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I bought one of the first Superadio III's way back when; I was even on a
waiting list. The first batch were extremely numb on AM; they were recalled and
I was sent another one. The first thing I noticed about the replacement was the
high noise floor on AM. The Superadio II I already owned didn't have that
problem. I didn't realize how bad it was until I took it to Maui in 1994. I
didn't want to take my Sony ICF-2010 or Superadio II; I figured the Superadio
III could be easily and relatively inexpensively replaced if something happened
to it. From Maui I was just barely able to hear (thanks to the noise floor) a
number of stations from Australia and New Zealand and the US mainland.
The selectivity of the radio in the rental car was pretty bad but because
of that some of those same stations from Australia and New Zealand that were
close to the 10 khz. splits and also some mainland stations came in pretty well.
The Superadio III was completely useless for DX'ing over there. When I went back
in 2000 I took the Sony ICF-2010. What a difference!
Recently amazon.com was selling Superadio III's for $37.94 with free
shipping. I decided to get one to see if the noise floor problem had been fixed.
It arrived yesterday and I'm happy to say it seems quieter on AM and the audio
on AM is much improved. However it seems that the improvement in audio quality
has come at the cost of selectivity.
I have three stations using the same tower a little over a mile from here.
They're on 1290, 1340, and 1490. It's 1490's tower and all three are
nondirectional. 1490 is 1 KW fulltime, 1340 is 650 watts fulltime, and 1290 is
500 watts days and 122 watts nights.
I'll start with 1290. On the old radio I can hear stations on 1270, 1310,
and 1320. 1270 and 1310 are not strong but quite listenable and 1320 is very
weak but I can tell what kind of program they're running. I also have a
directional station on 1250 about 6 miles away; it runs 2.5 KW days and has a
minor null in my direction.
On the new radio I can't listen to 1270 or 1310 for very long without going
insane. 1270 is kinda sorta them with both 1250 and 1290 reminding you they
exist. 1320 is merely 1340 reminding you it exists.
1340: On the old radio 1360 is moderately strong but alone. On the new
radio 1360 is there but 1340 is once again reminding you it exists. Not pleasant
to listen to.
1490: On the old radio there's a moderately strong station on 1470 all
alone. On the new radio 1470 is mostly 1490 reminding you it exists and a lot
less of but some 1450 from 35 miles away (a graveyarder!!).
I have a non-local on 1590 that's about 30 miles away and running 5 KW; all
of which is coming my way. The new radio doesn't do well with it. There's a very
weak signal on 1560 that the old radio has a bit of a hard time with but it's
there. I couldn't tell you what's being said; only that something is being said.
On the new radio that weak 1560 is desensitized enough by 1590 to the point it's
not there. There's a TIS on 1610 that's near 1250 (coming from the opposite
direction of 1590). The old radio hears it weakly but solid. The new radio? What
TIS?
The new radio is as sensitive as the old one but as you approach a very
strong signal there's no splash; it just starts to get intelligible 30 khz. away
then keeps getting better.
It's a great sounding radio on AM. I haven't played with the FM side other
than to verify it works. I used to own one of the Radio Shack Superadio
knockoffs (a friend gave it to me when he moved); it behaved somewhat this way.
I really want to like it more than I do now. I'll probably keep it because it
was cheap and the improved sound quality on AM. Is anyone here able to decipher
the date/factory code? On the new radio it's 1516 RA. The old one is 4524C.
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