Radio
Boy
Ocean Boy 510 - 1999 - 2004
approx.
The display is in
Radio Text mode, unfortunately, the sun is polarising the whole display
(LCD's work by cross-polarising the light passing through them) but you
can just about make out that it says "FEATURIN" (The "G" is missing off
the end as it is an 8 character display.)
I bought this radio
new in January 2003 from Simply Radios.
It lacks Short Wave, the first Ocean Boy ever to do so. Also, it doesn't
switch to USA standard 10kHz spacing on MW, and given that it covers LW,
and has extensive RDS features as it's main selling point, the American
market was never in contension. (The few FM stations in the US that use
RDS tend to focus on the station name, and if you are lucky, AF. Other
RDS facilities are almost totally absent.) Typical price for this radio
is about £60 (equivalent of US$90), and as such, it's a good buy,
being pretty sensitive & with excellent audio from the internal speaker.
It replaced the Ocean Boy 500, which was electronically similar, but which
had SW, fewer RDS facilities, and the styling of its non RDS predecessor,
the Ocean Boy 400. (Note: the Ocean Boy 330/340/350 is a completely different
range of radios).
The Ocean Boy 510
was replaced by the Concert Boy 80, which does everything the same, but
adds SW!
Specification:
Styling:
Distinctive looking,
with lots of curves, and the display mounted in a circular recess, with
the well laid out buttons surrounding it. Metallic finish has a hint of
brown about it. Black metal mesh speaker grille with a nice silver "Grundig"
badge in the centre.
Country of manufacture: Peoples
Republic of China.
Size: 150mm high x 264mm
wide x 83mm deep.
Weight (excluding batteries):
1.428 kg.
Power supply:
Internal; 4 x C cells,
6V (radio) & 2 x AAA, 3V (clock & station memories).
External; 240V AC 50/60
Hz
Battery meter: No
Tuning method: Digital
PLL synthesizer
Tuning options: Manual
slew keys. Auto-search. Presets. Programme Type search on FM.
Wavebands:
FM: 87.5-108 mHz, tuning
steps 50 kHz. (RDS facilities: Station name display, Programme type display
& search, Alternative Frequencies, Traffic news/Extended Other Networks,
Clock updates, Radiotext.)
LW 144-281 kHz, tuning steps
1kHz, mode: AM
MW 522-1620 kHz, tuning
steps 9kHz, mode: AM
IF's:
FM; 10.7 MHz
AM; 450kHz (Single conversion).
Station memories:
Yes, 10 per waveband,
plus last station memory on each waveband.
Tuning meter: No
Local/DX switch: Yes (FM
only)
Aerials: Ferrite rod for
LW & MW, Telescopic for FM
Dial illumination: Yes,
pushing any button illuminates display for 8 seconds, except text feature,
which illuminates it permanently until text is disabled again.
Mono selector: N/A, no
stereo facility.
Sockets:
Inputs; 240V
AC input, Telefunken "figure of 8" plug.
Outputs; 3.5mm
headphone socket (stereo socket wired for mono)
Output power: 750mW
Loudspeaker: 100 mm dia.
Tone control: Thumbwheel
treble control.
Clock/Timer:
Yes. 1 x 24 hour clock
with day display, (shares display with frequency/RDS, using display key
when set switched on, permanently displayed when off). Automatically set
via RDS.
10-90 minute sleep timer.
90 minute auto turn on,
radio or buzzer, and snooze facility.
Ocean
Boy 510 review
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