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Grundig Yacht Boy 400 (new)

Manufactured by Grundig, Fürth.

The new variant of the Yacht Boy 400 appeared in 1994 and is a travel multiband radio with PLL synthesis and digital frequency display completely different from it's brother from 1980/1 carrying the same designation.

Grundig Yacht Boy 400

Technical data

Power supply

  • Batteries: 6 x 1.5 V (UM-3) resp. 9 V DC via external mains adapter

Dimensions

  • 180 x 120 x 37 mm, weight 0.59 kg

Accessories

  • Wire antenna; integrated ferrite and telescopic antenna

Grundig Yacht Boy 400

Operation

The Grundig Yacht Boy 400 from 1994 is a multiband travel radio, with 18 x 12 x 3,7 cm and a weight of 590 g, it has the dimensions of a pocket book and will find some space in your suitcase without problems.

The Yacht Boy 400 in the new 1994 version is a PLL synthesized shortwave radio with digital frequency display.

The set covers VHF / FM broadcast band, long and mediumwaves and the complete shortwave spectrum from 1,7 - 30 MHz. The tuning steps can be set to one or 5 / 9 or 10 kHz (shortwaves / long/mediumwaves Europe and USA).

In the right part of the front panel, you find the numbered direct frequency entry keys, the UP/DOWN tuning pushbuttons (no rotary control) and several pushbuttons to operate the timer, change tuning steps, and so on - have a look to the user's manual to operate this microprocessor controlled little marvel.

The display will show the operation frequency, the memory channel and the time of the internal quartz clock at the same time. You can set the timer to wake you up by radio music or a buzzer sound, but there is no socket to control a cassette recorder for automated recordings. The status symbols in the display are small and difficult to read, the dial illumination is poor and of little help in the dark.

The Yacht Boy 400 offers 40 memory channels to store frequencies, for the different scanning modes, refer to the user's manual.

The set is powered by six AA batteries for the radio, as their nominal power is 9 Volts, the low battery warning will only appear below 5 Volts, so the set can be operated from rechargeable accumulators with 1,2 V each. There is a connector for a matching Grundig external power supply, but be very careful not to use the center positive power supply from the Grundig Satellit 700, the plug will physically match the socket but the wrong polarity might damage your radio.

The receiver comes with a ferrite antenna for LW / MW and a rotating telescopic antenna for shortwaves, the set offers an external antenna socket for a wire antenna - take care not to overload the receiver front end with a high gain active antenna.

The set has a good sensitivity and for a portable an adequate selectivity on shortwaves, it tunes the complete shortwave band and offers simple single sideband capabilities good enough to hear some flight weather information channels and strong signal from radio amateurs.

The background hiss of the synthesizer is audible and might impair the reception of faint tropical band and domestic shortwave signals, some splatter on frequencies in the neighborhood of your local mediumwave transmitter might harm reception on open mediumwave DX frequencies.

In the FM band, the Yacht Boy has an excellent sensitivity and an acceptable selectivity with the standard SKM2N filter (-3/-20 dB: 230 / 600 kHz), this might be replaced by a neven more narrow FM filter. The set can receive in stereo mode, but you can enjoy the stereo sound only with headphones.

The Grundig Yacht Boy 400 had a good price - performance ratio when it was new and is still an above average multiband travel radio with all useful features you need when travelling abroad (yes, I admit, I love to have an RDS decoder on the FM broadcast band included - but only very few sets have this option, like the Yacht Boy 500).

Technical principle

Double conversion with PLL synthesis.

Component layout

The unit is equipped with semiconductors.

Technical documentation

Development

Grundig Yacht Boy 400

Further information

en/yacht_boy_400_new.txt · Zuletzt geändert: 2021/04/18 11:01 von mb