Preamble
Clear and regional channel reception is often quite possible even with simple receivers. It's not uncommon to regularly hear Cuba, Chicago, New Orleans, or Louisville on my cheap RS bedroom clock radio. I've even heard WWFE Miami with it. To be truthful, WWFE was still on daytime power, and it was at sunset, so that wasn't a big deal either. My wife uses my GE SR II at our cottage to listen to 650-WSM's Gran Ole Opry on Saturday nights. She constantly complains about "Spanish" interference, which is actually HJKH, Antena Dos de RCN, in Bogota, Colombia. My SR II has an excellent ferrite antenna coupled to an RF amplifier stage. That gives it better than average sensitivity and nulls and it consistently performs well. An antenna system is highly important and that's the GE's ace-in-the hole! GEs are very good but many people attribute all kinds of incredible catches to the radio itself. Propagation conditions and luck in listening at the right time are equally important. Few DXers report the same "incredible" catches repeatedly.

The following is a repost of an article that I originally wrote in the FIDO Shortwave Echo almost two years ago. Although I wrote about the GE SR II, the SR III shares many attributes with its predecessor. I posted it originally a month after returning from the 1995 Newfoundland DXpedition during which we logged about 90 countries on mediumwave. We used communications receivers attached to several thousand feet of Beverage antennas. The receivers included a WJ-1000, an NRD525 and 2 Icom R71As (one of which was my highly modified R71A). We also had a couple of portables for backup -- a Sony 2010, and I brought my RS DX400, but used no GE Superradios which lacked selectivity.

My thoughts on the GE SR II

I own two GE SR IIs and recently had discussions with other SR owners on FIDO. GEs provide many loud signals, the benchmark of a good DX receiver by some users, but there's more to be considered. Discussions here and elsewhere, would have us believe a GE SR is some sort of legendary DX machine. That's simply not true.

There are many receivers equal to or better. The GE is no magic box, just a very good low-end radio which has done much to get people interested in mediumwave DX at a very low cost. You usually get what you pay for, a little more with the GE.

Open one up --- the solid ferrite rod antenna and a genuine triple section variable are a joy !! It has excellent sensitivity because of this 7 3/4 inch ferrite antenna which also gives it good nulls. That, and a tuned RF stage provide consistent distant reception without the need for external antennae. Tone controls and better-than-average speakers give it very good sound. The batteries seem to last forever.

However, the GE II has some serious faults which include poor selectivity and weak AGC action. Off-the-shelf RF/IF alignment is poor (both of mine required realignment). The IF chain is similar to those of cheap offshore radios, circuitry that hasn't changed in 20 years or more. Try tuning an off-channel Latin or TA and you'll be lucky to hear the het because of sloppy selectivity (which BTW also helps to enhance the audio). The backlashy string-driven pointer/tuning is out of the 1940s, and a badly calibrated dial (even hard to read depending on angle) is a throw-back. An inexpensive friction vernier drive would be suitable. (Pin-point digital accuracy is available on even cheaper sets.) Tuning and staying atop weak stations in QRM is a chore, as for retuning an unknown distant station, that's often impossible. (I stopped pasting frequency vs. logging scale graphs to my radios years ago.) I can't speak from experience, however some similar criticism about the GE SR III appeared here as well, although someone wrote here that the III has a ceramic filter and that should contribute to better selectivity. Click here to read a current review (April 1999) by David Knisely.

I like the GE SR II, but not for DXing --- at least not in its off-the-shelf state. If it were my only radio, I'd be making some modifications. In fact, that's why I got the second one, to see how it could be beefed up for real DX use (filters, Q-multiplier, vernier dial, reworked AGC). Now, I just use the first one to provide good sounding mid-distant FM and mediumwave reception at my cottage where there are few local stations.

When DXing up there, I sometimes bring my Icom and Kiwa Loop or use the Icom with a Beverage antenna. If I haven't brought those and want to get serious, then I use a DX-400 or borrowed 2010, sometimes alone and at other times inductively coupled to a loop, but never the GE!

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