately the station memory loses all stations when batteries are removed. It may keep them for some minutes while replacing batteries. But, as the radio drains the batteries within months of non use, you will end up with an empty memory. That battery drain is not acceptable. For a radio, supposed to be used on a vacation or other occasional events, this is the weakest spot of this radio. The cabinet feels cheap and is a little squeaky when twisted/moved. Other than that, not a bad radio. SSB is a nice feature. This radio is nice for a vacation, but not really useable as an everyday solution.

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