Eton FR1000 Uživatelský manuál stáhnout pdf

72 MONITORING TIMES July 2010

REVIEW

tonhasastronghistoryofmarketingradios

thatprovidecommunicationscapabilities

duringemergencysituationswhennormal

communicationsmaynotbeavailable.Certainly

therehavebeenweatherandterroristeventsin

the last decade where largenumbers of people

neededalternatemeansofgatheringinformation.

 Ihavebeenslowlyplanningmypersonaland

familyresponsetovariousemergencysituations.I

nowhavesomequantitiesoffood,waterandother

suppliestoallowmyfamilytohunkerdownfor

daysshouldtheneedarise.IdecidedthatIshould

haveanemergencytyperadioonhandaspartof

thisplan.

 Ah,butwhatradio?Severalmanufacturers

offerabewilderingarrayofmodels.Thepurpose

ofthisarticleistoreviewEton’scurrentlineof

emergencyradios.

Eton Emergency Radio

Overview

 Etonhasrefreshedtheirlineofemergency

radiosinthelastyear.Partofthiswasprompted

bythedemiseoftheolderanalogtelevisionaudio

capabilities.Eton’s primary lineupnow ranges

fromverysmall($30)basicradiostomoresophis-

ticated,largerunits($150).Allofthesereceive

AM,FMandtheweatherradioband.Theyalso

allfeatureacranktorechargetheinternalbattery,

poweranLEDflashlightorchargeacellphone.

 EtonofferstheseradiosundertheEtonbrand

nameandalsoasAmericanRedCrossbranded

units.IdecidedtoacquireanEtonFR160,FR360

andFR600,andevaluatewhichwouldmeetmy

needs(seechart).

My Testing

 Ievaluatedeachradio’sbasicperformance

onthevariousbandsitreceives.Ihavecompared

itsreceptiontootherreceiversIhavethatarein

thissame$30to$100pricerange.

 Itestedeachunit’sabilitytochargeitsinter-

nalbatterygivenoneminuteofdynamocranking

andthenlisteningtoAMatlowvolume.Irepeated

thesametest,exposingthephotocellstodirect

sunlightfortwohoursandthenpoweringtheAM

radioforaslongasthebatterylasted.

 Cranking the dynamo for each radio at a

rateofabouttworevolutionspersecondquickly

became very tiring. I believethat expecting to

crank the dynamofor many minutes to charge

a power hungry external cell phone would be

unrealistic, except in the worst of caseswhere

therewasnoalternative.Imeasuredthecurrent

thedynamocouldprovideintoa15ohmloadand

stillmaintainanominal5voltsDC(VDC).Note

theFR600couldnotprovide5VDCwitha15

ohmload.

FR160 Overview

 TheFR160featuresAM,FM(mono)and

weatherbandreception.Poweroptionstocharge

the small internalthree cell 350 mAh NI-MH

batteryareviathesolarcellorthecrankdynamo.

Therearenootherpoweroptions.

 A mono headphonejack is provided.The

10-inchtiltandswiveltelescopicantennaisused

forFMandweatherbandreception.Theunithas

a solid feel andan attractive appearance. The

Englishportionofthesmallusermanualisjust

overtwopagesinlength.

 Radioperformanceisadequateandonpar

withtheleastexpensiveAM/FMradioyoumight

find.Local,mediumormorepowerfulAMsta-

tionswereveryreceivable.Someweaker,more

distantAMstationswerenot.

 The tunedfrequencydriftsas the battery

dischargesandrequiresatweakingofthetuned

frequency(viatheradio’stuningknob).Iconsider

ittobeaminorannoyancethatseemstooccur

primarilyduringthelastfewminutesofbattery

chargelife.

