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Eton / Lextronix E1 (Grundig USA: Satellit 900)

Eton / Lextronix E1 or „Satellit 900“ (distributed by Grundig USA), developed by Grundig USA / Lextronix.

The Grundig Satellit 900 as successor of the Satellit 700 was presented at the end of 1995 at the Berlin Funkausstellung. Due to technical problems at the moment of its introduction, it never went into regular series production after a small series had been manufactured, and Grundig's world receiver production was discontinued shortly afterwards.

Grundig USA, with trademark rights to the name „Grundig Satellit“, developed a practically identical looking set with completely different technology, which was sold in the USA as Satellit 900 and elsewhere as Lextronix or Eton E1.

Eton E1

Technical data

Power supply

Dimensions

  • 334 x 190 x 65 mm, weight 2.72 kg

Accessories

  • Telescopic antenna 1 m
  • external power supply 9 V DC (maximum consumption 850 / 900 mA nominal)

Etón E1

Operation

The set must be connected to an external 9 V power supply (1 Amp), alternatively four UM-1 mono cells can be inserted. Caution, sets with serial numbers 3067 - 5642 may overheat and explode when operated with batteries.

The receiver is switched on with the POWER push-button in the upper right corner of the display. When the receiver is switched on, the bars of the electronic S-meter are shown at the top of the display and the reception frequency is shown in large letters in the centre. The tuning step is 10 Hz in the AM range and 20 Hz in the VHF range, the set can be tuned with the tuning knob (in contrast to Grundig no finger recess), repeated pressing of the small FAST key switches the tuning step between 10 / 100 / 1000 Hz or blocks the tuning.

Operation mode and band (AM vs. FM (VHF)) are selected with the buttons on the right. Of the seven small soft buttons below the display, the five in the middle are used to set AGC speed, bandwidth, passband tuning, Operation mode AM and LSB/USB; the front button takes you to the unit menu.

With the numeric keypad, the reception frequency can be entered directly; by pressing the . key twice or after a short waiting time, the frequency is accepted. With the operating mode keys, you can choose between AM operation for undisturbed signals, SSB for amateur radio transmissions and AM sync, the synchronous detector automatically locks onto the carrier for ECSS operation, the desired undisturbed sideband can be selected.

The manual provides information on the clock and memory functions (with normal memories and prepared COUNTRY frequency lists (similar like the ons found in the Satellit 700, but the lists have over the years almost completelylost their usability)).

Technical principle

Etón E1 block diagramDouble conversion superhet, PLL - frequency synthesis, 10 Hz - steps

The antenna signal in the AM ranges passes through a preselection with electronically switched octave filters (< 1 / 1-2 / 2-4 / 4-8 / 8-16 / 16-30 MHz) and a switchable RF preamplifier (DX, 10 dB). In the first mixer, it is converted to the first IF of 45 MHz using the frequency of the PLL synthesiser, which lies between 45.1 and 75 MHz, and has to pass through an appropriate IF filter. After mixing with a crystal oscillator signal of 44.545 MHz, the second IF of 455 kHz is generated, this IF is amplified and has to pass through the filter bank with the crystal filters 2.4 kHz (11 element CFJ455K), 4 kHz (CFM455I) and 7 kHz (CFM455H) between the IF amplifier stages. It is then fed to the envelope (AM) or product detector and is fed to the AF amplifier. At the demodulator stage, an automatically locking synchronous detector can also be activated.

In the VHF band (the range is restricted depending on the sales region), the set operates as a single conversion with an IF of 10.7 MHz; the American XM Satellite Radio can only be received with an external adaptor. In contrast to the original Grundig Satellit 900, the set does not have an RDS decoder (since RDS never became widespread in the USA).

Components

The set is equipped with semiconductors.

Technical documentation

Development

After Grundig Germany decided not to launch the Satellite 900, which had already been presented as a prototype, the idea of the responsible persons of Grundig USA / Lextronix was to launch the set anyway.

The exterior of the set was retained, but with the support of the engineers of R.L.Drake, the set was given a completely new technical interior, the new set was technically based on the Drake SW-8. RDS was omitted, but the set received an optional connector for a American XM satellite radio adaptor. In the USA it was advertised as „Satellite 900“, outside the USA as Etón E1 for trademark reasons.

The set was probably assembled in India with components from Tecsun (CHN), the variations in quality always made the set a critical buy on the second-hand market.

A decomposing protective lacquer caused the surfaces of several sets to become sticky, my first impression of my second-hand E1 was: „never seen such a dirty set“. Using isopropanol or ethanol (do not use methylated spirits, Ballistol and benzine did not change anything) I was able to remove the sticky varnish from the set by „rubbing“ it off.

Further information

en/eton_e1.txt · Zuletzt geändert: 2021/05/06 14:14 von mb