ETON Globe Traveler G3 AM/FM/Shortwave Radio with Aircraft Band, Single-Side Band, Radio Data System and Synchronous Detector

by Grundig

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 6.6 x 4.1 inches ; 1.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B001QTXKEW
• Item model number: G3
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,458 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
  • #77 in Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Radios > Shortwave Radios
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 1, 2009

Product Description

AM/FM/Shortwave Radio with Aircraft Band, SSB (Single-Side Band), RDS (Radio Data System) and Synchronous Detector

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Does not Replace My Eton E5 :(, August 18, 2009

By 

jr_Tech (Portland OR. area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ETON Globe Traveler G3 AM/FM/Shortwave Radio with Aircraft Band, Single-Side Band, Radio Data System and Synchronous Detector (Electronics)

I had high hopes for this radio, hoping that I could replace my much-used and beat up Eton E5. Sadly, this will not be the case. While the G3 adds some features such as the Aircraft band, LSB/USB switch, RDS and Sync detector (which sorta works), several important traits/features of the E5 are not carried over to the new model.

1. FM sensitivity is not as good. Several FM stations in Eugene Oregon (about 110 miles away) that are easy catches for the E5 can still be heard with the G3 but not as clearly, and with much more effort to get the antenna "just right".

2. MW (AM) sensitivity is not as good...side by side comparison on several weak AM stations that yield decent reception with the E5 are heard with more noise and hiss on the G3.

3. Ditto for LW... several aircraft beacons are heard, but with more hiss on the G3.

4. The "wide/narrow" switch does not also function as "voice/music" tone control on FM, as it does on the E5.

5. The push-buttons are NOT illuminated on the G3.

6. Tuning steps increased from 25 kHz to 50Khz on FM... not what is needed to pull in a weak DX station that is first adjacent to a strong local!

The good points:

1. The RDS functions well.

2. SSB stations are MUCH easier to tune with the G3 than the E5.

3. The Aircraft band works well, this will be great for airshows.

4. Under some conditions (stations that are not too weak) the sync detector does provide improvement. I find that I must tune 1 kHz LOW to get it to work, so there could be some alignment issues with my particular radio. The feature does not work as well as it does on my Sony ICF-SW7600GR and is not even close to the performance of my Sony ICF 2010!

5. The G3 is less likely to "overload" in strong signal areas than the E5... perhaps the sensitivity was reduced on purpose to provide better reception for city dwellers, at the expense of reducing DX capabilities.

So, I will keep my beat up old Eton E5, and use both... sad!

Update: 5/19/10 I have read several reviews/comments that seem to indicate that the sensitivity and Sync detector problems on early production units have been fixed. This model might be worth a second chance.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice radio, better than the G6, August 8, 2009

By 

NathanBrazil "nathanbrazil" (Texas USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ETON Globe Traveler G3 AM/FM/Shortwave Radio with Aircraft Band, Single-Side Band, Radio Data System and Synchronous Detector (Electronics)

I am a collector of radios, I have over 200 in my collection starting in the 1920's to today. Lets deal with complaint number one, the sync is bad, poor would be a better description. This discription will also apply to almost any radio under $1000.00. The SYNC on this radio performs as well as the Sony 7600GR which is not very good either. I personally have found this feature to be of dubious value.

Now to the good stuff:

The SSB feature on this radio is the best I have seen on any small portable radio. You can select either USB or LSB and it also allows fine tuning via a tuning knob. A great inprovement over the G6. The aircraft band works very well from my location ( about 10 miles from DFW airport). FM stations come in very well up and down the dial. The local AM stations come in great, even in my office building.To be fair I live and work in Dallas,Tx and there are many AM and FM stations close by.

The shortwave performance seems very good as well, on a par with My favorite portable radios the Sony 7600GR,ICF-SW100E, Grundig Yachtboy 400, DEGEN 1102 and ATS 909. The radio itself is quite small, smaller than the 7600GR. It feels like it is well made, only time will tell for sure about that. It also has RDS capability. I have not found any stations to test that feature on yet. The radio also has a line in/out connection, this is a bit unusual for a small radio.

The internal memory store is easy to use. I really like this while using the aircraft band.

All of my testing has so far been using only the built in whip antenna.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars poor, poor quality, half-baked product, August 29, 2009

By 

mbv - See all my reviews

This review is from: ETON Globe Traveler G3 AM/FM/Shortwave Radio with Aircraft Band, Single-Side Band, Radio Data System and Synchronous Detector (Electronics)

Purchased the G3 from Amazon and returned the next day. On the FM band the radio was unstable: it produced an internally generated rapidly knocking/ticking sound audible in the pauses of the program audio. The sensitivity in the AM/MW band was essentially nonexistent. The synchro failed to firmly lock even on rather strong signals - looked totally useless. The display is crisp and well illuminated, although the largest part of it is allocated to textual information - RDS info on FM, USB/LSB/synchro etc. By comparison the clock lettering is tiny. The keypad is not illuminated. On the positive side: the SW performance is fine, on par with the venerable Degen/Kaito 1103, the SSB is better due to the USB/LSB selection with stable fine tuning. The same feature allows to suppress adjacent interference on some broadcast signals by engaging SSB and zero beating the carrier. The sound is OK. The line-in feature is useful.