 FMperformanceseemedmoresensitiveand

selective,andalloftheexpectedstationswere

receivable.AMandFMtuningis very touchy,

sincetheanalogtuningdialissosmall..Weather

bandreceptionisenabledviaaslideswitchthat

selects fromtheseven weather channels.The

radiodoesnotsupporteitheralerttonesorSAME

codes.Mylocalweatherstationisreceivedloud

andclear,whileanotherweatherstation60miles

awaywasnotdetectable.

 Thethree-LEDflashlightisbrightandvery

usable.Sinceyoumustdepressabuttontoget

light,theflashlightwillbelessusableinsituations

whereyouneedbothhandsforagiventask.

 TheFR160isbilledasbeingabletocharge

a cell phone via its dynamo.Accordingto the

usermanual,“Becausecellphonebatteriesvary

intheircurrentratings,wecannotspecifycharg-

ingratesorusagetime.From10to15minutesof

crankingmayresultinoneormoreminutesof

talk-time.”Further,itmustbecrankedatabrisk

rateoftworevolutionspersecond.Thecellphone

mustusethenowcommonUSBportconnector

forrecharging,butnoUSBcableisprovided.

 TheFR160isthesmallestandmostbasicin

featuresandperformanceoftheEtonline-up.But

itwillmeetallessentialemergencycommunica-

tionsneedswithminimalinvestment.

FR360 Overview

 The FR360features digitally tunedAM,

FM(mono)andweatherbandreception.Power

optionstochargetheinternalthreecell600mAh

NI-MH battery are the solar cell or the crank

dynamo; threeAAA batteries; or an external

poweradapter(6VDC,positivepolarity).Amono

headphonejackisprovided.

 Theshort6.5inchtiltandswiveltelescopic

antennaisusedforFMandweatherbandrecep-

tion.TheFR360hasagoodfeelandfinishand

a modern appearance.The Englishportion of

thesmallusermanualisjustoverfivepagesin

length. Some radio features are omitted or not

wellexplained.

 Unlikemostotherdigitallytunedradios,the

FR360hasneithermemoriesnorfrequencyscan-

ningcapabilities.Thereisarotarytuningknobso

onecanrapidlymovefromonepartoftheband

toanother.

 Radioperformanceisamixedbag.AMis

sensitive and reasonably selective, providing

overall good performance. FM performance

seemed less sensitive; some weaker stations

neededthebenefitofanotherfootortwoofwire

clippedtotheshortwhipantennabeforeitsFM

performancecameclosetothatofotherlow-cost

radios.

 Weather band reception is enabledvia a

rotaryswitchthatselectsfromthesevenweather

channels. My local weather station was a little

scratchy with drop-outs, depending on antenna

orientation.Alittlemoreantennalengthwillhelp

improvereception.TheFR360doeshaveamode

whereitsilentlymonitorsfortheNOAA1050Hz

“all hazard” alert signal. This worked properly

onmytestunit.ItdoesnotsupportSpecificArea

MessageEncoding(SAME).

Comparison of Eton

Emergency Radios

A Model For Everyone

By Gary Sargent, KE8WO

1 2 3

Shrnutí obsahu

Strany 1 - Emergency Radios

72 MONITORING TIMES July 2010MTREVIEWEtonhasastronghistoryofmarketingradiosthatprovidecommunicationscapabilitiesduringemergen

Strany 2 - 2.250"

July 2010 MONITORING TIMES 73 ThefourLEDflashlightisbrightandveryusable.Theclockandalarmfunctionsarecom-prehensivean

Strany 3 - Invisible Antennas

74 MONITORING TIMES July 2010Performance Performancealsoprogressesasyougoupinthemodelnumbers.TheFR160’sperformanceisinferi

Komentáře k této Příručce

Žádné komentáře

Eton FR1000 Uživatelský manuál

Procházejte online nebo si stáhněte Uživatelský manuál pro Meteorologické stanice Eton FR1000. Comparison of Eton Emergency Radios Uživatelská příručka

Shrnutí obsahu

Komentáře k této Příručce

Související produkty a manuály pro Meteorologické stanice Eton FR1000